OT: A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence At Libby Trial

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Topic:	Religions > Atheism
User:	"Michelle Malkin"
Date:	05 Feb 2007 06:51:00 PM
Object:	OT: A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence At Libby Trial

If Libby's memory was that bad, he should never
have been in such a position of authority. His
lawyers are trying to get away with another
Republican coverup.
A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence" at Libby Trial
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Monday 05 February 2007
As Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald gets ready to wrap up the
government's perjury and obstruction of justice case against former vice
presidential staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, he is fighting to introduce
two "powerful" pieces of evidence he says will help convince the jury that
Libby deliberately lied to federal investigators about how and when he
discovered the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and
whether he leaked the information to reporters.
Fitzgerald wants the jury to see two articles from the Washington Post,
dated October 4 and 12, 2003, that his investigators obtained from Libby's
personal files. The articles in question, written by Washington Post
reporters Walter Pincus and Mike Allen, are damaging to Libby's defense,
Fitzgerald said, because they contain specific passages that Libby had
underlined concerning the harm caused by Plame's identity becoming public
and the possibility that whoever was responsible for the leak may have
violated a federal law.
Fitzgerald has argued that the articles with the underlined passages
prove Libby feared he was responsible for the damage to national security
the leak caused and therefore concocted a story about learning Plame's
identity and work with the CIA from Tim Russert, host of "Meet the Press,"
in order to save his job.
Plame's name was revealed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on
July 14, 2003 - eight days after her husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the
administration of twisting intelligence to justify war with Iraq.
It was only during the preparation of his first interview with FBI agent
Deborah Bond on October 14, 2003, that Libby found the articles and other
documents in his personal files that indicated he was actually told Plame's
name and her employment status with the CIA by Cheney - far earlier than the
July 2003 timeframe Libby maintains he first learned about her from Russert.
Libby's defense is that he was wrapped up with more pressing issues, such as
the war in Iraq and national security, and innocently forgot that Cheney had
told him about Plame on numerous occasions in June and July 2003.
But Fitzgerald said the articles in question established a motive for Libby
to lie to Bond because the substance of the news reports was damning.
Libby's attorneys say the articles will prejudice the jury, and they
have filed a motion seeking to block Fitzgerald from introducing them into
evidence. The defense argues that the articles contain numerous references
to Plame's "clandestine" status, and if introduced into evidence they will
lead the jury to believe that Libby is guilty of leaking classified
information, a charge Libby is not under indictment for. But Fitzgerald said
the articles are relevant to his case in order to establish what Libby's
state of mind was when he testified, not to establish the "truth" about
whether or not Plame worked in a covert capacity.
"This is a trick, your honor," said defense attorney William Jeffress
during a hearing on the issue Thursday, according to a copy of the court
transcript. "Let's take the October 4 [2003] article. 'The leak of a CIA
operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company
potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure ...'
blah, blah, blah. Your honor, that would be so prejudicial to the defense, I
don't think we would ever be able to recover. You have the same thing with
the [October 12, 2003] article. Again, talks about how she was 'clandestine'
blah, blah, blah. I mean, this is a trick, your honor. These articles cannot
possibly go into evidence to the jury. No instruction to just not consider
them for their truth could possibly overcome the prejudice."
Fitzgerald took issue with Jeffress's characterization, telling Judge
Walton, "It's not a trick to offer evidence that goes right to the heart of
the issue: Mr. Libby's state of mind."
"[There is] an article [Libby] printed on October 4 [2003], ten days
before his FBI interview, that is in his file, indicating that there could
be damage" that resulted from the Plame leak, Fitzgerald told Walton. "And I
just think it's a trick to stand up there and say there is no motive to lie
because all the evidence that shows he had a motive to lie comes from his
own file. The jury is entitled to know what was in [Libby's] head and this
was in his head and in his file. It's direct proof as what he had in mind
when he made up a story that says, you know what, I forgot everything that
came from the vice president."
"I think in opening [Libby attorney Theodore] Wells said it is stupid
for the government to claim [Libby] would put this on Mr. Russert,"
Fitzgerald added. "But it's not stupid if what you are looking at is a fear
that you may have, whether he did it deliberately or screwed up, but your
fear that you may be involved in something that is a big mess in terms of
law, in terms of politics, and in terms of getting yourself fired."
If the articles were submitted into evidence, they would back up
testimony Bond gave Thursday about her interviews with Libby in October and
November 2003. Judge Walton is expected to issue a ruling sometime Monday on
whether the articles are admissible.
Bond testified that the story Libby told about learning Plame's CIA
status first from Russert and then later discovering through his own
handwritten notes that it was Cheney who actually told him about Plame
wasn't believable from the outset.
Bond testified that Libby told her he received a call from Cheney on
either June 10 or 11, 2003, "alerting him that Washington Post reporter
Walter Pincus intended to write an article for the paper scheduled to be
published on June 12, 2003," about Wilson's claims that the White House
manipulated pre-war Iraq intelligence.
"Mr. Libby told us the conversation with the vice president was in
regard to an upcoming article being written ... for the newspaper for June
12, [2003]," Bond said during testimony Thursday. "Mr. Libby told us that
during the telephone conversation with the vice president, that the vice
president told him that the former ambassador's wife worked in the C.P.
division of the CIA. Mr. Libby explained that the C.P. stood for
counter-proliferation."
Libby told Bond that he forgot about the conversation he had with Cheney
in June 2003, and that when Russert told him about Plame a few weeks later,
it was as if he had heard the information about her for the first time.
Bond said Libby explained to her and other agents who were present at
the interview how he suddenly triggered his memory.
"It was not until early October 2003 when he was searching through his
documents for this investigation that he realized that he had actually
learned about the former ambassador's wife working at the CIA [from Cheney]
in June 2003."
She added that Libby also told her in a second interview on November 26,
2003, that while aboard Air Force II a week or so before Novak unmasked
Plame's identity in his column, Libby and Cheney discussed telling the media
that Plame worked for the CIA and was married to Wilson.
"Mr. Libby said that he went to the vice president's cabin and ... there
was some discussion of whether or not they should report to the press that
Ambassador Wilson's wife worked at the CIA," Bond said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Leopold is a former Los Angeles bureau chief for Dow Jones
Newswire. He has written over 2,000 stories on the California energy crisis
and received the Dow Jones Journalist of the Year Award in 2001 for his
coverage on the issue as well as a Project Censored award in 2004. Leopold
also reported extensively on Enron's downfall and was the first journalist
to land an interview with former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling following
Enron's bankruptcy filing in December 2001. Leopold has appeared on CNBC and
National Public Radio as an expert on energy policy and has also been the
keynote speaker at more than two dozen energy industry conferences around
the country.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: OT: A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence At Libby Trial	06 Feb 2007 01:21:07 AM

In article <jZKdnW-_HctyTVrYnZ2dnUVZ_h-vnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

If Libby's memory was that bad, he should never
have been in such a position of authority. His
lawyers are trying to get away with another
Republican coverup.

Libby seems at best to have a very selective memory. He 'selects' when
he remembers things and when he doesn't. I agree that his lawyers seem
to be working overtime to protect Cheney.

A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence" at Libby Trial
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Monday 05 February 2007

As Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald gets ready to wrap up the
government's perjury and obstruction of justice case against former vice
presidential staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, he is fighting to introduce
two "powerful" pieces of evidence he says will help convince the jury that
Libby deliberately lied to federal investigators about how and when he
discovered the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and
whether he leaked the information to reporters.

--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "Michelle Malkin"
Title: Re: OT: A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence At Libby Trial	06 Feb 2007 01:35:15 AM

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-EE9711.23210705022007@news.giganews.com...

In article <jZKdnW-_HctyTVrYnZ2dnUVZ_h-vnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

If Libby's memory was that bad, he should never
have been in such a position of authority. His
lawyers are trying to get away with another
Republican coverup.

Libby seems at best to have a very selective memory. He 'selects' when
he remembers things and when he doesn't. I agree that his lawyers seem
to be working overtime to protect Cheney.

I think that Libby is starting to regret his loyalty
to Cheney - a creature that is loyal only to itself.

A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence" at Libby Trial
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
Monday 05 February 2007

As Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald gets ready to wrap up the
government's perjury and obstruction of justice case against former vice
presidential staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, he is fighting to
introduce
two "powerful" pieces of evidence he says will help convince the jury
that
Libby deliberately lied to federal investigators about how and when he
discovered the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and
whether he leaked the information to reporters.

--
John Hachmann aa #1782

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit
atrocities"
-Voltaire

Contact - Throw a .net over the .com

User: "johac"
Title: Re: OT: A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence At Libby Trial	07 Feb 2007 12:53:06 AM

In article <EMmdney21PwwslXYnZ2dnUVZ_tWhnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-EE9711.23210705022007@news.giganews.com...

In article <jZKdnW-_HctyTVrYnZ2dnUVZ_h-vnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

If Libby's memory was that bad, he should never
have been in such a position of authority. His
lawyers are trying to get away with another
Republican coverup.

Libby seems at best to have a very selective memory. He 'selects' when
he remembers things and when he doesn't. I agree that his lawyers seem
to be working overtime to protect Cheney.

I think that Libby is starting to regret his loyalty
to Cheney - a creature that is loyal only to itself.

Loyalty is not one of their strong points. In Woodward's most recent
book and in "Hubris", Isikoff and Corn, There was a lot of backstabbing
described. I'd love to see Libby spill the beans.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "Michelle Malkin"
Title: Re: OT: A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence At Libby Trial	07 Feb 2007 01:37:28 AM

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-67F680.22530606022007@news.giganews.com...

In article <EMmdney21PwwslXYnZ2dnUVZ_tWhnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-EE9711.23210705022007@news.giganews.com...

In article <jZKdnW-_HctyTVrYnZ2dnUVZ_h-vnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

If Libby's memory was that bad, he should never
have been in such a position of authority. His
lawyers are trying to get away with another
Republican coverup.

Libby seems at best to have a very selective memory. He 'selects' when
he remembers things and when he doesn't. I agree that his lawyers seem
to be working overtime to protect Cheney.

I think that Libby is starting to regret his loyalty
to Cheney - a creature that is loyal only to itself.

Loyalty is not one of their strong points. In Woodward's most recent
book and in "Hubris", Isikoff and Corn, There was a lot of backstabbing
described. I'd love to see Libby spill the beans.

When he fully realizes that no one is really going to
help him, he probably will. He has sacrificial lamb
written all over him.
--
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
Michelle Malkin (Mickey) aa list#1
BAAWA Knight & Bible Thumper Thumper
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
When fascism comes to America, it will be
wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross -
Sinclair Lewis
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: OT: A Battle Over "Powerful Evidence At Libby Trial	08 Feb 2007 12:20:45 AM

In article <8qGdnU7nrt4tHFTYnZ2dnUVZ_q6vnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote: