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You are here: Home / Politics / Plame Game Continued

Plame Game Continued

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Lots more on the Plame front:

The special counsel in the C.I.A. leak case has told associates he has no plans to issue a final report about the results of the investigation, heightening the expectation that he intends to bring indictments, lawyers in the case and law enforcement officials said yesterday.

The prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, is not expected to take any action in the case this week, government officials said. A spokesman for Mr. Fitzgerald, Randall Samborn, declined to comment.

A final report had long been considered an option for Mr. Fitzgerald if he decided not to accuse anyone of wrongdoing, although Justice Department officials have been dubious about his legal authority to issue such a report.

Murry Waas reports that things are heating up for Libby:

As federal prosecutors in the CIA leak investigation reach the critical stage of deciding whether to bring criminal charges, they are zeroing in on contradictions between the testimony of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, and that of New York Times reporter Judith Miller, according to sources close to the investigation and attorneys for individuals enmeshed in the probe.

The prosecutors and the federal grand jury are also scrutinizing whether Libby, or his attorney, tried to discourage Miller from giving testimony to the grand jury, or tried to improperly influence what Miller would say if she testified, according to the same sources…

Evidence indicating that Libby or his attorney may have tried to discourage or influence Miller’s testimony is significant for two reasons, outside legal experts say. First, attempting to influence a witness’s testimony might in and of itself constitute obstruction of justice or witness-tampering, said the experts.

More important, evidence that Libby might have tried to discourage Miller’s testimony has put Libby’s testimony in a worse light, according to government officials briefed on the matter. Potentially misleading and incomplete answers by Libby to federal investigators are less likely to be explained away as the result of his faulty memory or inadvertent mistakes, the sources said.

According to a Justice Department official not directly involved with the Plame case, “Both intent and frame of mind are often essential to bringing the type of charges Fitzgerald is apparently considering. And not wanting a key witness to testify goes straight to showing that there were indeed bad intentions.”

Tom Maguire goes through it all with his red pen, so you don’t have to.

Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    Krista

    You know what…someone IS going to make a movie about this someday. It’s just too damned riveting.

  3. 3.

    Steve

    Except Deep Throat, or at least the idea that he was a critical part of the story, was invented for the movie. You can always make a movie if you’re willing to sex up the facts a little.

  4. 4.

    Shygetz

    If this is going to be a movie (at least, a decent movie), someone will have to die. Any nominations?

  5. 5.

    DerKommisar

    I got your red pen right here

    “Even though I’m a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.”

    Remarks By George H.W. Bush
    41st President of the United States,
    At the Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence, 1999.

    http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/1999/bush_speech_042699.html

  6. 6.

    Krista

    If this is going to be a movie (at least, a decent movie), someone will have to die. Any nominations?

    I’d give you a wish list, but I’d prefer not to have a CIA file, thank you very much. :) Actually, I don’t want any of these guys to actually die…I just want their careers and their power (and their riches!) to disappear in a blaze of headlines and humiliation.

  7. 7.

    simon

    John, I’m curious as to your take on this seemingly big story that Bush knew about Rove’s involvement in the Plame leak two years ago and then proceeded to lie to you and the American people. It’s even worse that he seems to have been more angry at them getting caught than the with actual act.

  8. 8.

    Tim F

    If this is going to be a movie (at least, a decent movie), someone will have to die. Any nominations?

    We do not know whether any intelligence assets died as a result of the leak. Particularly if we lost a US NOC, the circumstances of his or her death would make a potent film in their own rights. We know that a star went up on the wall at Langley but we don’t know whether it was related. If it was, …

  9. 9.

    demimondian

    Except Deep Throat, or at least the idea that he was a critical part of the story, was invented for the movie.

    Hmm. You’re less than…oh, about 40 years old, aren’t you?

    Deep Throat played a huge part in the story as it played out on the pages of the _Washington Post_.

  10. 10.

    Sherard

    Someone help me with this as I continue to struggle with this notion –

    If nobody actually committed a crime, here (outing Plame), whether it be in a technical, indirect, or directly overt nature, then why would they lie or obstruct justice to cover it up ?

    I presume all these people are represented by smart lawyers who would demand the outright truth of the matter. And if no actual crime were committed, that fact would have become readily apparent, at least to their own lawyers. At which point – if it were me – I would have recommended that they be completely forthright with the Grand Jury. They didn’t commit the crime they were being investigated for, best to be honest and not put yourself in a position where you might be found to have committed perjury or obstructed justice.

    Something here just doesn’t make sense.

  11. 11.

    slide

    Actually, I don’t want any of these guys to actually die…I just want their careers and their power (and their riches!) to disappear in a blaze of headlines and humiliation.

    can we also have a little penitentiary rough sex as well thrown in? Just to spice things up a bit?

  12. 12.

    srv

    If this is going to be a movie (at least, a decent movie), someone will have to die. Any nominations?

    I think a few thousand in Iraq will cover it.

  13. 13.

    DougJ

    If you’re not reading the Free Republic threads about this, you’re really missing out — some of them still think Wilson will be indicted. The Fitzmas carols at Daily Kos are pretty good too on the other side.

    There should really be a place where those two groups come together.

  14. 14.

    slide

    Something here just doesn’t make sense.

    Not if one assumes they knew they have violated the law.

  16. 16.

    slide

    while we are engaging in wild speculation, here is something new from Andrew Sullivan:

    The rumors are now swirling. Who has really been cooperating with Fitzgerald? The new buzz is that it could be … Colin Powell. Who ends up at the center of the Plame outing? The odds may be narrowing on Cheney. If that pans out, we could be about to hit Plamegate pay-dirt; and the Bush administration could be headed into a political Katrina. But this is still just Capitol Hill buzz; and my sourcing is still light. A blog is not a newspaper and what I’ve just detailed wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) get into a newspaper. But, hey, speculation is part of what a blog is for; and I don’t see why I should withhold what folks in DC are buzzing about from readers. We still don’t know a lot. And these rumors may be shot down. But the issue may well be the now long-reported Airforce One trip where Plame’s covert status was allegedly discussed. With whom did Powell allegedly share the email? Who took the information and used it? We may soon find out.

    Man, this is exciting. Ok, your nominations for the actor playing Colin Powell?

  18. 18.

    slide

    The noose is tightening:

    Late Monday, several sources familiar with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe said John Hannah, a key aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and one of the architects of the Iraq war, was cooperating with Fitzgerald after being told that he was identified by witnesses as a co-conspirator in the leak. Sources said Hannah was not given immunity, but was likely offered a “deal” in exchange for information that could result in indictments of key White House officials.

    Now, those close to the investigation say that a second Cheney aide, David Wurmser, has agreed to provide the prosecution with evidence that the leak was a coordinated effort by Cheney’s office to discredit the agent’s husband. Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was one of the most vocal critics of the Iraq war.

    http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Second_Cheney_aide_cooperating_in_leak_1019.html

  19. 19.

    DougJ

    Colin Powell = James Earl Jones? (he is still alive right?)

    They’re both alive as far I know. That would be excellent casting.

    Morgan Freeman would be good in that role, too. Though maybe he should narrate. That guy can narrate like nobody’s business.

    Who to play Bush? Other than Will Ferrell of course.

  20. 20.

    skip

    A key addition:

    The Israeli Spy Ring

    Word is that Fitzgerald asked for and received permission from the Italian Parliament to share the report on the Nigerian forgers with Paul McNulty, the prosecutor of the AIPAC spy case.

    This sends a strong signal that the link between Israeli spying and the lies that led to war forms a part of their respective investigations.

  21. 21.

    slide

    Morgan Freeman would be good in that role, too. Though maybe he should narrate. That guy can narrate like nobody’s business.

    Agreed. A story like this definitly needs a narrator and he would be great.

  22. 22.

    Krista

    slide –

    can we also have a little penitentiary rough sex as well thrown in? Just to spice things up a bit?

    If I could arrange it, it would be done. :) I’d even let you spectate, darlin’.

  23. 23.

    Steve

    Hmm. You’re less than…oh, about 40 years old, aren’t you?

    Deep Throat played a huge part in the story as it played out on the pages of the Washington Post.

    WaPo editor Barry Sussman:

    The most frequently-asked Watergate question is, “Who is Deep Throat?” I was the Washington Post’s editor in charge of the Watergate coverage and I still get asked that a lot, even though it is a quarter-century since the break-in at Democratic headquarters.

    That’s the power of myth: Over the years an anonymous bit player, a minor contributor, has become a giant.

    For me, half the answer to the Deep Throat question is that I don’t know who Deep Throat is. The other half is that it really doesn’t matter. Interesting, yes, in that it would solve a mystery. Important to the Post’s Watergate reporting, no.

    Deep Throat barely figured in the Post’s Watergate coverage. He was nice to have around, but that’s about it.

    As the bloggers say, read the whole thing.

  24. 24.

    slide

    skip yes, I just caught that too in the Raw story about Wurmser. This is really getting facinating. Lots of dots being connected by Fitzgerald it seems. From the article again:

    Wurmser’s cooperation with Fitzgerald would certainly come as no surprise to those who have been following his career. Last year, he was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his possible role in leaking U.S. security secrets to Israel.

    According to a 2004 story in the Washington Post, the FBI interviewed officials in Cheney’s office and the Pentagon, including Hannah and Wurmser, former Defense Policy Board member Richard Perle, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, to determine if they were involved in leaking U.S. security secrets to Israel, the former head of the Iraqi National Congress Ahmed Chalabi and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

    Wurmser was the lead author of a 1996 policy paper for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu titled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.” It called for removing Saddam from power in Iraq as part of a broad strategy to transform the region and remove radical regimes. Eight months before 9/11, Wurmser called for joint U.S.-Israeli air strikes on Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya.

  25. 25.

    Shygetz

    Who to play Bush?

    Ok, I know this is coming from out of right field, but I nominate…

    Mr. T.

    The Greatest Actor Ever to play the Greatest President Ever.

    What do you think?

  27. 27.

    DougJ

    Speaking of casting, has any of you ever read Mark Leyner’s The Tetherballs of Bougainville? It ends with a 120 page review of a (fictitious) movie made by the young Mark Leyner. I’m pretty sure Mr. T is in there somewhere. My favorite is “a woefully miscast Willie Nelson as Mark’s biophysics professor.”

  30. 30.

    Tim F

    I nominate Nicholas Cage for Bush. He can do insecure-loser-burying-his-alcoholic-demons-behind-a-thin-veneer-of-machismo better than anybody. If he’s busy then Christopher Walken is always game for that sort of role.

  31. 31.

    Lines

    I nominate John Stewart to play Bush. Have you heard him do the laugh? No ONE can do the laugh like Stewart.

  33. 33.

    CeeGee

    Previously a lurker until called up as a potential casting director for the Plamegate “morality play”…

    My choices:

    Fitzgerald: Daniel Day Lewis

    Bush: Tim Blake Nelson (Oh, Brother Where Art Thou). Has that truly unique “deer caught in headlights” gravitas.

    Powell: James Earl Jones
    Libby: Ed Harris
    Rove: James Gandolfini (or Michael Moore)
    Cheney: Christopher Walken
    Chalabi: Ben Gazzara (agreed, great casting!)
    Miller: Rosalind Russell (isn’t technology grand) or Candace Bergen

  34. 34.

    slide

    Bush: Tim Blake Nelson (Oh, Brother Where Art Thou). Has that truly unique “deer caught in headlights” gravitas.

    was he the one that was turned into a frog?

  35. 35.

    Skip

    “liberals are dumb as dirt”

    Which must be why they hold 8 out of ten Ivy League professorships, while the saviest savants are perched in the elyssian ether of the New Athens in Morgantown.

    Its actually reassuring to be a liberal. I don’t have to go to bed with the light on, fearing the 49% of my nieghbors that are made up of “kooks” and “traitors.”

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