Breaking News: Libby Indicted, Bush still President, left finds nothing under Fitzmas tree
So believe it or not I have read the 22 page indictment of Scooter Libby, yes I actually did. The 5 counts Libby is charged with revolve around statements that Libby made to the grand jury related to New York Times reporter Judy Miller, Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper and Tim Russert of NBC News.
Basically, he told the grand jury that he told the reporters that he DID NOT KNOW Wilson's wife worked for the CIA when in fact he actually did tell the reporters that she worked for the CIA. It does not appear from the indictment that Libby ever used her name but rather referred to her has Wilson's wife. It does state that Libby discussed "Valerie Wilson" with a CIA briefer but not a reporter.
This indictment almost reads like a "he said, she said" between Libby and the reporters with Libby saying he didn't tell them and them saying he did. In the background materials it certainly appears as though Libby was lying and attempting to mislead the grand jury with these statement. But the original reason for this investigation was to discover who leaked the identity of a covert CIA operative and no where in this indictment does it state that Plame was such an agent. It appears Plame status was classified but not covert.
One question I have is it took 2 years to come up with this? It took two years determine there was no outing of a CIA undercover agent but rather one person, so far, has been charged with lying to a grand jury during the investigation.
UPDATE:In Fitzgeralds press conference he just asked about Valerie Plame's status, whether Libby had outed a covert agent or not and said that Libby was not charged with outing a covert agent, nor are they implying that she was covert. He said her status was classified, he did not say she was covert.
Basically, he told the grand jury that he told the reporters that he DID NOT KNOW Wilson's wife worked for the CIA when in fact he actually did tell the reporters that she worked for the CIA. It does not appear from the indictment that Libby ever used her name but rather referred to her has Wilson's wife. It does state that Libby discussed "Valerie Wilson" with a CIA briefer but not a reporter.
This indictment almost reads like a "he said, she said" between Libby and the reporters with Libby saying he didn't tell them and them saying he did. In the background materials it certainly appears as though Libby was lying and attempting to mislead the grand jury with these statement. But the original reason for this investigation was to discover who leaked the identity of a covert CIA operative and no where in this indictment does it state that Plame was such an agent. It appears Plame status was classified but not covert.
One question I have is it took 2 years to come up with this? It took two years determine there was no outing of a CIA undercover agent but rather one person, so far, has been charged with lying to a grand jury during the investigation.
UPDATE:In Fitzgeralds press conference he just asked about Valerie Plame's status, whether Libby had outed a covert agent or not and said that Libby was not charged with outing a covert agent, nor are they implying that she was covert. He said her status was classified, he did not say she was covert.
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