Sunday, August 07, 2005

 

TreasonGate: Bad News And Good News

The Bad News (via Kos diarist Pontificator): Bush is apparently planning to replace Plame grand jury prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's boss, the universally-respected James Comey, with a Bush buddy and fellow Skull and Boneser who would be in the perfect position to, say, provide leaks to the targets (*cough* Rove, Libby, Cheney *cough*) of Fitzgerald's investigation. The Good News (also via Kos diarist Pontificator): Judith Miller's source turns out to be none other than Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's right-hand man. And what's more, Libby's testimony is at odds with that of other figures who Fitzgerald and his staff have interviewed:

Fitzgerald's staff and grand jury have queried a slew of Bush administration officials as to who received and read the classified State memorandum; whether Rove or Libby learned that Plame was employed with the CIA either directly from the memorandum or from others who had read it; and whether any reporters had conversations regarding the matter with Rove and Libby. Libby has reportedly told Fitzgerald that he first learned of Plame's identity from NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert. But Russert has told investigators that he never told Libby about Plame. Rove said that he first learned the information from his conversation with Robert Novak. By saying that they learned the information from reporters, the stakes are dramatically raised for the two White House aides: If it turns out that it can be shown that they learned the information from a classified source, such as the State Department memo, they could be in legal jeopardy for disclosing classified information. And if they misled investigators or the federal grand jury on that question, that trouble could be compounded.
Let's hope that Fitz can act on the Good News before Bush implements his Bad News.


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