The Plame Blame Game

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How Bush Uses the Courts *
The grand jury investigation into the illegal leak of Valerie Plame's covert CIA identity still has not led to the public revelation of any suspect who might be responsible for the leak. . . ., the suspects are two "senior" Bush Administration sources - who may be high-profile. . . Though few believe the Supreme Court will rule for the reporters, as Hoyle note, the High Court might place the case "on its docket, which conceivably could push the resolution into 2006.". . .if it takes the case - and further delays it - the Special Counsel can do nothing. For this reason, a Court decision to docket the case should raise deep suspicions. This, after all, is the Court that installed Bush and Cheney in the White House with its dubious Bush v. Gore ruling. Delaying this case until the backside of Bush's second term could give the White House a pass through the mid-term elections as well. John Dean, Find Law, 5/19/05 MORE

Plame Game Quandary*

It's hard to fathom the continuing legal squeeze on Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper and The New York Times' Judith Miller to reveal their sources in a White House leak investigation. Unless, that is, the real concern of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald isn't just the leak, . . . .Here's where it gets complicated: Fitzgerald's legal quest makes little sense to me as a leak investigation. The law is fuzzy, the evidence is ambiguous and the case would be hard to prove. But every good prosecutor hates perjury, above all. And on its face, this case raises the possibility that one of the senior administration officials who talked with Cooper or Miller has denied doing so, under oath. Otherwise, Fitzgerald would have been finished months ago. David Ignatius, The Daily Star, 5/14/05  MORE

Libby, Cheney and Plame

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff and a key player in the Plame leak investigation, told investigators about off-the-record conversations he had last summer with the Post's Glenn Kessler and NBC's Tim Russert, and formally requested that the conversations be disclosed, thereby freeing both reporters from their bond of confidentiality. . . There is no indication that Libby has given Time magazine's Cooper the same permission to come forward and reveal any confidential conversations the two had about Plame last summer. . .  Cooper and his coauthors wrote, "Some government officials have noted to Time in interviews (as well as to syndicated columnist Robert Novak) that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." Eric Boehlert, Salon, 8/13/04

Bush: the Plame Blame Game*

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently testified before a federal grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of CIA covert officer Valerie Plame, NEWSWEEK has learned. Powell's appearance on July 16 is the latest sign the probe being conducted by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is highly active and broader than has been publicly known. Sources close to the case say prosecutors were interested in discussions Powell had while with President George W. Bush on a trip to Africa in July 2003, . . .White House officials were seeking to discredit Wilson, who had become a public critic of the Bush administration. There's no indication Powell is a subject of the probe; the department official said the secretary never talked to Novak about the Plame matter.  Michael Isikoff and Eve Conant, Newsweek, 8/9/04 Issue

RNC Interference in Plame Investigation *

"I was ambushed by a Republican National Committee-directed smear campaign, based upon lies and distortions.  And you've seen it in the Wall Street Journal. You've seen it in the right-wing blogs. And you've seen it in Bill Safire's…column.  I've been accused of being a traitor to my country, and of being a liar…Now the same people who are involved in this campaign, the RNC -- The RNC I remind you is headed by the President, the Vice-President and with which Karl Rove has an intimate relationship.  These are the same people who have been called to testify before the special counsel and/or the grand jury.  Indeed, when the President testified, when the President spoke with the special counsel, he was accompanied by a criminal defense attorney."  Joe Wilson, LiberalOasis, 8/1/04