Fitzgerald Investigation of Leak of Identity of CIA Agent

Everything that happens outside of the Grand Jury and Fitz's public pronouncements is speculation. Your comment is redundant. If you don't wish to discuss the matter. Fine.

But to do so requires speculation.

This is what Fitz said in his press conference:

"This grand jury's term has expired by statute; it could not be extended. But it's in ordinary course to keep a grand jury open to consider other matters, and that's what we will be doing."

No speculation there.

Somewhere, you have a point?

Raw Story says Hadley is Woodward's source.

Nikki


Is the next one in line Condi Rice, for whom Hadley worked?

BBB

Instead he has seated a new Grand Jury.

What (besides wishful thinking) could have lead you to speculate that Fitz would "have to" drop Libby's indictment?

Nikki


Eating too many onions for breakfast?

BBB

Downie Says Woodward Should 'Absolutely Not' Resign
Downie Says Woodward Should 'Absolutely Not' Resign
By Joe Strupp
Published: November 18, 2005 10:15 AM ET updated
NEW YORK

In an online chat at The Washington Post's web site this morning, Executive Editor Leonard Downie, Jr., expressed continuing support for star reporter Bob Woodward--under new guidelines--in the wake of revelations that Woodward had kept secret his involvement in the PlameCIA leak case for more than two years.

Pressed by questioners, Downie said Woodward had made very mistakes over many years and had apologized for the latest ones. Asked if should resign for betraying his trust and the trust of readers, Downie replied: "Absolutely not. This is one mistake that Bob has made in over three decades of extraordinary reporting, beginning with Watergate, that has performed a great public service for our readers and all Americans by revealing more about how our government works -- and holding it accountable -- than any other journalist. And, as I've said, even though he should have told me about this information much sooner, we may well not have been able to publish it at the time because of his confidentiality agreement with his source."

Asked if Woodward owed the special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, an apology for putting him down continually on TV while refusing to reveal his own involvement in the Plame case, Downie answered: "As Bob has said, he objected in principle to having reporters forced by Fitzgerald to testify about confidential source relationships and about the chilling effect he feared it would have on reporting. Nevertheless, as Bob has acknowledged, he should not have been expressing his personal views about the investigation on television."

What about the sharply different accounts of a key conversation between Woodward and fellow reporter Walter Pincus? "After talking to both of them at length about this, I and they believe they each have honestly different recollections of conversations two years ago. There are a lot of such quick conversations among reporters in a busy newsroom, not all of which are going to be accurately remembered years later."

When asked if he could trust Woodward in the future after the reporter held back information, Downie said, "Bob Woodward never lied. He failed to come to me sooner and tell me something he should have told me. Once he did tell me last month, he told me everything about it. I've worked with Bob for 33 years, and he has always been truthful in person and in his work. He is also one of the most careful, accurate and fair journalists I have every worked with."

Downie also stressed, in response to another question, that there were no "stars" in the newsroom, everyone was on equal footing. "There is only one of set of rules for everyone working in our newsroom."

When asked if Woodward had no reason to come to him with information about his conversation until he was ready to write a story, Downie disagreed: " All of our reporters must tell an editor the names of any confidential sources for information or quotations in stories we publish. In addition, reporters must tell an appropriate editor about anything that occurs in their reporting that could be important to the newspaper, as this information was."

(TO BE UPDATED AS CHAT CONTINUES)
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Joe Strupp is a senior editor

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tpn

He has seated a new GJ?

Downie Says 'Wash Post' Might Reveal Woodward Source
Downie Says 'Wash Post' Might Reveal Woodward Source
By Joe Strupp
Published: November 18, 2005 10:05 AM ET
NEW YORK

The Washington Post might reveal the confidential source who leaked the identity of CIA Agent Valeria Plame to Bob Woodward if other reporters at the paper discovered the name, Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie, Jr. told The New York Times.

Downie, who has said he knows the identity of the person about whom Woodward testified to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald on Monday, told the Times that Woodward's promise of non-disclosure does not extend to other reporters at the paper.

"Each reporter is bound only by his own promises of confidentiality," Downie was quoted as saying in Friday's Times.

Woodward, who was not quoted in the story and could not be reached for comment by E&P because he is traveling, testified about three sources in the case Monday. The other sources, who did not discuss Plame's identity to Woodward, were later revealed to be former White House Aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Both have given a waiver for the Post to reveal their identities

The third source, who has become the center of immense speculation in Washington, reportedly asked Woodward to testify about their conversation, but has not given permission to be revealed publicly.
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Joe Strupp ([email protected]) is a senior editor at E&P.

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Obviously stated before I read Fitz GJ statement, my hindsight is as good as anyone's.

I don't wish nor did I say I wished the charges would be dropped.

Joe Wilson Calls on 'Post' to Name Woodward's Source
Joe Wilson Calls on 'Post' to Name Woodward's Source
By E&P Staff
Published: November 17, 2005 3:55 PM ET
NEW YORK

Joseph Wilson, the husband of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, called on Thursday for an inquiry by The Washington Post into the conduct of reporter Bob Woodward, who repeatedly criticized the leak investigation on national TV without disclosing his own involvement.

"It certainly gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. He was taking an advocacy position when he was a party to it," Wilson said, according to Reuters.

Wilson told Reuters that The Washington Post should reveal the name of Woodward's source, and conduct an inquiry to determine why he withheld the information for more than two years from his editors and the federal prosecutor.
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According to Daily Kos which referred to a WSJ article yesterday. (subscription only) Yes.

Still wondering what would even cause you to think that, anyway...

thanx...this is the quote from the WSJ

Hadley Coy on Whether He's Woodward Source
Hadley Coy on Whether He's Woodward Source
Fri Nov 18, 8:34 AM ET
AP

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley won't say if he was the source who told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. But Hadley volunteered on Friday that some administration officials say he's not the leaker.

Accompanying President Bush at a summit here, Hadley was asked at a news briefing whether he was Woodward's source.

Referring to news accounts about the case, Hadley said with a smile, "I've also seen press reports from White House officials saying that I am not one of his sources." He said he would not comment further because the CIA leak case remains under investigation.

Leaving the room, Hadley was asked if his answer amounted to a yes or a no. "It is what it is," he said.

Controversy surrounding the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity showed no signs of abating Thursday, dashing any hopes White House officials had that the investigation was nearing an end.

A group of former intelligence officers urged Bush not to pardon anyone convicted of leaking Plame's name to reporters and to pull security clearances of any White House officials implicated in the investigation.

Plame's husband went on the airwaves urging the Washington Post to conduct an inquiry into why Woodward kept his editor in the dark about an interview 17 months ago with a senior administration official about Plame's identity and her work at the CIA, a conversation a month before another journalist published her name.

Woodward, in a sworn deposition Monday, said a senior administration official told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame, worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction.

Plame's identity was revealed in July 2003 by columnist Robert Novak, eight days after her husband, a former U.S. ambassador, accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

In another development, a person familiar with the federal investigation said that Vice President Dick Cheney is not the unidentified source who told Woodward about Plame's CIA status.

The vice president did not talk with Woodward on the day in question, did not provide the information that's been reported in Woodward's notes and has not had any conversations over the past several weeks about any release for allowing Woodward to testify, said the person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the federal probe is still under way.

The Woodward revelations renewed attention on the investigation into who was responsible for leaking Plame's name, an inquiry that had appeared to be winding down after last month's indictment of former Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"Obviously, the White House thought they were through with this investigation," said Steven Reich, a senior associate counsel to President Clinton. "It appears now that that information came out earlier than anyone previously thought and it potentially could have come from a source no one previously knew about."

Libby, 55, Cheney's former chief of staff, was charged with lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about how he learned about Plame's identity and her work at the CIA and when he subsequently shared that information with reporters.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, in announcing the charges three weeks ago, portrayed Libby as the government official who first revealed Plame's name to reporters. At a news conference in Chicago Thursday, Fitzgerald ducked questions about how Woodward's assertion, that he got it first and from someone other than Libby, would affect the investigation.

After Fitzgerald was tipped by Woodward's source that they had discussed Plame in June 2003, Woodward met with the prosecutor and on Monday recounted their conversation. His account, but not the source's name, was reported in Tuesday editions of the Washington Post, renewing speculation about who leaked Plame's name and how high in the administration his source resides.

"The Libby case was always going to cause heartburn for the White House," said Washington defense lawyer E. Lawrence Barcella Jr., a former federal prosecutor. "But not like this."

Barcella said the White House could've tried managing news as the Libby case moved through hearings and toward trial on a predictable schedule.

"That's the legal realm," Barcella said. But the Woodward revelations put the investigation back in "the political realm," he said. "And that can have a daily impact" with sustained media coverage.

My reading of the above is that prosecutors are proceeding as if a new grand jury will be seated, but it hasn't been seated yet.

What does it take to seat a grand jury? Is it entirely the prosecutor's option, or is there a process involved?

15 Questions for Bob Woodward
15 Questions for Bob Woodward
Arianna Huffington
11.17.2005

1. If you didn't tell your editor, Len Downie, about the CIA leak because you were so afraid of being subpoenaed, why did you supposedly tell Walter Pincus? Did you trust Pincus but not Downie?

2. Why were you afraid of being subpoenaed in 2003? Subpoenas of reporters didn't begin until 2004.

And how would telling Downie lead to your being subpoenaed?

3. What are your ground rules for your books? Since Plan of Attack was published, weren't you free to use the material from your source?

4. Why did you come forward to Len Downie in late October to reveal your source? This was supposedly before your source approached Fitzgerald, so what motivated you? Did the source call you or did you have sudden pangs of conscience? Why didn't this occur to you in 2003 or 2004?

5. On October 27, you were on Larry King saying you had no big scoop. Was that true or a lie?

6. Why did you criticize Fitzgerald and his investigation without revealing that you had something to hide from him?

7. You said you got permission in writing from all three of your sources to testify about your conversations with them. Two of these sources, Andrew Card and Scooter Libby, have been identified. Can you release their letters? And did Libby write any poetry to you?

8. Why did you say categorically that there was no harm done by the outing of Valerie Plame? How do you know this when the CIA has yet to issue an after-action report?

9. Can you at least tell us some of the atmospherics of your dealings with Fitzgerald?

10. Did the prosecutor indicate that you might be called back?

11. Are you now writing about the Plame affair, and if you are is it for one of your books or for the Post?

12. You've praised Judith Miller's decision to go to jail and offered to do time for her. Still feel that way?

13. Did you remind your source of the June 2003 conversation and did that prompt him or her to go to Fitzgerald?

14. Had your source testified previously to Fitzgerald or before the grand jury?

15. Is there any chance your source was Bill Casey being channeled from the dead?

That's really VERY funny.

This is sooooo depressing.

Reporters and others associated with the news media who become 'personalities' and whose (at the top) huge paychecks and social perks (anyone of us had a sandwich with Barbara Walters lately) and who move in the rarified social circles can become just another part of the whole self-enforcing and self-aggrandizing machine of Washington and New York.

What zest might Andrea Mitchell have to dig in an reveal important, but boat-rocking revelations about government and finance when she pops home at night to dinner with her hubby, Greenspan.