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Thu 6 Apr, 2006 10:04 am
Quote: Libby: Bush Authorized Plamegate Leak
Indicted ex-Cheney aide told grand jury of White House approval
APRIL 6--A former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney told a federal grand jury that President George W. Bush authorized him to leak information from a classified intelligence report to a New York Times reporter. Details of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's testimony were included in a court filing made yesterday by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is prosecuting Libby for perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in connection with the probe into the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.
According to Fitzgerald's filing, an excerpt of which you'll find below, Libby, 55, testified in 2003 that he provided reporter Judith Miller with information from a classified National Intelligence Estimate after being told by Cheney that Bush "specifically had authorized" him to "disclose certain information in the NIE." Libby also testified that Cheney specifically directed him to speak to other reporters about information in the classified NIE (which addressed Iraq's purported weapons of mass destruction programs) as well as a cable authored by Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson.
The leaking of the classified material was apparently done in an effort to counter claims made by Wilson regarding the White House's justification for invading Iraq. The Fitzgerald filing also notes that Libby told grand jurors that he conferred with David Addington, Cheney's counsel, about the leak directive and that Addington told him "that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document." While both Bush and Cheney have been interviewed by Fitzgerald, it is unknown whether they confirmed or disputed Libby's assertion that he was authorized to disclose findings in classified reports. Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, resigned his White House post last October following his indictment on five felony counts. (7 pages)
Plamegate aficionados: Click here for PDF of entire 39-page Fitzgerald filing
Link goes to article and discovery motion (thesmokinggun.com)
And just so we can keep things in perspective, lets not forget the following quotes about the situation from the administration:
"When the White House was asked specifically whether Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams or Lewis Libby told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: Those individuals -- I talked -- I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands."
[White House Briefing, 10/10/03]
"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."
[Bush Remarks: Chicago, Illinois, 9/30/03]
"The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration."
[White House Briefing, 9/29/03]
Newsflash! I beat you to this one by two hours or so.
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1965414#1965414
Can we move discussion to the long-standing thread on the topic?
Thanks for the News Flash. I follow the longstanding thread sometimes, but the newsflash caught my attention. I don't herd well.
Same here. Plus, when a thread gets that long, I tend not to want to join in without having read the whole thing, or even the last 5 pages. But ok, I'll join.
FreeDuck wrote:Same here. Plus, when a thread gets that long, I tend not to want to join in without having read the whole thing, or even the last 5 pages.
Seriously. The original thread is 90+ pages. Who knows where the conversation has gone already.
Me too, or at least I'll follow along.
It doesn't really matter to me, other than for archival purposes.
Later, it is nice to have people's opinions, reactions and thoughts grouped in a few threads rather than all over the place; provides for much easier research.
Wherever people start discussing the topic, there I shall go, I pledge.
Cycloptichorn
So, the report says that Libby said that Cheney said that Bush said?
Libby TESTIFIED that Cheney told him to do something at Bush's direction.
That's a bit different than "he said, he said".
Yeah, lol. Nice eight-grade defense Libby's got going on here.
Cycloptichorn
boomerang wrote:Libby TESTIFIED that Cheney told him to do something at Bush's direction.
That's a bit different than "he said, he said".
Did he write his testimony out? Sorry, usually they speak when they testifiy.
The angle I find most interesting is the notion that by ordering it released, the president has in fact declassified it. So there can be no leaking of classified information because the very act of leaking it makes it declassified. I predict another great legal debate that parallels the Unitary Executive debate.
Sigh. The Report says that the Testimony from Libby says that Cheney told Libby that Bush had told Cheney that it was okay for Libby to leak NIE documents to Reporters.
There are two seperate issues that are pretty important to Bush:
First, Did Bush or Cheney authorize the leaking of Plame's name? The report doesn't state this and neither does the testimony.
Second, did Bush and Cheney declassify only the portions of the NIE which supported their claims, and keep classified those which did not? It seems that this is the case. This adds a whole lot of weight to the 'Bush lied' about intel argument; he and Cheney knew that there was contradictory evidence, and didn't care.
We will see. I recommend reading the Murray Waas piece linked to in the other thread.
Cycloptichorn
I might point out that Libby is a liar. Is he telling the truth now?
The reports on NPR say that while the report was de-classified, Bush did not authorize releasing Plame's identity. While I don't know if one is possible without the other, that's a point they keep making and I'm sure it's a point that will be highlighted by the administration, too. so, is it possible to release one without the other?
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