I don’t want to go off-topic again on TRex, especially when they’re having a pretty intense discussion over there on an important subject, but I really want to try to get the word out about a new filing from Fitzgerald late 11/16 in the Libby case, that reveals what’s at stake at the moment. So I hope this late EPU in your thread, though off-topic, may be of some interest to you, if you wander back here [I also just posted this at the end of today’s Libby thread by Christy].

This is what the CIPA process (and thus the fate of the Libby case) has come down to (emphasis added), in the words of Special Counsel Fitzgerald:

An even more alarming assertion in defendant’s CIPA Memorandum – one that completely controverts the purpose of CIPA and reveals defendant’s true graymail motivation – is the assertion that Congress’ contemplation of an acceptable statement admitting relevant facts would only be satisfied in this case if the government admitted that “the national security matters were vastly more important to Mr. Libby than the snippets of conversation concerning Valerie Wilson and thus caused him to confuse or misremember those snippets when asked about them months later.” … The drafters of CIPA contemplated that the “statement admitting relevant facts” would be a statement admitting relevant “facts,” not a statement of conclusions the defense wants the jury to draw. The government has offered a statement admitting relevant facts that serves the purposes contemplated by CIPA, in addition to proposing detailed substitutions for all of the relevant classified exhibits…
…
In fact, during the Section 6(a) hearings, even defendant admitted that balancing of the government’s right to hold people accountable for criminal activity and not subvert the process through graymail is proper at the Section 6(c) stage: [by Mr. Cline:] “And I think when we get to the substitution phase, that is where Congress sought to find a way of balancing these needs.” … Now that the Court is at the Section 6(c) stage, defendant conveniently seeks to avoid such balancing.

- Special Counsel Fitzgerald 11/16/06, including key quotes from a sealed 11/14 defense filing

There seems to be a continuance for at least one more CIPA Section 6(c) hearing, perhaps until after the Judge returns from vacation next week, but the graymail threat is coming down to the wire. The Judge will be ruling, and when he does, he will either make or break the graymail threat of dismissal of this case (prior to any government appeal). From the sound of this new government filing, Libby is now pulling out all the stops to get the case dismissed by way of a classified information graymail ruling…

At least one senator from CT has the American people in the mind.

Exactly my thoughts.

Members of the progressive community in CT are looking at ways to provide support for Dodd – in contrast to our total lack of support for Lieberliar.

i’m not finished with print and i’m not even started on TV

You’re a saint.