National Emergency Powers (pdf)

National Emergency Powers (PDF)
Congressional Research Service, Updated November, 2006
The President of the United States has certain powers that he may exercise if the nation is threatened by crisis, exigency, or emergency circumstances. This report discusses the scope, limits, and restraints on the President in exercising these powers.

emptywheel @ 120

Regarding the “mystery witness.” It is a Proescution witness. I think the possibiliites are Rove (that would make sense since Libby staked his defense on an anti-Rove stance; also, it would make sense for him to precede Russert; the problem with this is that Libby hasn’t had full discovery on Rove), Edelman (who is named in the indictment), Cheney (so Fitz gets to determine the scope, rather than Libby’s team), Matalin (so we can see her snake), or perhaps someone like Scottie McC (so Fitz can introduce the stuff surrounding the Scottie statements from Fall 2003).

Perhaps David Gregory? Confirming that (a) Ari told him about Plame; and (b) he didn’t tell Russert (at least not before Libby called Russert to complain about Tweety)?

Wasn’t there another reporter in that clutch of “journalistas” on that Ugandan road? Some gal with Ari, Gregory, and Dickenson?

What’s odd is Ari says Dickenson probably heard what he said about Plame…and Cooper says that Dickenson said he had already heard. But Dickenson now says that he didn’t hear Ari say it???

Seems that Dickenson is the odd man in the ring in Mexican tag-team wrestling.

And I bet that Fitz has either affidavits or witnesses in the wings that could be called to impugn Dickensons’ public “unsworn” assertions ~ to support ARI’s statement.

Maybe that’s why neither the defense or prosecution apparently bothered to subpoena or interview Dickenson! He’d be squashed as a witness!

mui @ 180

looseheadprop @ 161

Sometimes I re read something I have put in the threads and it is not at all what I thought I typed. But I still know what I was trying to type.

From college memory psychology: recall memory is a great and powerful thing. It works for you, it works for me and it probably worked for Cooper. The typos were irrelevant. Even a smell can brings back a conversation.

I agree. Cooper came across as credible. Judy did not. Especially since she admitted, explicitly, that she couldn’t be sure that she first heard about Plame from Libby.

But her NOTES did!

Conversely Cooper’s memory came off as credible (despite the absence of discussion in his notes) because he placed it in a solid context with his
actions after being informed by ROVE about Plame.

I mean it simply makes good common sense that after his discussion with Rove that he’d ask Libby about Wilson’s wife! Right!

It would have been negligent otherwise.

It was the only Off The Record thing of importance to discuss!

And he doesn’t EMBELLISH what Libby said to make it into something like a major revelation. It’s simply a confirmation…with is what a reporter knows that they need to go forward with a story.

The whole thing about whether Libby said something supplemental about whether or not “I’ve heard that, but I don’t know it was true” seems irrelevant. Libby learned that Plame worked from the CIA from many WH, CIA and State Dept. sources before that.

If anything, that might even suggest that he was intent on CONCEALING official sourcing. Is there really any way that he could attribute to Russert his knowledge at THAT time? Look at the time frame! I think it’s simply impossible!

I’ve met her. She’s cool. But I won’t defend her comment about civilian deaths in Iraq.

What did she say? I watched her at one of the hearings and I could tell she was being very careful about what she said about Iraq. I immediately suspected her caution was due to Hillary’s war position before the bottom dropped out over there. She is remaining loyal to the Clintons, I suspect.

snowbird42 — You know, I’m pretty much always happy to be an American. I refuse to let my viewpoint on my nation, on our founding principles and ideals, be defined by the current asshats in the White House. And good on Al Gore — what a year he’s having, eh?

I’m thrilled he is getting the respect and admiration he deserves after being kicked around for so long.

Eat it, wingnuts!!

Quoting myself, upthread in #90: “Given that Robert Novak was one of the people who published the leak, anyone know why he’s not part of this trial? (Correct me if he is) TIA.”

Answering my own question: According to the list of “POSSIBLE LIBBY TRIAL WITNESSES” at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16921197/ , he may be called as a defense witness. Par for the course. Talk about snakes… That fella will do or say anything to save the Bush Gang (and his access to their power and influence), including perjure himself like many of the witnesses have been doing so far (and more will as this trial goes on)… He knows that comes the revolution when the Bushies are gone (please GOD, and soon) that he will be out on his ear, or worse. Hopefully far worse.

But has Fitz asserted that Novak was Libby’s source, or that they even conversed about Wilson? Generally it’s held that Novak’s sources were Armitage and Rove.

So is Libby going to march out a bunch of reporters that he contacted who will say ~ “he never told US about Plame”?

It would seem to me that the strategy would have been to maintain as low a profile as possible for deniability…making statements “on background” and “off the record”; trying to make the statements appear to the reporter to be “off-the-cuff”
[Novak asserted this was the case several times…but later stated that Armitage was the one that started discussing Wilson and, unprompted, revealed Plame’s identity…and that would also have to be the case with his revelation to Woodward since “the Ambassador” was NOT even publicaly identified yet, and thus his wife wasn’t either. And Armitage telling reporters “accidently” twice is probative of intent.

The same is true of Libby.

I think that what is forgotten here is that the defense has largely conceded that Libby DID tell the witnesses about Wilson’s wife (Plame) prior to the Novak article coming out. That was a concession made when they said that they would demonstrate that Libby was so caught up with important Security issues that he would have forgotten (i.e. he did it…it just slipped his mind) events that occurred during this critical time period when he testified.

That concedes that he DID make the statements as documented by Millers notes, Cooper’s recollections, Fleisher’s memory, Martin’s testimony, his own notes, etc.

The Defense is simply showing that some of these reporters have faulty memories about some aspect of what would have been a singular event to them.

But there is a very big difference between a reporter forgetting (a la Miller) the details of a conversation RECEIVED from another…and a series of events in which one received information, digested it, acted upon it by passing on that information weeks if not months later, again and again and again. Such actions mean that the information was well integrated within the neural networks involved with memory.

Fitz has demonstrated this and it seems that the defense largely has conceded that point. I don’t recall that they held in their opening arguments that they were going to show that in each and every case that they would show that Mr. Libby did NOT pass on the information or learn about “Wilson’s wife” before Robert Novak’s article.

They are simply asserting that he knew it and forgot that he learned it throughout this period and thought that Timmee gave him the dope.

I can’t see the jury swallowing the assertion that Libby FORGOT that he obtained Plame’s identity and was marketing it given the body of Fitz’s evidence and Libby’s deep involvement.

Or maybe the DEFENSE is now going to argue that the media were in on the conspiracy by the Rovians in the WH? Or maybe they passed Libby some drug that caused selective amnesia???

Did Fleischer REALLY leak right in front of the President on a road in Africa (Dubya’s favorite country)? Or, more likely, did George leak and Ari is just taking the fall to protect him?

I hope the dental visit was painless. :)

taking one for the team – just got back from a cruise through Right Blogspazstan . . .

20 years of hearing about the Librul Media and now, through this trial they have ample reassurance the Biased Press has been solidly in their corner all along – and . . . and. . . . zip, nada, zilch, not even a gossipy mention of Tweety/L’il Russ from Our Lady of the Albumen™ (h/t TBogg)

guess it’s a formula: provision popcorn in direct proportion to the volume of the crickets chirping

Girl you make me laugh.