Login HereWhen Ted Wells came back from lunch today and announced that he had released Dick Cheney as a witness I was damn near brokenhearted. After all that, and Shooter lets me down. Did he not want to testify on Libby's behalf, did Team Libby decide he could do more harm than good, or did they never intend to call him at all? We'll probably never know.
What we did get was Cheney proxy John Hannah, who spent the morning telling us what a Very Important Man Scooter Libby is, and how very busy he was fighting Al Quaeda single handedly the week of July 8 and how he had a charming habit of forgetting things that Hannah would tell him. In the courtroom Scooter smiled affably at this good-natured portrait of his memory-challenged self.
On cross examination, Fitzgerald then inquired of Hannah if part of Libby's job was to push back if the integrity of the OVP was attacked, and Hannah said yes. Fitz then wanted to know if, during that very critical week, Hannah wanted to go out for coffee with Scooter for a couple of hours and shoot the breeze would Scooter even have time to say yes? Hannah started to squirm, knowing that this is exactly what happened between Judy Miller and Scooter at the St. Regis. So a very uncomfortable Hannah replied, well, if it were really important, he's sure Scooter would do it. Fitzgerald then wants to know if it's fair to conclude that if Scooter DID agree to go, it would be over something that was very important to him.
It was a Perry Mason moment.
Things got a bit more brutal for Team Libby with juror questioning when one juror wanted to know how Scooter, being as horribly memory-challenged as he appears to be, could do a job that was so sensitive and important. The jury sounds, based on their questions, like they're getting a bit cynical.
Libby himself will not be testifying either, and except for three CIA briefers who will take up about an hour tomorrow according to Wells, the defense will rest (with the possible exception of calling back Tim Russert, about whom both sides are filing briefs tonight). Thursday the jury will not be there and they will probably be arguing about jury instructions, and on Tuesday there will be closing statements. Jeralyn is guessing it might take about a week to reach a verdict, but that's a big guess.
The defense appears to be most worried about the charges related to Russert, and seem to be sparing no effort to try and impeach his testimony. At the end of the day the Judge did not seem terribly open to calling him back, but he's proven himself willing to keep an open mind to arguments and it wouldn't be the first time Wells persuaded him about something he was previously quite adamantly opposed to.
We ended the day at the FireHook Cafe where the WPNI's Dan Froomkin took us out for coffee and we taped the PoliticsTV video above. Murray Waas, whose reporting on this story has been totally vindicated by the revelations in this trial, also joined us and announced he has a story coming out in the National Journal this week which should be pretty interesting. Even though Shooter didn't come through for me, we've had a wonderful time at the courthouse, blazed some new pathways with the liveblogging on the trial and I think on the whole done a very commendable job of covering it.
Oh and one final teaser -- Marcy believes that Fitzgerald would not have handled Robert Novak, who was really a bit of a disgusting hack on the stand, so gently if he did not need him for future aspects of his investigation.
Just a bit of speculation. But something to think about.
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Fitz! Great job again ladies!
Oh. My. God.
Judith Matahari Miller on FRONTLINE right now.
What a lying sack of shite.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled FDL Evening News.
FRONNTLINE on PBS
Right now
Judy Miller
Woody
Fitz, and the girls
Her sources were wrong, she says.
As if vetting her sources was not her job. As if her role was merely stenography or remote viewing.
And Bill Keller claiming it was just a race for the front page. Who sets that tone in a media outlet, Keller?
Great summary as per usual, thanks.
Justice Will Prevail.
And it will be live blogged :)
Btw I watched the taping of this excellent video. And helped them with their hair.
Look, Scooter Pie.
Two choices (since nothing else has worked):
Get the big creep Cheney
on the stand and show everyone
who your evil daddy was or do hard time.
What’s it gonna be?
egregious @ 7
Great job all the way around today, thank you!
Has EW got into the courtroom yet?
If he is convicted on the 3 charges associated with Russert how much could the judge sentence him for? Any lawyerly guesses?
So, what is it?
Wells rests because [1] he’s confident he’s got “reasonable doubt” or [2] he’s throwing down the white hanky (moving on — meter running — to appeals, prior to pardon)?
_
Great work summarizing the day, Jeralyn, Marcy and Jane. What a wonderful opportunity this has been for all of us to have a window into what’s really happening at Prettyman.
And another black mark in BigTime’s book: getting Jane out of her hospital bed and then chickening out! I betcha Judge Walton’s none too happy with this psych either. Do you suppose the Shooter/Scooter-testifying was all a head-fake, or did the defense change their mind?
Personally, I don’t buy the conversation-with-Mrs.-Scooter decision not to testify — too much luncheon detail served up in order not to piss off Judge Walton.
Man, that picture of Cheney on the bottom of video is nasty. What an awful scowl - hide the children.
And my dear friends, your hair looked wonderful :)
Fitzgerald’s cross of Hannah was just devastating and brutal. Even in the not-verbatim not-transcript, you could feel it penetrate that entire “I’m a busy guy” defense like a bullet in slow motion. You can see it coming, every agonizing millisecond, but you can’t dodge it.
Perry Mason indeed.
As for Libby, he’s not testifying because he’s guilty as sin. Or at least as charged. Walton’s habit of letting the jury ask questions is like a running jury poll. You may not know what the count is, but you at least know the direction they’re headed. (And am I right in assuming that Counsel and Govt go over the questions along with Walton in sidebar, note any objections, etc. before they are asked? In which case, Wells and Fitzgerald have a pretty good idea of the totality of jury sentiment–more so than we do. We don’t get to hear the juror question, “Do you think the defendant is a lying fucktwad?”)
Wells has been pretty up front about laying down a record for appeals, which is only necessary if they lose. And speaking of that, I know I don’t get to sit around in meetings and say, “I’m glad I got that on the record so I can go over your head to your boss if you don’t approve my budget proposal.” I think if I said that I’d be invited to an intimate meeting wherein my butt would be royally chewed for insubordination.
Jane, the coverage of the trial has been the most fantastic example of citizen journalism to date. I don’t lament the utter fecklessness of the media anymore, I’ve got Jane and her crew telling it like it is. Thank you. I’m sorry about The Shooter. I was looking forward to it too. I think the presence of powerful independent coverage scared him off. What a wuss.
You rock, Jane! Go Team Plame!
In what warm cafe did you escape from the snow for your video moment today?
egregious @ 15
I think that they were happy not to be outside freezing too.
Jane –
Thank you so much, for everything!
Like I told you last week, your courage has been a special inspiration to me. So seeing you in this video and hearing your strong voice in this posting gives me an extra jolt of motivation!
[Have to make dinner in time for us to watch Frontline next hour — but couldn’t split without telling you this first.]
Boy, Jeralyn seems right on the money with suggesting the defense should go with the everybody is fallible instead of everybody’s out to get scooter. The problem is scooter is not going to tell his side of the story. It’s going to be a hard sell.
TeddySanFran @
13
I didn’t hear about that - he should have testified, with her in the courtroom weeping.
Hey, it’s worked before…
AZ Matt @ 19
It wasn’t so very cold today. But it was icy walking in my black high heels :o
joel @ 16
Fitzgerald’s cross of Hannah was just devastating and brutal. Even in the not-verbatim not-transcript, you could feel it penetrate that entire “I’m a busy guy” defense like a bullet in slow motion. You can see it coming, every agonizing millisecond, but you can’t dodge it.
Well put! That was a big balloon that got popped.
PBS Frontline: “News War” Part I: Secrets, Sources, & Spin tonight @ 9:00 p.m. PST
on the relationship between the Bush Administration and the media. One of the topics will be “unintended consequences of the Plame investigation.” pbs.org
Maybe Scoots will get a visit from the Ghost of Fitzmas Yet to Come and decide to spill the beans. One can dream.
…tapping your toes?
In Europe, people gather in various town squares to drink and people-watch.
In the midst of the people-watching, musicians set-up and play.
If you tap your toes, the musician will come over to you at the end of the song with his donation box - it’s considered correct to give for the enjoyment.
We call it the ‘toe-tapping’ tax.
So, if you’re enjoying following the live-blogging of the Libby Trial here at FDL - ie, tapping your toes - please consider ‘giving’ to support the cause by using the ‘donation’ box that can be found at the end of each article.
Thanks, and
Go FDL!
Thanks for the great coverage through some of the pioneering moments in live-blogging!
So Murray Waas has a new story coming out that should be merely “pretty” interesting, and Marcy thinks Fitz is playing nice to keep Novak in line for future investigations . . .
You’ve been teasing all day, Jane!
Peterr @ 28
There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.
Just sayin’.
Well, Scooter and Shooter are no-shows.
Disappointing, but, probably a good move by the defense. They used Shooter to winnow out the jury, and the memory defense to delay trial through all the bullshit CIPA deliberations.
Now that they pretty much have had the legs knocked out from under their perjury defense, they’re going to rest after hearing from a few witnesses attesting to the fact that Libby was a busy, busy guy and was defending the free world all by his lonesome.
A nice try, but no cigar. That they’re going to try to impeach Timmeh’s testimony on the basis of something he said on camera eight or so years ago about how a GJ works shows the level of desperation at work here.
I’m not about to fault the defense for trying (or not even trying that hard if that’ll help their client–but, with Wells/Jeffress/Cline, fully-loaded barrels of lawyers from two firms and a $5 million slush fund at his disposal, Scooter’s gonna play hell trying to convince an appeals court that he had an inadequate defense).
So, we now watch Libby run out the appeals clock and wait for a pardon at the last minute in 2009.
I’m less inclined now to believe that Libby will flip for Fitzgerald in the event of a conviction. He really is one of the true believers, and will probably manage to stay out of jail during the appeals process, although I would enjoy seeing the government describe him as a flight risk to deny him bail on appeal….
Peterr @ 28
I still want Rove. But I think there are a lot more arrows pointing to Cheney.
joel- from what I’ve read at FDL, Walton decides which jury questions to ask. No indication from the comments I’ve seen as to whether or not pros/ def gets to see them or weigh in, but I’ve assumed not. Anyone?
…but but but what am I supposed to do with all of this popcorn?
peony @ 25
I watched this and thought that the press has a hard time covering and commenting on itself when some of their own has crossed a line, but it was interesting
Do lawyers as well, have a hard time recognizing when one of their own has crossed the line?
montag, re: “and the memory defense to delay trial through all the bullshit CIPA deliberations”
My impression was and/or that this was designed to over tax and wear down the resources of team Fitz.
and what about all the stock I bought in Orville Reddenbacher?
Jeralyn closes it out, “Thanks for watching”.
Thank you Jeralyn. Thank you.
Soup to nuts, the coverage has been fantastic. We’re at the edge of our seats during the day with the educated live blogging (psuedo transcription with analysis!), then we get the nightly wrap-up’s with video from the court room crew. Then supplemental coverage as appropriate from remotes.
Valley Girl @ 35
And how did that work out for them?
This impeachment-of-Russert with MTP tapes from The Great Fellatio Crisis of the Nineteen-Nineties reeks of Comstock. Only she would have a researcher poring over Tim-tapes from that era, and only she could convince Wells that it’s impeachable of Russert. I doubt Walton will allow it.
once again, you guys made my day!
on russert saying he knew about the grand jury no lawyer thing on various new programs, remember he’s reading a teleprompter and as soon as the interview is over he does a delete in his mind. part of his job is that of a “reader”. he gets all made up, remembers to sit on the tail of his jacket so the collar doesn’t ride up, and off he goes, reading whatever the producer has timed out for him.
A footnote to Jane’s description of the ‘Perry Mason moment’ above:
Hannah had given an extensive, detailed view of how Libby was a super bigshot. Finally (From Emptywheel’s live-blogging)
“Fitz up!!!!
Fitz: Scope of Chief of Staff as you understood it. Part of it was to protect the Office of the Vice President and VP from public criticism.
The Year of Iran (TYOI = Hannah): It’s not the formulation I would use, Need to go out and truthfully defend office from unfair criticism.
Fitz: Especially important if it was directed at integrity of VP or OVP, and integrity of Admin, OVP, VP, in terms of Iraq.�
TYOI: It would be important to pushback, yes. [he’s a lot more reluctant]
Fitz: Best time to see Libby was evening, particularly if you focus July 6.� Fair to say during that week, if you said, ‘Tomorrow morning let’s take an hour or two to go out for coffee,’ he wouldn’t take that time.
TYOI: It would be harder.
Fitz: If he gave someone an hour or two, it was something Libby thought was important?
TYOI: WRT me, yes.”
At this point a Marshall sitting next to me at the back of the courtroom said, half to himself, half to me, “Pat buried him in one question!”
I am almost 60 and a bit naive and uninformed about most things legal and criminal. I’ve read comments that, if found guilty, Libby’s attorney will appeal, it will take about a year, and Libby will NOT be in jail during that period. Why’s that? Is it all just a question of money? When the average person gets convicted of a crime, does he or she get to avoid prison if and while there is an appeal in process. Would this be true if you were appealing a murder conviction? Drug dealing? A kidnapping? Outing a CIA agent?
Valley Girl @ 35
All part of the process, certainly. Now, we wait to see if Wells or Jeffress makes a slip in summation that would indicate to Walton that offering up Libby’s testimony was a ploy all along. :)
They’ve done some pretty cheesy things so far (such as that crack about Fitzgerald coaching his witnesses), so it wouldn’t be out of character for them to make another mistake in trying to redefine the boundaries….
Eureka Springs, AR @ 33
Stick it in the freezer until the next trial.
Eli #38- obviously not as well as might be expected, but the discussion at the end of today, Walton report tomorrow, made me wonder if they hadn’t managed a minor sleight of hand.
Keep up the good work!
Eureka Springs, AR @ 33
We will have the Waxman Wars, the Conyers Chorale, the Leahy Liberation and many other sources of pure oversight delight which will require popcorn by the barrel full. Not to worry.
Forgive me, OT, but YES!!! The springer spaniel won Best in Show at Westminster. YEEHAH!
Valley Girl @ 45
I doubt that Fitz’s resources were particularly overextended, but “sleight of hand” is probably more accurate - the whole thing sounded like it was some kind of feint so that Fitz would assume that Libby would take the stand, and strategize accordingly (and incorrectly).
Eureka Springs, AR @ 33
I think this is just the overture. Here is what the grand jury was tasked with:
I don’t think that job is done yet, and I don’t think that Fitz is the kind of guy to quit before it is. We need to form an FDL popcorn buying group.
Shucks, Jane. I really wanted you to have the pleasure of seeing Dick squirm on the stand.
Still, you’ve done so much here in the past couple of years. With Lamont and Libby, you’ve helped change the country. Not too many people can make that claim. What’s next?
Thanks for all.
OldCoastie @ 36
Cousin “Irving” sure looks like he could take Orville’s place, don’t you think? Looks like he will have lots of free time between think tank gigs now. Anyway if I were Irving (perish the thought), I would stay away from small planes and balconies for a few years.
This all so Orvillian or Rovillian (I can’t decide) it’s still up to Fitz.
williamSmith @ 42
OK, lotta questions there. I would just predict that Scooter WILL get bail pending appeal. The stratified relative proportions of people found guilty and granted appeal bond is probably not too difficult an empirical matter to unearth given a bit of time, but I would say, that yeah, it’s partly a matter of juice and money (in the context of the charges), though ostensibly fundamentally a matter of “flight risk” and subjective likelihood of success on appeal.
_
montag @ 30
What if this case really was just one more inexorable step towards the truth of the crime behind underlying motivation?
Do you think Libby will get a 24 month sentence, and be able to sit out in a comfortable place while awaiting appeal?
My guess is that Fitz will demand a great deal more from Walton during closing.
What was the affidavit F showed to a judge 3 years ago - did hand the case to a Grand Jury? I am admittedly hazy on this, but as I recall it the Judge was like “Holy Shit!” or wouldn’t have done it.
I am with Marci when she speculates this from above:
If Marci believes this too then it’s a LOT more than just wishful thinking on my part. This prosecutor would have buried the wooden stake as deep as he could unless he was waiting for an opportunity to do it with some panache.
All this Perry Mason stuff is really fascinating, but I hope nobody is looking to Fitz to save our country or much reduce the most serious present threats. Cheney needs to be EX-Vice President as soon as possible. Everybody should be putting pressure on Congress critters in every reasonable way possible to help make this happen.
Please.
Marion in Savannah @ 48
Congratulations and, er, boing!
Dick see (blogger) chicks.
Dick run.
See Dick run.
Run Dick run.
I am going to have 2 MAJOR withdrawl problems next week:
#1 No more end of the trial day videos summing up, so perfectly, what happened. I don’t know how you do it without very extensive editing.
#2 Al Franken leaving Air America. I listen to him every day while repeating over and over, “Do NOT hit F5 yet, do NOT hit F5 yet” for the latest trial update.
What I am really going to miss about the loss of Franken is his very intelligent interviews with the experts that I so highly respect. Where will we hear Oliphant now? or Ornstein? I am really depressed about this.
Anybody else?
Oh Scooter. You fool. Here’s something for you by Salvador Dali-
the persistence of memory-
http://www.moma.org/collection.....t_id=79018
The Firehook!
I just was there last month for work (live thousands of miles away). Went there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that day. Hope you liked it!
I am absolutely addicted to this liveblogging by Emptywheel and Swopa et al. And the end of day video summary is tops.
It has been historic and awesome.
I will miss Al too.
Jane, outstanding coverage. Thank you!
Firehooklake?
I LOVE these politics tv spots. Please keep doing them - not only on Libby - but on an ongoing basis.
now to see the ‘tv show’ on firedoglake with a ‘news update’ and then get some zzzzzzzzzzzzs…
and thanks to all of you for this…….
Marion in Savannah @ 48
Cool! My first dog was a Springer Spaniel named Scooter. I kid you not and long story shortened he was hit by a car. RIP Scooter 1968 -71.
stingray #54- Are you thinking of this?
Judge Tatel - “Because I agree that the balance in this case, which involves the alleged exposure of a covert agent, favors compelling the reporters; testimony, I join the judgment of the court.”
But this was way back when.
Valley Girl @
32
VG, I could be wrong, but I remember reading during the first week of the trial, in one of Marcy’s summaries, that defense and Fitz’s team got to look over the questions along with Walton, though only he asks them.
Team Libby knows it’s screwed for at 2-3 of the counts. Why would they let Fitz sink his teeth into Scooter or Deadeye Dick? The potential for major political embarrassment is too great, even for these guys who seem to have no shame, not to mention other possible criminal charges.
No, to me everything points to lame-ass appeals, financed by the $3M Scooter Defense Fund, followed by a pardon in the last of the dark days of the Shrub Maladministration.
Eli @ 62
No doubt to Libby and Cheney it is more like Fireaxlake!
drat. i’ll miss you guys live blogging. i’d watch you live blog punxatawney phil’s annual appearance. thank you again.
The Nefarious Leslie @ 67
Thanks NefLes. I trust your memory of what you read!
Wonderful work. Just wonderful, and an inspiration.
I’d like to believe, too, a nail in the coffin of the moribund mainstream press.
I wish she’d flesh out that speculation. I’ve been under the [sad] impression that he was done.
The liveblogging has been positively addictive — thanks to all who made it possible. I’ve given a couple of times to the fund :-) Here’s to having more reasons to keep Plame house going.
lectric lady @ 57
No need to worry. If you want intelligent interviews, his replacement Thom Hartmann is one of the best in the business. Frankly, Franken leaving is fairly good news for me. First, happy he’s running for Congress, and second, was getting a little tired of him and his sidekicks talking/arguing about the minutiae of Harvard life. Appreciate everything he’s done though to get Air America rolling. Can’t imagine not having it now, or FDL for that matter.
Melissa (the second blogger) has stepped down from the Edwards campaign.
williamSmith @ 42
Hi William,
Happy first post, if it is. I’m almost 60, too, and I’ve been going to the FireDog Lake School of Law for the past few weeks. From what I have gleaned here, the question is the risk of flight. If Team Libby can convince Judge Walton that Scooter will not skip town he will probably not have to go to jail while the appeals are being heard. Ways to get people to stick around include making them post a bail and the knowledge that if they are caught again the sentence will be *much* more severe plus they can be with a new crime, not to mention that it probably won’t help the appeal.
squirrel hiller @ 70
I’m not sure that “Firegroundhoglake” works for me.
remember that story about fitz stuffing all his dirty socks in a desk drawer when he was really busy. well, i bet he could use some new ones right about now. is it illegal to send socks to a federal prosecutor?
HotFlash @ 50
How’s about FDL label popcorn? Gonna need it for Joe Wilson’s suit. And maybe even the impeachment trial(s)… (I can Wax[man] hopeful can’t I?)
Valley Girl @ 67
Valley Girl: Thank you for the direct quote - Yes, that’s it :)
Valtin @ 72
I wish, but I seriously doubt it. I don’t think people outside the liberal blogosphere are paying close attention to that particular subtext of the trial.
IIRC, Russert testified that Novak’s revelation about ‘Wilson’s wife’ constituted BIG News.
Obviously, Russert has a clear memory of when and where he learned about Plame — because he regarded that revelation as important, and it impacted his thinking.
While Wells is busy trying to impeach Russert, he may as well claim that Russert forgot about the fall of the Berlin Wall, forgot about the outcome of the 2000 election, and forgot about the death Princess Diana. In for a dime; in for a dollar. Wells should also try to impeach Russert for failing to accurately recall the name of the kids he sat next to in the seventh grade.
—-
RE: Emptywheel’s book. It’s the best political thriller that I’ve read in ages — absolutely fantastic writing! I only wish it weren’t a true story… but thanks for helping it all make sense.
For some reason, Waxman wants to talk to Ol’ 60 Grit’s husband. Perhaps the popcorn will not go to waste.
“No need to worry. If you want intelligent interviews, his replacement Thom Hartmann is one of the best in the business. Frankly, Franken leaving is fairly good news for me. First, happy he’s running for Congress, and second, was getting a little tired of him and his sidekicks talking/arguing about the minutiae of Harvard life. Appreciate everything he’s done though to get Air America rolling. Can’t imagine not having it now, or FDL for that matter.”
Will Tom Hartmann do lots of interviews with great experts? Or more like Randi Rhodes who, while I love her in small doses, really rants a lot.
Trex has got onion dip upstairs.
Haven’t been able to follow every little bit, but did I miss something? What happened to the whole Scoots was a scapegoat for KKKarl Rove that was in the defense opening statement?
Did the defense offer anything about that since? I would imagine this would feel quite manipulative to the jurors if the opening statement doesn’t relate to the actual case presented. All seems so fishy…rotten fish that is…
Great work! The writings of EW CHS and Jane complement each other immensely.
Someone asked me “What’s next, after Scooter?” I told him I didn’t know, but Fitz has a pattern of moving up the food chain…although it usually requires someone to flip. Scooter won’t unless he faces jail time. Maybe not even then.
Does a conviction advance Fitz’s investigation in the least bit?
I remember when the Scooter indictment came down, I wondered if it was partially a run-through to iron out the procedures for future indictments. I kinda doubt it.
But a fellow can dream…
joel @ 16
Every lawyer does that — especially in a criminal trial — even if they think they have a decent chance of acquittal. It’s malpractice not to do it. So Wells isn’t going to get chewed out by anybody for preserving his appellate arguments.
Having said that, it’s hard to see what he’s got for an appeal. Here are the possibilities, in my view, but I could be missing something, so others chime in:
1. No testimony from memory expert: Walton’s ruling on this gets a fair amount of deference on appeal. In some state of mind cases — insanity or diminished capacity being the most obvious — expert testimony is almost a necessity, regardless of whether the defendant testifies. But expert testimony about whether a defendants was medically unable to form criminal intent is based on a diagnosis formed after a significant amount of observation. The memory expert’s testimony was not going to be based on observation of Libby, and even if it was, it couldn’t resolve the question of whether Libby in fact lied or misremembered his conversations with Russert, Cooper and Miller. In other words, a memory expert can’t say, I’ve observed the defendant and he shows all the symptoms of truth-telling. You don’t need expert testimony to tell the jury that it’s possible to forget things. Everyone knows it’s “possible” to forget things they knew a short time before — haven’t you ever run around the house looking for car keys you were holding? The question here is whether it is not only “possible” in the abstract sense, but “reasonably possible” in light of all the defendant’s other conduct.
2. CIIPA Issues:They could appeal Walton’s rejection of the “greymail” defense, i.e., ruling that classified material could only come in, and then in very limited ways, if Libby took the stand. I don’t think this is going to be a big issue on appeal, because I don’t think the appellate courts are going to be terribly sympathetic to the “overwhelmed by Much More Important Matters” theory.
3. No Testimony from Mrs. Greenspan: I don’t think the appellate court is going to rule that Walton erred by not letting Mrs. Greenspan be impeached on her recantation of her initial recitation of White House talking points about unnamed reporters knowing about Plame, because this impeachment would show she was telling the truth when she was reciting the talking points.
4. Permitting Fitz to Boast About His Investigation: Late today, Wells was making noise about needing to call David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell because Fitz had never interviewed them or brought them before the grand jury, on the grounds that he needed to rebut Fitz’s boast in his opening statement that he had been on a search for truth. Apparently, if Fitz had really been on a search for truth, Wells believes that Fitz would have interviewed them, but Walton did not think Fitz was boasting about the perfection of his investigation. I don’t think the appellate court will find error in this ruling either.
5. Last minute impeachment of Potatohead: Evidently it wasn’t enough to show that Timmeh had forgotten something in a dispute with a Buffalo paper. Now Wells wants to impeach him — a week after his cross — with tapes of Timmeh talking about how a witness can’t bring a lawyer with him into a grand jury in 1998. This is so important that if Walton thinks Timmeh needs to be given an opportunity to explain why he didn’t remember in 2007 that he knew this in 1998, Timmeh should be recalled as a defense witness. Walton is considering this overnight. I think that there is no basis for this request, but I suppose it’s possible that Walton will let him do it because he knows Scooter is going down and wants to appear to be bending over backwards on this. I hope he doesn’t, though.
What else?
Good evening, all:
The liveblogging and analysis of the Plame affair and the Libby trial have been superb. Everyone at FDL should be commended for their historic work!
Time for me to turn in for the night. I have a school gig in the morning, and it looks like the commute will be awful. We’re only getting around 5-6 inches of snow here, but I’m heading into the area where it’s they’re predicting 8 inches of snow, with the heaviest falling overnight. I’m going to go to bed and get up early, hoping the school will be canceled so I can stay home and hang out with the FDL crew.
Good night!
I just got done watching the video link above.
Even when she’s just listening, Marcy is hilarious!!! :)
FFFFFFFIIIIIIITTTTTZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!
We won’t know for sure what Wells thinks he’s got until we hear the close- but he’s gonna have to wax poetic to make a mountain of injustice out of this dung hill.
lectric lady:
Oh Hartmann will have many excellent guests. If there’s any knock against him, he’s too intellectual and not entertaining enough, although I don’t feel that way.
Sounds like you might be pleasantly surprised by Thom. He’ll actually bring wingnuts on and completely destroy their arguments and embarrass them, and he’s polite through it all (did this to Dinesh D’Snooza recently). A classic case of killing them with kindness. Hope you like the change…
HotFlash @
78
Thanks for the answer and also BobbyG @53. So no chance, as I think some other comments are suggesting, that Fitz gets to say to Walton “here’s some more GJ testimony and where I’m going, and I need this guy in the clink immediately for leverage, and by the way I also need whatever the maximum sentence can be”? Wishful thinking, right? It’s still a long drawn out affair before Libby faces the gulf between a life of liberty and imprisonment with only Bridge Cheney spanning the two?
bonkers @ 94
I hope so… but… will he ever do the Queen’s drumroll?
the best part of Thom Hartmann’s show is “lunch with bernie.”
on fridays he has senator bernie sanders on for the first hour and they take listener calls. bernie is an awsome independent progressive. i wish he would run for pres.
stingray @ 54
Nope, don’t think so. If Scooter is convicted, he’ll get bail during appeal (and an appeal, preferably before a kindly-disposed DC appeals court, is a certainty). This is a race of sorts–that Scooter can stay out of jail until the last moment of Bush’s presidency, when a pardon won’t have much political impact. Unless Scooter goes to jail, there’s no pressure from the conviction itself.
Now, as far as other charges, Fitzgerald could have indicted Armitage, but he didn’t–Armitage’s explanation was that he didn’t know Plame was covert–that exempted him from prosecution under IIPA. Rove has probably said the same thing in the GJ.
The only thing left is conspiracy–and if none of them knew at the time that Plame was covert, then there’s no ultimate crime of conspiracy, because they weren’t conspiring to break the law. It falls into the category of a very bad political dirty trick that had unintended consequences, given the way the IIPA was written.
About all that can happen from now on is administrative–having their clearances stripped from them for violating the terms of their SF-312s.
Nope, I think, unfortunately, this is it. About all Fitzgerald can do is request of the judge that he deny Libby bail in the sentencing portion of the trial, something Walton simply is not going to do.
Shooter is behind much of this, WHIG figures very prominently in this, but for conspiracy to stick, there’s got to be some plotting to break the law.
The only way to go on from here is to have had some testimony that others in WHIG and/or Shooter lied in testimony and/or actively sought to obstruct justice. Those charges could have been made independently of this trial, and yet, they have not been, most likely because Fitzgerald has decided they’re not airtight.
It all sounds very depressing, but, legally, I think this is going to be it. If one thinks about it, the White House and the OVP did exactly the same thing here that they did with regard to evidence for war–they ran with whatever came into their hands that they thought could be used, that improved their position, and none of it was properly vetted. They simply wanted something, anything to damage Wilson because he was damaging them.
These people really are true believers–they think they had all the evidence they needed to start a war–because they wanted to start a war. Anything that came along which supported their intentions was used, and all else was discarded. That’s why Cheney still is mouthing what is demonstrable BS–in his mind, his facts were pure, because he’d discarded everything else. Same with Valerie Plame. Her connection to the Wilson charges could be used. That is all that mattered to them. They didn’t bother to check further. Any other details just didn’t matter.
That sort of thing has made them all behave exceptionally stupidly–Libby included, because he lied to protect Cheney–because Cheney is likely the one person who knew Plame’s status with some certainty, given his position and his frequency of contact with the CIA.
Is Fitzgerald going to be able to prove that Shooter headed the conspiracy to violate the IIPA and out an agent for political purposes? My guess is no. Not without Libby saying so, and that’s not going to happen if Libby can stay out of jail.
BobbyG @ 53
I think a third consderation for Walton is the importance of applying pressure on Libby to cooperate with the continuing investigation. Hopefully, this will be enough to order Libby immediately to jail.
The videos have been awesome! Always a pleasure to see three smart women telling us what’s what. And Swopa was great, too. Thank you!!