Saturday, October 29, 2005 More On Libby, Speculation On Rove
You know what's the most shocking about the whole Plame case? How terrible a writer Libby is. "You went to jail in the summer. It is fall now... Out west, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them." Is he taking the fall for Cheney and Rove, as some suggested? Is he hinting to Miller that their roots connect them, as others suggest? Or is he just the worst "creative" writer you ever came across? He is indeed an attempted novelist, so my vote is for #3.
And this is funny, from the Washington Post several days ago: "I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is known for his sarcastic, world-weary and at times dark sense of humor. He once quipped to an aide that he planned to stay as Vice President Cheney's top adviser until "I get indicted or something."" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/22/AR2005102201439.html?sub=AR
Watching the breaking news of the indicment documents on NBC today, it seemed to me that "Official A" probably was Karl Rove - and the three witnesses here seem to back me up on that one. If he is so closely involved, he could still be indicted. This article suggests that he could testify against Libby, but I would doubt that. My guess is indictment.
'Official A' Stands Out in Indictment By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 28, 9:00 PM ET
WASHINGTON - In a sign of the trouble lingering for the Bush administration, the indictment handed up Friday in the CIA leak probe refers to someone at the White House known as "Official A."
The unidentified official could become a courtroom witness against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who left his job as vice presidential aide shortly after his indictment on charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury. Several other unnamed officials mentioned in the indictment were identified Friday afternoon by Justice Department officials.
But not "Official A."
The mysterious official is identified in the indictment only as "a senior official in the White House."
No mention is made of Karl Rove, the president's political adviser who remains under investigation by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
It has been known that columnist Robert Novak spoke to Rove on July 9, 2003, saying he planned to report over the weekend that Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, had worked for the CIA. Rove told the columnist he had heard similar information.
Friday's indictment says "Official A" is a "senior official in the White House who advised Libby on July 10 or 11 of 2003" about a chat with Novak about his upcoming column in which Plame would be identified as a CIA employee.
Late Friday, three people close to the investigation, each asking to remain unidentified because of grand jury secrecy, identified Rove as Official A.
Posted by Nathan S. Empsall,
2:34 AM
-
Monday, October 24, 2005 NYT turns on Judith Miller(link)
Sunday, Times Public Editor Byron Calame suggested it would be better if Miller does not come back. "The problems facing her inside and outside the newsroom will make it difficult for her to return to the paper as a reporter," Calame wrote. He said a Times story published Oct. 16 had laid bare a "disturbing" revelation about Miller: "the journalistic shortcuts that (she) seems comfortable taking." Among those, he said, were her admission that she had once agreed to refer to Cheney's top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, as a "former Hill staffer" if she used any information from one of their conversations.
"Journalistic shortcuts"! That's a nice euphemism for lying intentionally in print, as the "former Hill staffer" quote seems to imply. The left has been comparing her fraudulent reporting to that of Jayson Blaire for years now. It's nice to see the Times finally coming around to this opinion.
