Balkinization: Libby/Fitzgerald/"Official A" in a Nutshell

Libby/Fitzgerald/"Official A" in a Nutshell

Marty Lederman

Back in 2003, David Corn was the first to recognize the outing of Valerie Plame as a potentially important criminal story, and one of the only prominent writers to keep pressing the story when most of the mainstream press seemed uninterested (or subject to a conflict of interest).

Two-and-a-half years later, I haven't found a better summary of yesterday's developments, and their ramifications, than that found in David's column, which also catalogues the important questions that remain unanswered.

Also, this is the rare case in which the indictment itself is actually readable and informative -- it tells a clear and gripping story. And, to his great credit, Patrick Fitzgerald's Press Release, and the transcript of his press conference, consist of much more than the typical throat-clearing, inside baseball, and/or p.r. jargon: He's made a great effort to describe the case, and the criminal proceedings, in a way that the public can readily understand.

UPDATE: A bunch of interesting stuff over at the New Republic's new blog, "The Plank." For example, Frank Foer wonders whether Libby's apparent false statements began when Ashcroft and Comey were still on the case and when Libby therefore had little reason to fear indictment: "He probably assumed, with good reason, that this investigation would die a quiet death at the hands of Bush loyalists. Once Comey handed the case over to Fitzgerald, Libby was already locked into his mendacious storyline. From then on, he was screwed." (Foer discounts the idea that Libby lied -- and is falling on his sword -- in order to protect the Vice President, reasoning that "it . . . seems pretty clear that his boss did nothing illegal, and played no role in the outing of Valerie Plame." I don't quite understand this assumption. According to the indictment, it was Cheney himself who told Libby "that Wilson's wife worked . . . in the Counterproliferation Division" -- an unambiguous declaration that her position was among the case officers of the operations directorate; in addition, Cheney was present when the plotters discussed what to do about Joe Wilson -- only hours before Libby revealed to Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller that Valerie Plame worked at the CIA; and it seems rather far-fetched to assume that folks as close to Cheney as were Libby and David Addington did not at the very least receive a tacit, winking green light from the Vice President. But we shall see.) Ryan Lizza has another post explaining that the prosecutor's case will depend on the testimony -- contrary to Libby's -- of not only (at least) three reporters (Miller, Russert, Cooper), but also seven Bush Administration officials: Four from whom Libby learned Plame's CIA status -- Dick Cheney, an un-named senior CIA official, Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, and Cheney spokeswoman Catherine Martin -- and three with whom Libby discussed Plame's CIA status -- an un-named CIA briefer, Cheney counsel David Addington, and Ari Fleischer. Good thing, too, that Fitzgerald has so many witnesses who will contradict Libby's story, because it won't be very difficult for a decent defense attorney to make mincemeat of Miller's and Fleischer's credibility.

Posted 10:55 AM by Marty Lederman [link]