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Mehlman/Podesta

Biggest Freudian Slip of the Year?

Ken Mehlman says that two stories have come out this week that implicate Karl Rove (he meant to say exonerate. Oops. As they say, the truth will out.)

Russert hammers Mehlman when Mehlman says that he has “tremendous confidence” in Prosecutor Fitzgerald. Asks him whether he will accept Fitzgerald’s verdict no matter what it is since he has so much confidence in him. Mehlman stonewalls, falling back on an “I can’t speculate” line.

I can’t remember where I read this, but someone recently made the good point that Mehlman is being forced to defend Rove/McClellan/Bush because no other Republicans want to touch this right now. (I’ll source this later)

Mehlman continues to attack Wilson. What a creep.

Even Little Russ seems angry about this story.

Podesta, after Mehlman says that Republicans would not jump on Democrats if the situation was reversed: “I think my Republican friends slept through the 1990s.”

Podesta: “Frankly, the President said he would fire leakers, not law-breakers.”

Woodward/Bernstein

Bernstein: Watergate not just about a break-in; it was about a mentality.

Woodward refers to the “underground railroad” of information in Washington. Interesting metaphor.

I assume that the point of having Woodward and Bernstein on the show was to speculate on the viability of Watergate/Plamegate comparisons, and to discuss the importance of anonymous sources. But the show lost much of its steam during this segment, as Woodward and Bernstein talked little about the issues facing the nation today.

(I’m going to circle back now and rewatch the Cooper segment)

Matt Cooper

Matt Cooper says that it was Rove who first told him that Plame was Wilson’s wife and worked at the CIA.

Cooper says that he testified at grand jury hearings in August 2004 about a conversation he had had with [VP Cheney Chief of Staff] Scooter Libby. Libby had given him a waiver.

From Cooper’s Time article (coming out tomorrow, but excerpted on MTP):

Cooper says he interpreted that as a confirmation.

Cooper’s 2003 Time piece on Plame mentions “some government officials” who “noted to Time in interviews, (as well as to syndicated columnist Robert Novak) that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

Russert asks Cooper whether “some government officials” are Rove and Libby. Cooper says that “those were among the sources for that.” Russert asks, “Are there more?” Cooper winces, shrugs his shoulders, and says “I don’t want to get into it, but it’s possible.” Cooper says that the grand jury knows what he knows.

In yesterday’s Washington Post, Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, claimed that Cooper did not receive a specific waiver of confidentiality from Rove:

Cooper reiterates that he received a specific and personal waiver of confidentiality from Rove’s lawyer shortly before he made his statement.

Russert asks a good question: before testifying before the grand jury, did Cooper receive waivers from the additional sources referred to in the “some government officials” line above? Cooper sidesteps the question. His facial expression says “no,” but his mouth says “anything I discussed before the grand jury I have a waiver for.” But did he discuss those other sources? Earlier, Cooper had said that the grand jury knows what he knows, but this answer leads me to question that.

I’ll link the Crooks and Liars video here when it’s up. Update: video | transcript

Please let me know whether you see any errors above.

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