From the New York Times: Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show
Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby’s testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.
The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war.
Lawyers said the notes show that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.
And which “lawyers involved in the case,” pray tell, were those? Do they happen to be lawyers for Scooter Libby?
If so, James Wolcott was right on the money:
Are you going to be the fall guy, the patsy, the designated chump bearing the cross of blame while Rove plays the part of injured bystander? Are you happy at the prospect that your name may soon be a national joke on the lips of every late-nite comedian? Are you going to ignore the humiliation of being hung out to dry by your colleagues and hold your head high in silent stoic resolve?
See, I’m imagining that if I’m Scooter Libby, I might be thinking that Karl and his crew overplayed their hand making me the leper, and maybe I’ve got some things of my own to divulge, and if I go down, maybe I won’t be going down alone.
They’re not going to pin this all on me.
I had no idea that Wolcott was part-Vulcan.
Back to The Times:
Oh, yeah, baby — I like it like that.
Here are a few other relevant reads:
3 Comments on "Bombshell"
Neil Shakespeare:
So how did Cheney know? Did George tell him?
Matt:
Yes, actually — but a different George:
It would not be illegal for either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby, both of whom are presumably cleared to know the government’s deepest secrets, to discuss a C.I.A. officer or her link to a critic of the administration. But any effort by Mr. Libby to steer investigators away from his conversation with Mr. Cheney could be considered by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the case, to be an illegal effort to impede the inquiry.
The Heretik:
NOW IT GOES BIG TIME
NOW IT GETS WEIRD Libby heard about Plame from Cheney. And this story that was big before hits Big Time.[story]I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart
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