Lawyer: Bush Didn't Direct Libby to Leak

[warrior1]

Story is changing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060409/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak


WASHINGTON -
President Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized its public disclosure to rebut
Iraq war critics, but he did not specifically direct that Vice President
Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, be the one to disseminate the information, an attorney knowledgeable about the case said Saturday.

Bush merely instructed Cheney to "get it out" and left the details to him, said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case for the White House. The vice president chose Libby and communicated the president's wishes to his then-top aide, the lawyer said.

It is not known when the conversation between Bush and Cheney took place. The White House has declined to provide the date when the president used his authority to declassify the portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified document that detailed the intelligence community's conclusions about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

[warrior1]

1. k

[SeattleGirl]

2. The finger-pointing continues?????

Bush: Well, yeah, I declassified the stuff, but Dickie is the one who did the bad thing!

Cheney: Well, I may have said something to Scooter, but I sure didn't tell him to call Bob Novak.

Libby: But, but, I was just following orders!

And they say Dems are guilty of circling the wagons and opening fire.

[warrior1]

3. bush

obviously is directing someone to get this out. Wonder who's the lawyer dude.

[annabanana]

4. "get it out" ?

.... and he left the "it" up to Scooter?

(SO! It depends on what the meaning of "it" is, huh?)

[Kagemusha]

7. Up to Cheney.

Who got Scooter to do it.

That's what's being said. Believe it or not on your own time, but I wanted to clarify the plain meaning of the leaked story.

[shraby]

5. Bush still made the call to leak it.

[NewJeffCT]

6. The Buck Stops with...

Nobody.

[Zen Democrat]

8. In my gut, I think this is Dick Cheney's operation.

I'd put my money on a scenario where Bush declassified the information AFTER the fact. Like when the CIA released it. I think Bush and Rove and Libby were participants in Cheney's vendetta against Joe Wilson.

[Poiuyt]

10. That's about the way I read it too.

[NNN0LHI]

9. ...an attorney knowledgeable about the case said Saturday. ???

That could be just about any lawyer. This could be coming from torture boy Gonzalez for all we know.

Don

[linazelle]

11. More anonymity. It figures from this misadministration. Anonymous

sources like this are the exact kinds of sources that led to the leak in the first place. Irony at its best.

[Sydnie]

13. Right ... it's the "some people said" defense

lame ... they are just lame.

[Garbo 2004]

12. Just like Cheney/Libby wanted to counter the incorrect impression that

Cheney had sent Wilson to Niger, Bushies want to make clear that Bush did not send Libby on a mission to Miller.

It's a push back from the Bushies to the impression created by the media storm unleased on Thursday and the resulting spotlight on Bush. Readers of Fitz's filing know that Libby claimed Cheney had told him that had Bush authorized Libby to release portions of the NIE's Key Judgments to Miller. Libby didn't cite a note from Bush or a face to face with Bush, just claimed that Cheney told him he was annointed and was being sent forth to chat up Miller about portions of the Key Judgments.

But when the "breaking news" headlines broke on Thursday morning, I wouldn't doubt Karl had to change his shorts. Then the dilemma: how to provide distance between Bush and Cheney/Libby on the Plame matter without being too obvious about it and stepping in more goo? Looks like it took 'em a couple of days to hit on a "clarification."

There's a wrestling match going on. Rover's been trying to sink Cheney and Libby while keeping Bush out of the Plame matter (and his own capacious butt out of jail of course). Libby's trying to drag everyone into the Plame matter to distract, confuse and evade.

[seabeyond]

14. get it out is directing someone to leak. the end.... n/t