In court papers published late last week, Patrick Fitzgerald revealed that his office has obtained at least one Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) that discusses the trip to Niger taken by Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the husband of Valerie Plame.
While it was previously known that Bush and Cheney had been interviewed by Fitzgerald about the outing of Plame, this is the first indication that the prosecution in the case has started to look into documentation that might answer the question of questions: “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”
Lawyers for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby had requested Bush’s PDBs along with other classified documents as a part of discovery. Fitzgerald responded with a letter dated January 9 filed in federal court late last week,
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2006/02/libby013106.pdf Fitzgerald wrote:
"As you are well aware, the documents referred to as Presidential Daily Briefs ("PDBs") are extraordinarily sensitive documents which are usually highly classified. We have never requested copies of any PDBs. However, we did ask for relevant documents relating to Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife; Valerie Plame Wilson... and the trip undertaken by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger in 2002... from the Executive Branch of the President and the Office of the Vice President.
"We also sought from the Central Intelligence Agency documents relating to the same item.... relating to the same items, with the exception that the CIA was not requested to produce documents in the files regarding Valerie Plame and Wilson that were not related directly or indirectly to Ambassador Wilson's travel to Niger in February 2002."
In response to our requests, we have received a very discrete amount of material relating to PDBs. We have provided to Mr. Libby and his counsel (or are in the process of providing such documents consistent with the process of a declassification review) copies of any pages in our possession reflecting discussions of Joseph Wilson, Valerie Wilson and/or Wilson's trip to Niger contained in (or written on) copies of the President's Daily Brief (PDB) in the redacted form in which we received them.It is likely that on June 19, 2003, Bush received the PDB discussing the Wilson trip. Murray Waas reported ("Fitzgerald Court Papers: Bush Was Briefed on Joe Wilson", Fri Feb 3, 6:21 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060203/cm_huffpost/0... ):
As my National Journal story first disclosed yesterday, then-CIA director George Tenet received a highly classified memo on June 17, 2003, on the Niger matter from his analysts warning that allegations that Saddam Hussein had attempted to procure uranium from the African nation were to no longer to be believed. In the memo, the CIA analysts wrote: "Since learning that the Iraqi-Niger uranium deal was based on false documents earlier this spring, we no longer believe that there is sufficient other reporting to conclude that Iraq purchased uranium from abroad."
The memo also related that there had been other, earlier claims that Saddam's regime had attempted to purchase uranium from private interests in Somalia and Benin; these claims predated the Niger allegations. It was that past intelligence that had led CIA analysts, in part, to consider the Niger claims as plausible. But the memo said that after a thorough review of those earlier reports, the CIA had concluded that they were no longer credible. Indeed, the previous intelligence reports citing those claims had long since been "recalled" -- meaning that the CIA had formally repudiated them. Within days after Tenet received the memo, the CIA provided the information contained in it to both Cheney and Libby in briefings on the matter. The congressional Senate and House Intelligence Committees received similar briefings on June 18 and June 19, 2003, according to government records.
Two senior government officials suggested that it was likely that Bush would have also been similarly briefed, because Cheney, Libby, Tenet, and the Senate and House Senate committees had been at the time, and also because the issue of Wilson's trip to Niger was being discussed in the media and Capitol Hill. Said one official: "It would have just made sense, that this was have recycled to the President too... There is a lot of similarity as to what the President and Vice President are briefed about." Despite having been briefed on the CIA's findings, Cheney continued to defend the Niger allegations as possibly still credible.The wording of the January 9 letter makes it clear that the president’s briefing papers related to Wilson’s Niger trip and subsequent White House actions may also contain written notes, comments, or directives. Fitzgerald’s letter states that his office sought and received White House and CIA documents, including one or more PDBs:
. .. reflecting discussions of Joseph Wilson, Valerie Wilson and/or Wilson's trip to Niger contained in (or written on) copies of the President's Daily Brief (PDB) in the redacted form in which we received them. http://rawstory.com/other/pdfs/RawStoryFitzLetter.pdf While the language in the response may just reflect a careful lawyer covering all possible bases, it may also be Fitzgerald communicating something very significant to the White House: is there a notation on that memo that reflects Bush’s own knowledge and intent with regard to how he wanted the problem with Wilson taken care of?
Even if it doesn’t, the PDB – when it is declassified, as it surely has to be after Fitzgerald “outed it” – will give us documentary evidence of what Bush knew several weeks before Robert Novak outed Wilson’s wife.
It is significant that Fitzgerald has also focused on the role of Condi Rice, who was Bush’s conduit to the White House Iraq Group (WHIG). As I pointed out in my last post at DailyKos, Fitzgerald response to discovery shows that there is interest in the actions of officials who accompanied Bush on that trip to Africa.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/4/153716/0726Specifically, questions are being raised about the interaction of Condi Rice and Ari Fleischer with reporters during that trip, and what was revealed to the press about Joseph Wilson’s visit in March to Niger. It turns out that Rice appears to have taken the lead in drawing reporter’s attention to Wilson. Fitzgerald's letter also contains the following item that focuses on a July 11, 2003 conversation between unnamed government officials and Time Magazine reporters:
We also advise you that we also understand that reporter John Dickerson of Time magazine discussed the trip by Mr. Wilson with government officials at some time on July 11 or after, subsequent to Mr. Cooper learning about Mr. Wilson's wife. Any conversations involving Mr. Dickerson likely took place in Africa and occured after July 11. http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2006/02/libby013106.pdf The Washington Post reported that a version of the classified State Department memo discussing Wilson’s investigation in Niger was read by Colin Powell on AF1 during the Africa trip, and that document may have been read by other White House officials on that flight, and then shared with reporters.
The memo was delivered to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on July 7, 2003, as he headed to Africa for a trip with President Bush aboard Air Force One. Plame was unmasked in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak seven days later.
SNIP
Several other administration officials were on the trip to Africa, including senior adviser Dan Bartlett, then-White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and others. Bartlett's attorney has refused to discuss the case, citing requests by the special counsel. Fleischer could not be reached for comment yesterday.( Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei, “Plame's Identity Marked As Secret: Memo Central to Probe Of Leak Was Written By State Dept. Analyst”, Thursday, July 21, 2005; Page A01,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/20/AR2005072002517.html )
For some unknown reason, that Post article neglected to mention that Rice was also on that trip. One should be aware that Cheney, Libby and Rove stayed in Washington. Opinions on the actual significance of events during the Africa trip are split. There are those who believe that this is a diversion from the activities of others who did not see the State Dept. memo or discuss Wilson or Plame on that particular occasion. We also now know that Cheney was Libby’s original source, and that Libby then talked to Judy Miller about Plame weeks before this trip. Furthermore, an as yet unnamed high government official was the first to disclose the identity of the CIA officer to Bob Woodward. It is clear, nonetheless, that on July 11 Condi did make an effort to draw the attention of reporters to Wilson. This was discussed at TPM Café last summer:
(DID CONDI PUSH THE "WILSON'S WIFE SENT HIM STORY"?By daxman
From: Top Reader Blogs http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/20/16340/8649)
Press gaggle transcripts show that it was Condoleezza Rice, not Ari Fleischer, who was pushing the press to look into the reasons the CIA sent Wilson to Niger.
Jul 20, 2005 -- 04:47:22 PM EST
As it has been discussed, Fitzgerald's office is keenly interested in the State Department memo, distributed in the days leading up to the Novak article, disclosing that Wilson's wife had something to do with sending Wilson to Niger. The LA Times July 18, 2005 story discusses how there is interest in whether Ari Fleischer was pushing the story to reporters before the Novak article appeared.
The LA Times July 18, 2005 articles ends with:
"And Fleischer also seemed attuned to a strategy of discrediting Wilson. Two days before Novak revealed Plame's identity, Fleischer questioned the former envoy's findings in remarks to reporters during a trip with Bush in Africa.
The transcript of that press gaggle (the term for an informal question-and-answer between reporters and the White House spokesman), which took place in the National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria, has been requested by the prosecutors." . . . A key exchange on the Wilson trip did occur in the July 11, 2003 press gaggle aboard Air Force One with both Ari Fleischer and Condoleezza Rice and it wasn't Ari pushing the Wilson story.
The transcript of the July 11, 2003 press gaggle has this interesting exchange:
Q Dr. Rice, when did you all find out that the documents were forged?
DR. RICE: Sometime in March, I believe. Is that right?
MR. FLEISCHER: The IAEA reported it.
DR. RICE: The IAEA reported it I believe in March. But I will tell you that, for instance, on Ambassador Wilson's going out to Niger, I learned of that when I was sitting on whatever TV show it was, because that mission was not known to anybody in the White House. And you should ask the Agency at what level it was known in the Agency.
Q When was that TV show, when you learned about it?
DR. RICE: A month ago, about a month ago.
Q Can I ask you about something else?
DR. RICE: Yes. Are you sure you're through with this? This brings us to our concluding remarks. Do the contents of his January 9 letter indicate that Fitzgerald is now turning his attention up the ladder to the President, Vice President and the present Secretary of State?
I would argue for the following reason that it does, and that Bush -- as well as Cheney and Rice -- are vulnerable to eventual prosecution. Even if the contents of the letter are merely the prosecutor’s response to Libby's defense request for evidence (and Libby’s lawyers are undoubtedly seeking to pin the responsibility for Plame’s outing on others) it also indicates where this case is going, and shows us some of the key documents the U.S. Attorney is looking at.
Finally, the request for PDBs and other evidence of what Bush and Cheney actually knew about Wilson shows what sort of defense Libby's lawyers may be intending to raise. It appears that the defense will claim Scooter believed his actions were condoned by "his superiors", and thus he didn't have mens rea (criminal intent).
This puts Fitz into the position that he will either have to indict Bush and Cheney or else argue that Libby acted on his own as a loose cannon . Either way, Fitz will have to pin down the facts in order to prosecute. That means that both the President and Vice President are, indeed, under active investigation by Fitzgerald.
COPYRIGHT 2006, Mark G. Levey