Leak Investigation: The Russert Deal—What It Reveals

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

Newsweek

Aug. 1 issue - A deal that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald cut last year for NBC "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert's testimony may shed light on the emerging White House defense in the Valerie Plame leak case. The agreement between Fitzgerald and NBC avoided a court fight over a subpoena for Russert's testimony about his July 2003 talk with Dick Cheney's top aide, Lewis (Scooter) Libby. The deal was not, as many assumed, for Russert's testimony about what Libby told him: it focused on what Russert told Libby. An NBC statement last year said Russert did not know of Plame, wife of ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson, or that she worked at the CIA, and "he did not provide that information to Libby."

This now appears significant: in pursuing Russert's testimony, Fitzgerald was testing statements by White House aides—reportedly including Libby—that they learned about Wilson's wife from reporters, not classified documents..."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8682500/site/newsweek/

[writes2000]

1. Did Libby Testify Unequivocally That Russert Told Him About Plame?

If so, then perhaps that was all Fitzgerald needed to make his perjury case.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

3. I don't know, but I think they all claimed

they got their info from reporters.

So maybe Fitz is checking with all the reporters involved, and maybe that is why he is so intent on getting testimony from ALL of them.

Maybe that is why he needs it.

[writes2000]

4. That Makes Sense.

If he canvassed all of the reporters and they all said that they learned it directly from Rove/Libby then they're screwed.

As it is he should have them because they were clearly sharing classified info, in some cases spilling the info first.

[NativeTexan]

2. The Truth Is Coming Out Slowly

It has taken many months, but the truth seems to be finally coming out, when it comes to ROVEGATE.

These guys got so caught up in their continuation of the "ratfucking" that had started under Nixon in the 1970's, and are finally, I hope, getting caught up in their own web of lies.

My sainted Mama always said "if you tell a lie, you always have to remember what you said, but when you tell the truth, the truth is all there is".

Everyone lies occasionally, but when it has to do with National Security at the VERY TOP of the governmental food chain, then that is a whole 'other kettle of fish.

Rove has told so many lies in the last 10 years, he can't remember what the truth is. And to think, this goober is "Bush's Brain". YIKES!

http://truthfromtheamericanmiddle.blogspot.com/

[cal04]

5. How come Gingrich isn't being mentioned?

The president's most trusted adviser, Mr Cheney, was at the shadow network's sharp end. He made several trips to the CIA in Langley, Virginia, to demand a more "forward-leaning" interpretation of the threat posed by Saddam. When he was not there to make his influence felt, his chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was. Such hands-on involvement in the processing of intelligence data was unprecedented for a vice-president in recent times, and it put pressure on CIA officials to come up with the appropriate results.

Another frequent visitor was Newt Gingrich, the former Republican party leader who resurfaced after September 11 as a Pentagon "consultant" and a member of its unpaid defence advisory board, with influence far beyond his official title.
An intelligence official confirmed Mr Gingrich made "a couple of visits" but said there was nothing unusual about that. Rick Tyler, Mr Gingrich's spokesman, said: "If he was at the CIA he was there to listen and learn, not to persuade or influence." Mr Gingrich visited Langley three times before the war, and according to accounts, the political veteran sought to browbeat analysts into toughening up their assessments of Saddam's menace.

Mr Gingrich gained access to the CIA headquarters and was listened to because he was seen as a personal emissary of the Pentagon and, in particular, of the OSP. In the days after September 11, Mr Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, mounted an attempt to include Iraq in the war against terror. When the established agencies came up with nothing concrete to link Iraq and al-Qaida, the OSP was given the task of looking more carefully. William Luti, a former navy officer and ex-aide to Mr Cheney, runs the day-to-day operations, answering to Douglas Feith, a defence undersecretary and a former Reagan official.

The OSP had access to a huge amount of raw intelligence. It came in part from "report officers" in the CIA's directorate of operations whose job is to sift through reports from agents around the world, filtering out the unsubstantiated and the incredible. Under pressure from the hawks such as Mr Cheney and Mr Gingrich, those officers became reluctant to discard anything, no matter how far-fetched. The OSP also sucked in countless tips from the Iraqi National Congress and other opposition groups, which were viewed with far more scepticism by the CIA and the state department.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,999669,00.html