Archive for the 'Plamegate' Category
Jul 2, 2007 at 3:52 PM by Political Chase
Sooner is better than later according to a federal appeals court. The court denied I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, or now known as Inmate 28301-016, a motion that would allow Libby to remain free while his case is pending appeal. Libby will have to start serving his 30–month sentence in the next few weeks for obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements in the Valerie Plame Wilson CIA leak case.
Christy Hardin Smith at firedoglake has a copy of the order.
H/T ThinkProgress
Jun 14, 2007 at 5:51 PM by Political Chase
Judge Reggie B. Walton denied I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby his request to be released from jail pending appeal. The Bureau of Prisons will determine Libby’s accommodations and he will report to prison in approximately six to eight weeks.
Jun 14, 2007 at 1:39 PM by Political Chase
FYI. Judge Reggie Walton will decide today (late morning) whether Scooter Libby will go to jail in four to five weeks or if he will remain free on bail pending appeals.
Many are expecting Walton to deny bail during the appeal process.
Jun 12, 2007 at 6:57 PM by Political Chase
Don’t mess with Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald filed documents with the court today asking Judge Reggie Walton to send Scooter Libby to jail immediately.
Sounds like the way Colin Powell referred to closing Guantanamo, “not tomorrow, but this afternoon.”
Jun 5, 2007 at 8:19 PM by Political Chase
Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s statement on the sentencing of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby today.
As Americans, both Valerie and I are grateful that justice has been served, reconfirming that our country remains a nation of laws.
We are also saddened for the pain that Mr. Libby has inflicted on his family, friends, and the nation. Mr. Libby benefited from the best this country had to offer: the finest schools, a lucrative career as a lawyer and many years of service in Republican administrations. That he would knowingly lie, perjure himself and obstruct a legitimate criminal invetigation [sic] is incomprehensible.
It is our hope that he will now cooperate with Special Counsel Fitzgerald in his efforts to get to the truth. As Mr. Fitzgerald has said, a cloud remains over the Vice President.
A very dark cloud indeed.
Jun 5, 2007 at 4:12 PM by Political Chase
Scooter Libby has been sentenced to 30 months in the CIA leak case.
Late Update: Judge Walton also imposed a $250,000 fine, supervised release of two years following his release from prison, 400 hours of community service, and provide the government a DNA sample.
Jun 5, 2007 at 3:37 PM by Political Chase
The defense (Jeffress and Ted Wells) and government (Patrick Fitzgerald) continue their respective arguments to Judge Walton on Scooter Libby’s sentencing. As you know, the defense has touted the 160 letters written to the court on behalf of Scooter Libby saying what a great guy he is and that in spite of him being a convicted felon, he should not go to jail. Well, Patrick Fitzgerald took the defense’s letters and used them against their client.
Patrick Fitzgerald to Judge Walton:
We need to make sure we don’t make a special category of person who is not liable for their behavior. That is a terrible precedent, when we talk about govt corruption, if he doesn’t have to tell the truth, that is dangerous. I don’t think we should make a decision based on the policy decisions has made. We put that out the window and say, whatever policy decision he did in good faith, but many others have sacrificed for govt, but they all have to follow the truth. I don’t think it’s appropriate to consider impact of prosecution on him. No doubt it has impact on him, no defendant has stood before court, no defendant has better prospects for employment, even without a law license Libby has many people who wrote letters who would said he would trust him. He has better employment prospects than any other defendant, and he has means. (Emphasis added.)
Ever wonder why the White House wanted Abu Gonzales to put Patrick Fitzgerald’s name on the list of U.S. attorneys to fire?
Late Update: This is just too rich. Ted Wells is going to start crying in this session as he did in his summation. Wells just said, “In the White House, in the administration, he [Libby] was an island of virtue and good sense. I tried to develop students like Libby.” An island of virtue and good sense - so that’s why Libby managed the team that created the false intelligence to justify the war in Iraq and was convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements? I suppose I should teach my daughter those virtuous traits.
Jun 5, 2007 at 2:17 PM by Political Chase
The sessions has been underway approximately 30 minutes. Libby’s lawyer (Jeffress) has been pleading Libby’s case. They have primarily been debating “cross-referencing” (will explain later), and at this point Jeffress appears to be angering the judge with his arguments and has made an error in his filings with the judge with respect to the actual crime the investigation was initiated for.
Short version - not going well for Libby at this point.
Late Update: Cross referencing is the adding in and/or taking down of enhancements or departures for sentencing. Enhancements add more time, departures take it away. They are arguing about where Libby should fall as the baseline area for the sentencing guidelines calculation from which the judge will start in his considerations today – this is really, really common as the start to one of these hearings – Team Fitz is asking for a higher bump, Team Libby for a lower one.
Technorati tags: CIA leak case, Scooter Libby, trial, sentencing, Plamegate
Jun 1, 2007 at 1:05 AM by Political Chase
I bet he does.
Scooter Libby’s lawyers are “urging” Judge Walton to give Libby probation and community service. Now get this. According to the Times, his lawyers base their request on “his long record of public service.” They characterize Libby as a “distinguished public servant. Generous mentor. Selfless friend. This is the rich portrait of Mr. Libby that emerges from the description of him in more than 160 heartfelt letters submitted to the court on his behalf.”
I can just see Ted Wells crying again. And I bet Valerie Wilson is not one of the persons sending a cry-me-a-river letter.
Judge Walton is known for handing down stiff sentences, but will he cave in from the pressure of Darth Vader himself?
Libby’s sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Jun 1, 2007 at 12:32 AM by Political Chase
It’s the Wilson’s turn now. Valerie Wilson is suing the CIA for not allowing her to publish her book, Fair Game. The CIA claims Wilson cannot reveal her dates of employment. Pretty lame excuse when it is already published in the Congressional Record.
Mar 16, 2007 at 6:34 PM by Political Chase
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings today on the outing CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. Wilson’s testimony was important and revealing, but not as revealing as other testimony.
I will get to Wilson’s rebuke of the White House, but I want to cover what I saw as damning and surprising. In reality, nothing George Bush does surprises me, but this is a bit different.
Dr. James Knodell, Director, Office of Security, the White House, testified today that he had not done an investigation nor was he knowledgeable of any investigation his predecessor may have done. Specifically, Knodell said, “I have no knowledge of any investigation in my office.” If the President initiated an internal investigation into the Plame Wilson leak, Dr. Knodell and his predecessor would have been responsible for carrying out the investigation.
Dr. Knodell did not hold his current position at the time Robert Novak outed Wilson, but he assumed his position before the Justice Department began their investigation at the request of the CIA.
I thought Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) was going to fall out of his chair. Cummings asked Knodell if his office would be responsible for investigating the Plame Wilson event or a similar situation and Knodell confirmed he would be responsible.
Knodell was obviously extremely uncomfortable with the questioning, but his anxiety appeared to be derived from what he could not tell, as in what he had been ordered to do and now found himself between in a very compromised position. Knodell said, “We decided to not have correlating investigations,” which meant his office and the Justice Department. Cummings and Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) made it clear that his office had a greater responsibility than the DOJ, with a broader scope.
Unbelievably, the MSM is still so focused on Alberto Gonzales, they are not reporting it (or weren’t when I started this post).
This revelation, I believe, will create the perfect storm. This may be the best thing to happen to Gonzales since he has been the AG.
President Bush declared he would investigate the “very serious matter” and would take action against anybody responsible. Well, he didn’t and I’m sure he never intended to do so.
I planned to have a recording of the hearing, but the recorder failed; however, ThinkProgress has the video.
Mar 9, 2007 at 6:43 PM by Political Chase
Ever since Scooter Libby achieved Republican neocon martyrdom status Tuesday, I have heard wingnut after wingnut whine that Libby was unjustifiably charged. This thick-headed group has said ad nauseam that no criminal charges directly related to leaking Valerie Plame Wilson were filed, therefore there was no basis to charge Scooter Libby. They have pounded Patrick Fitzgerald relentlessly - calling him a zealot and other unjustified, childish names.
Today, the esteemed Mr. Charles Krauthammer joins the rest of the nitwits. Playing his cry-me-a-river violin and with all the melodrama he can muster up, he sings the refrain:
Why [should Libby have never been charged]? Because on his essential charge as special prosecutor — find and punish who had leaked Valerie Plame’s name — he had nothing. No conspiracy, no felony, no crime, not even the claim that she was a covert agent covered by the nondisclosure law.
Weeping, Krauthammer transitions to the next verse about the charges brought against Libby:
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald chose to make Libby’s misstatements about the timing of the receipt of one piece of information — Mrs. Wilson’s identity — the great white whale of his multimillion-dollar prosecutorial juggernaut.
Pray tell, what is the IQ threshold level, where the logic and results of the Scooter Libby trial are no longer a distortion of reality?
OK, Mr. Krauthammer, listen carefully. No criminal charges were filed for leaking Valerie Plame’s name because Scooter Libby, and arguably others, obstructed justice, which illegally kept Fitzgerald, or any other prosecutor, from being able to effectively investigate and charge those responsible for leaking Valerie Plame. Got it? Remember, Fitzgerald plainly stated multiple times, it’s like a baseball game; Libby threw sand in his eyes and he was unable to play the game effectively. Lying and trying to cover your butt are not legal. Got it?
Moving along…Fitzgerald presented his case to a grand jury and the grand jury decided, not Fitzgerald, Mr. Libby should be charged for throwing sand in the eyes of the prosecutor and the investigators.
Next, Mr. Libby was tried before a jury of his peers, which all eleven of them decided Libby was guilty. The jury decided the validity of Fitzgerald’s charges and convicted Libby, not Fitzgerald.
Furthermore, if Mr. Libby was so profoundly innocent as Krauthammer and the rest of the wingnuts proclaim, why did he not simply get on the witness stand and tell a mere eleven people he was innocent? If Mr. Libby was innocent and wrongfully charged, why didn’t one or both of his bosses, Dick Cheney and George Bush, rush to his aid and testify under oath how and why Libby was innocent? If Libby was so innocent, why couldn’t two of the best lawyers in the country easily convince the jury of his innocence?
Mr. Krauthammer, until you and the rest of your melodramatic ideologues provide truthful and exonerating answers to my questions, just remain quiet. You’re acting like a bunch of cry babies. Get over it and be glad that Fitzgerald didn’t take Cheney, Rove, and Bush down.
Mar 6, 2007 at 3:45 PM by Political Chase
To clarify the Libby trial verdict, following is what the jury decided by count.
Count 1 Obstruction of Justice - Guilty
Libby did “knowingly and corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede the administration of justice” by misleading the grand jury about when and how he learned that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, and how he disclosed that information to journalists
Count 2 False Statement - Guilty
Libby “did knowingly and willfully make a false, fictitious and fraudulent statement” in an FBI investigation when he misled agents about a July 10, 2003, conversation with Tim Russert (NBC).
Count 3 False Statement - Not Guilty
Libby misled the FBI about a July 12, 2003 conversation with TIME magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.
Count 4 Perjury - Guilty
Libby, under oath, knowingly made a “false material declaration” to a grand jury about his conversation with Tim Russert.
Count 5 Perjury - Guilty
Libby, under oath, knowingly made a “false material declaration” to a grand jury about conversations with Matthew Cooper and other reporters (e.g., Judith Miller, etc.).
Mar 6, 2007 at 3:09 PM by Political Chase
Joseph and Valerie Wilson’s response to the Libby verdict, through their lawyers, is here.
Mar 6, 2007 at 2:44 PM by Political Chase
This is my interpretation and summary of statements made after the jury rendered its guilty verdicts against Scooter Libby. As of this post, I have listened to remarks made by Ted Wells (lead defense attorney), Patrick Fitzgerald (Special Counselor), and one juror (last name Collins).
Wells statements were standard defense statements - no surprises; request for appeal to follow. Wells did not give a TV-drama speech (e.g., Shark). The only emotional statement he made, if you could call it emotional, was a very respectful statement. Wells said, they were disappointed in the jury’s verdict, but respect the judicial system. In other words, of course they aren’t happy, but did not put a negative spin on the jury’s process or decision.
Patrick Fitzgerald held a rather lengthy session with the press, which was classic Fitzgerald just the facts ma’am…just the facts. There is ample opportunity to analyze all of his statements later, but for now I’ll focus on a couple of statements.
The big question everybody has is, what about Cheney and the rest of the administration? When asked if he would end his investigation or would he pursue others, Fitzgerald said he did not anticipate making any further charges and the investigation was “inactive” as far as he was concerned. In other words, if he receives information that merits pursuing Dick Cheney, he will.
Continue reading ‘Scooter Libby Post-Verdict Update’
