As noted today on FDL, Patrick Fitzgerald in is rebutal summation for the Scooter Libby Trial finally revealed exactly who his target in this investigation has been.
The Veep.
There is a cloud over the VP. He wrote those columns, he had those meetings, He sent Libby off to the meeting with Judy. Where Plame was discussed. That cloud remains because the defendant obstructed justice. That cloud was there. That cloud is something that we just can't pretend isn't there.
As he said when he announced his indictedment Libby "kicked dust into the umpire's eye" - but why? To protect his boss who had orchestrated the entire outing of CIA Operative Valerie Plame from behind the scenes. To protect Cheney from charges of Treason.
Fitz summation clearly indicates that the prosecution of Libby for his lies to the FBI and Grand Jury is merely an attempt to gain leverage and flip him into finally telling the truth and dropping a dime on Cheney.
First Prosecutor Zeideberg's laid out the case:
On behalf of defense, Wells elected to give opening. He painted different picture, told you about WH conspiracy to scapegoat Libby. Effort to make LIbby into sacrificial lamb so that Karl Rove would go free. You've heard witnesses testify, you've heard witness after witness, you've heard them testify about one or another conversation with Libby about Valerie Wilson during the time period that Libby claimed he had no memory of Wilson's wife. You heard Russert testify, take an oath and say he never spoke to Libby about Wilson's wife. In direct contrast to what Libby claimed. Now did you hear any evidence about a conspiracy to scapegoat Libby? If you draw a blank, it's not because of a problem with your evidence. I bring that to your attention to remind you that evidence is what happened on witness stand and introduced as evidence. Unfulfilled promises from counsel do no constitute evidence. Fitz told you this is case about lying, and I submit that is right. Not a case about bad memory or forgetting. Libby does claim he forgot 9 separate conversations over a 4 week period, but he also invents out of whole cloth, two conversations that never happened. His conversation with Cooper and his conversation with Russert. That's not a matter of forgetting or misremembering, it's lying.
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When you consider Libby's testimony, there's a pattern of always forgetting about Wilson's wife. He remembers Ari conversation, talk about future, Miami Dolphins, Remembers the Dolphins, doesn't remember talking about Wilson's wife. Remembers talking about NIE with Judy. Not about wife. Remembers talking about declassification with Addinton, but not the wife. Convenient pattern.
Yes, it's highly convenient and highly purposeful. As I stated regarding the Addington Question, Libby was trying to distance himself as being the source of the Plame leak and deliberately avoid legal jeopardy. We don't currently know if had proof, but he strongly suspected that Wilson's Wife could have been covert, and that he might be liable to the IIPA, which Addington had provided him a copy of and his CIA briefer Schmall had advised both Libby and Cheney of the danger of outing a CIA agent.
"I thought there was a very grave danger to leaking the name of a CIA officer," the briefer from Langley, Craig Schmall, said he told Messrs. Cheney and Libby during a morning session at the vice president's residence. "Foreign intelligence services where she served now have the opportunity to investigate everyone whom she had come in contact with. They could be arrested, tortured, or killed."
Following the initial prosecution closing, defense had it's chance - and apparently Ted Wells came off mostly like a used car saleman who knew he was peddeling a grade C lemon.
He claimed Libby was totally innocent.
A person who makes a statement based on a belief or opinion that is inaccurate, making an honest statement that turns out to be inaccurate. An honest belief is one of the most complete defenses because such an honest belief is inconsistent with the intent to commit the alleged offenses.
In this case, it is a deliberate, purposeful, intent to lie.
I'm just going to review chart I used in opening statement. Walk through quickly.
* Gave best good faith recollection
* Innocent mistakes
* No knowledge that Plame was classified [whether or not she was classified is out of bounds]
* Did not push reporters to write about Valerie Wilson
* Did not leak to Robert Novak, Armitage did [brings up Ari, leaking to Pincus], when Judy says, he worked at WINPAC Libby's not a nut, he wouldn't go out and leak false info
* Libby is innocent and had no motive to lie
No motive to lie? Yeah, that's rich. Well's attempted to make the case an issue of Libby's credibility vs Russert's.
Evidence shows Russert could have known about Wilson's wife, you know Gregory was told by Fleischer.
Correct, it is theoretically possible - even though no one in the trial confirmed this theory. But even if it's true, it's only because Libby had previously TOLD FLIESCHER about Wilson's Wife and claimed it was "hush hush" in the first place. Richard Armitage wouldn't have known (or been able to leak to Novak) if Libby hadn't started making inquiries with Marc Grossman. It's Circular Neo-Con Logic. Libby told Fleischer, who told Gregory who might have told somebody at NBC who also might have told managing editor Tim Russert - and then Russert told Libby - except that he didn't. Either way, all oars on this leaky boat point right back to Libby - and Cheney.
In terms of Russert's credibility, we know he filed misleading affadavit with Hogan when he said he was protecting first amendment. He filed misleading affadavit. Ask yourselves, does that comport with what happened in November.
Russert gave misleading account to public. He never tells the public I had been called by FBI and discussed whole conversation freely.
Finally, Russert has memory problems. He forgot a very important telephone call that involved himself involving the Buffalo news. He had to write public letter of apology, where he had to regret for not recollecting something. He was candid at the time, the only thing that shook that confidence was that he had a note. There's no note in this case, you can't have reasonable doubt. You can't decide that's firm and convincing evidence of guilt.
Yeah, it's all that NBC scumbag Russert's fault. He had an axe to grind with Libby and the Bush Administration - cuz he's from - from - NBC! Yeah, that's the ticket - oh and NBC shot JFK too.
At the end of his closing Well's apparently broke down into tears and cried "Give Libby Back to ME!"
So this is all just one sad mistake. Libby simply forgot about 9 different conversations he had about Wilson's Wife working at CIA, and Russert can't be trusted since he's from the evil NBC. It's all so unfair. Oh Pharoah have mercy - Let my Libby go!
Don't sacrifice Scooter LIbby for how you may feel about the war in Iraq or Bush Administration. Treat him the way he deserves to be treated. He worked every day to be NSA for this country. Analyze it fairly. Fight any temptation for your views if you're a Democrat or whatever party. This is a man who has a wife kid. He's been under my protection for the last month. Just give him back. Give him back to me, give him back.
[Wells gets all choked up, crying.]
Comments from the Press Room as reported by FDL:
He did a much better job of the crying thing in the tobacco trial... This time he really didn't sell it
Atter this Well's retreated to the defense table with his hand over his head, never looking up or apparently paying attention while Fitz went into his rebuttal, which he started out on fire, and woke the jury up fully.
Madness. Madness. Outrageous. The govt brought a case about 2 phone calls? And they just want you to speculate? The defense wishes that were so. Saying it, Saying it loudly, pounding the table, doesn't change the facts.
Is this case about 2 reporters, that's it? Is this about a one on one he said she said?
It's a he said he said he said he said she said she said she said he said (shows the graphic of nine people)
Is this the greatest coincidence in the world. That the only person he said he talked to forgot it. It's not one on one, it's all the evidence taken together.
...
No one wished this, but if Tim Russert were run over by a bus and went to that great newsroom in the sky, you could still find plenty of evidence that Libby was not surprised when [claims] he heard this from Russert.
Fitz then goes on to lay out all the other evidence and witnesses who specifically discussed "Wilson's Wife" with Libby, including notes made by the VP on a copy of Wilson's op-ed.
Have they done this sort of thing?
Send an Amb to answer a question?
Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us?
Or did his wife send him on a junket?
Yes, they - the CIA - often do this sort of thing. During the Presidency of George Bush Sr. Dick Cheney himself went on a "junket" with then State Dept official Richard Clark (As documented in his book "Against All Enemies") to convice the Saudi's to allow the U.S. to store equipment and supplies on thier soil as a method to help deter the Soviet Union from invading as they had with Afghanistan. That trip helped put in place the infrastructure that was later fully utilized during the first Gulf War. These weren't questions that Cheney wrote, they were marching orders, they were talking points.
Fitz knows this too.
First bullet–It is not clear who sent Wilson. "Or did his wife write him on a junket" A day or two after [Cheney] writes this, he makes it the number one talking point. The question of who sent Wilson is important, it's the number one bullet. There's something funny. They don't want to talk about the wife.
Or rather, they don't want to be caught talking about Wilson's wife since they know damn well that she could be covert. She is specifically left out of the talking points that Cheney provide Cathie Martin, but when she balks at revealing information from the then still classified NIE -- Libby gets the ball and starts making the contacts Ari Fliescher, whom he's never had lunch with before, and with reporters such as Miller and Cooper.
Conincidence? Hmm, I think not.
At a certain point Fitz starts to get dangerously close to the NOC question.
Importance Remember the others things going on. He had ten conversation with nine people. He's asking Schmall about. He's monitoring Hardball. He's not watching other things. He's remembering Rove telling him. Why is that important? It goes into his brain, bc that's important. VP cuts out column, he makes note on Dowd column. One thing that's really important, Schmall told him, this is a big deal, every intell service, whether innocent or not, they could arrest, torture, kill them. If you're sitting on the beach as a 21 year old, and you say, what you did, that can get people killed. If someone brought to your attention, you could get some people killed, that better be important, certainly NSA to VP in time of war.
At this point Well's was still doing his "oh woah is my defendant" act with his hand over his face. His co-council Jeffries realizes that Fitz is dangerously close to making statements that Valerie Wilson was an undercover agent, which has been ruled inadmissable by the court previously. Sheepishly he requests a sidebar, but not an outright objection since Well's has to do that - and he's still in crying jag-land. The question of whether this would be an appealable issue, which would require a timely objection be made during trial, seems somewhat open to me.
After the sidebar, Fitz continued.
Just so we're perfectly clear, I'm talking about Libby's state of mind. They're saying he's like a 21 year kid not remembering anything after the summer. Schmall did not know about Plame. He's saying that if this happens, you can get people killed. For his state of mind, When you're reading about a front company being exposed. Isn't that important? They want to tell you the wife wasn't important until later. They're saying it was important enough to read on July 14. Important when someone tells you, harm can happen and unimportant when facts prove defendant told a lie.
Go get 'em Fitz. That's when he brought it home.
Is this about a bunch of madmen, two men. Or is about something bigger, Is it about someone to whom Wilson's wife wasn't a person, but an argument. He focused on it June 23, July 8, July 7, focused on it when he talked to Addington. His boss thought it was important. His boss thought it was important. Did his boss forget about the wife/ One of the first thing he wrote, did his wife send him on a junket. They both talked to a briefer about it. You can't believe that 9 witnesses remember 10 conversations the same way. There is no conspiracy. There is no memory problem. He remembers a conversation that did not happen. But forgets all of his. He had a motive to lie, and he lied in a way that exactly matches his motive. You don't forget something on Thursday that you've passed along on Monday and Tueday. You don't forget about important arguments. You know they talked about a cloud over the VP.
DON'T YOU THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE ENTITELD TO ANSWERS. If as a result his wife had a job, she worked at CPD, She gets dragged into newspapers. People want to find out was a law broken when people want to know, who did it. What role did Defendant play? What role did VP play? He told you he may have discussed this with VP. Don't you think FBI deserves straight answers?
When you go in that jury room, you common sense will tell you that he made a gamble. He threw sand in the eyes o fthe FBI. He stole the truth of the judicial system. You return guilty You give truth back.
And thus the Prosecution completed it's closing statment. If the jury isn't nullified, it's quite likely IMO that they will return a guilty verdict. Perjury cases can be difficult and usually require at least two persons who can confirm that the defendant made deliberately false statements. This is why President Clitnon could never have been convicted for his statements at the Jones deposition or the Starr Grand Jury because it quite literally was He Said/She Said. But as Fitz pointed out - there are 9 other He's and She's besides Libby and they all agree.
Libby's description of how things occured is simply not possible, it's not a memory lapse - it's a series of lies meant to protect Libby and the VP from criminal liability.
Unfortunately for them that effort has failed. If Libby is convicted he will have to face Fitz on his sentencing. Certainly he will appeal and it's quite possible that he will be pardoned just like Susan McDougal who after enduring years of pressure to LIE from Starr was pardoned by President Clinton
Maybe. Eventually.
In the meanwhile - he'll be in the vice - looking at a possible sentence of 30 years for perjury and obstruction. He'll be in the perfect position to cut a deal. Will he break and give up the Veep or will he hold his ground as Susan did? Some indication in his defense case already indicates he may be ready to bolt, and if he does... All hell's gonna break loose for Cheney.
I've already got the popcorn out, this is going to get good in just a few more days.
Vyan
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