What's Coming Up
/in emptywheel /by emptywheelJust some thoughts about what’s coming up.
First, we’ve got the FBI Agent (her name is Bond–could this thing get any more perfect?), who will introduce Libby’s FBI and GJ testimony. We’ll hear long tapes of Libby’s testimony. Fitz will pay particular attention to Libby’s efforts to get Scottie to exonerate him in Fall 2003.
Then we’ve got "the mystery witness." I’ll ask around if anyone has a better idea who it’ll be. But I suspect it will be one of Edelman, Rove (both are referenced in the indictment, and Rove may be able to place the timing of the Russert conversation), or Matalin (to enter yesterday’s "snake" comment) or Cheney.
And then we’ve got Russert. Why did Fitzgerald leave Russert for last? Does he believe he’s going to be that compelling? Or is it just a matter of Russert’s timing? In any case, both Prosecution and Defense seem to think that Russert will be very convincing. Is it because he hates Tweety?
The big question, at this point, is what Libby will do for defense. Will he take the stand? Will Cheney take the stand? If Libby doesn’t take the stand, this may be over–one way or another–sooner than we thought.
What’s Coming Up
/in emptywheel /by emptywheelJust some thoughts about what’s coming up.
First, we’ve got the FBI Agent (her name is Bond–could this thing get any more perfect?), who will introduce Libby’s FBI and GJ testimony. We’ll hear long tapes of Libby’s testimony. Fitz will pay particular attention to Libby’s efforts to get Scottie to exonerate him in Fall 2003.
Then we’ve got "the mystery witness." I’ll ask around if anyone has a better idea who it’ll be. But I suspect it will be one of Edelman, Rove (both are referenced in the indictment, and Rove may be able to place the timing of the Russert conversation), or Matalin (to enter yesterday’s "snake" comment) or Cheney.
And then we’ve got Russert. Why did Fitzgerald leave Russert for last? Does he believe he’s going to be that compelling? Or is it just a matter of Russert’s timing? In any case, both Prosecution and Defense seem to think that Russert will be very convincing. Is it because he hates Tweety?
The big question, at this point, is what Libby will do for defense. Will he take the stand? Will Cheney take the stand? If Libby doesn’t take the stand, this may be over–one way or another–sooner than we thought.
What I Think Happened
/in emptywheel /by emptywheelThis is going to be really quick–but there’s a lot of confusion about where there are smoking guns and where there are not. So I’m going to lay out what I think went on in May-July 2003. It’s speculative, but this is the picture we’re beginning to see.
The first response we know of came in May. There was the Kristof article which passed little noticed. But when Pincus–with his good sources at CIA–came sniffing around, OVP got worried. In late May Libby started his research, starting with Grossman. He learned of Wilson and Plame from Grossman, then he got Grenier involved–calling him out of a meeting with the DCI–and he kept getting this information. It now appears that after Grenier (who learned of Plame from someone in Plame’s group) and Cathie Martin (who learned of Plame via Harlow) told Libby and Cheney, the latter went to figure out precisely what Plame did at CIA. Which is how he figured out she worked in CPD. If Fitz can prove that, it’s damning–it’d suggest that Cheney learned Plame worked at CIA and then made a point of figuring out where, what she did.
One more thing–it now seems clear that Cheney and Read more →