Prosecutor in Plame Case May Seek Conspiracy Charges

[Catchawave]

By E&P Staff

Published: October 02, 2005 10:20 AM ET

NEW YORK Many observers of the unfolding Plame/CIA case lament the revelations in the federal grand jury probe but suggest it may all be in vain because the level of malfeasance may not produce a specific criminal charge. But that doesn't mean serious charges--including far-ranging ones, connecting the offices of Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney--could not be brought, via the "conspiracy" route.

Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald may announce his intentions as early as this week, now that Judith Miller has testified.

Speculation is rampant in Washington this weekend, with ABC's George Stephanopolous adding fuel to the fire Sunday morning, disclosing on the "This Week" program that "a source close to this told me this week that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions" involving Valerie Plame.

In the Sunday article in The Washington Post, Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus (who has himself testified in this case), sketch out what Fitzgerald may, in fact, be up to:

"Many lawyers in the case have been skeptical that Fitzgerald has the evidence to prove a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which is the complicated crime he first set out to investigate, and which requires showing that government officials knew an operative had covert status and intentionally leaked the operative's identity.

more...http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001220140

[IChing]

1. Good news, would you edit and place this phrase in bold?

Speculation is rampant in Washington this weekend, with ABC's George Stephanopolous adding fuel to the fire Sunday morning, disclosing on the "This Week" program that "a source close to this told me this week that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions" involving Valerie Plame.

Frog March Time I hope
Stephanopolous is normally very cautious on what he says.
nominated

[Catchawave]

3. Thanks, I thought the whole

paragraph may be bold-worthy :)

Worrisome, however, the article is full of "undisclosed sources" ! What have we learned!?!

[IChing]

8. Yeah but you know we have many different readers here

The undisclosed source is always worrisome with Rove, the ghost in the machine, manipulating misdirection and misinformation. But I love the speculation and the internet rumor mill it will start on Cheney's and * involvement.

Thanks for the post.

[Rex]

2. If he cannot prove his case then we are all doomed.

That someone outed Mrs. Plame is a FACT. Finding the evidence is a no brainer, unless someone lied under oath or will soon lie under oath. I'm sure that the lies will keep people out of prison, but they should ALL (Boosh, Rove, Cheney, Libby, Rice, Rummy) be held for treason and conspiracy charges IMO.

[Maraya1969]

14. Oh wouldn't that be a fun tea party!

Bush, Rove, Cheney, Libby, Rice, Rummy) be held for treason and conspiracy charges"

I'm thinking Alice in Wonderland

[hvn_nbr_2]

16. OMG. You just gave me an idea

Probably just wishful thinking but: It could certainly be argued that outing an agent investigating real WMDs that could be used against us would be giving aid to an enemy, i.e. treason. I believe that the constitution requires two witnesses to the same act to prove treason. Could that be why Fitzgerald was so intent on getting Miller's testimony? I.e., she's the second witness to an act of treason?

[Just Me]

20. I was thinking along those lines when her operation was revealed.

An operation investigating WMD proliferation revealed by U.S. oil diggers and arms dealers in charge of U.S. policy.

The BushCO/neoCON regime have a history of arming both sides to a conflict for purposes of profiteering and advancing the chaos and destruction of oil-rich territories to exert control. I have no doubt that they have armed those who are enemies to the U.S.A.

The most delicious justice would be the total breakdown of one of the most destructive cabals in the world albeit sad that cabal is our own.

[Benhurst]

4. Recommened with great pleasure! NT

[ClintonTyree]

5. I hope Fitz can take out the whole lot of them...........

from bush on down to bolton. It would be the greatest service to our country in it's history.

[KoKo]

6. Could Conspiracy lead to a RICCO lawsuit?

If so that would be what we were hoping for. Get them all...not just a scapegoat. :shrug:

[ClintonTyree]

7. Sounds like it may apply.........

and like I said above, the entire lot of them needs to be removed like a malignant tumor from the Government.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

34. RICO Suit that breaks the Carlyle group and several oil companies

That's just my dream, but these arrogant shits may have left themselves open to this.

We'll see soon enough what Fitz has to work with.

[powwowdancer]

36. RICO ain't so suave

The problem with a rico rap is that you have to produce evidence that shrub's twisted horse shit is an illegal enterprise that pursues it's "racketeering, influence and corruption" for a profit. There can be little doubt that there's been "influence peddling" and no little corruption oozing like political pus from this administration, but it's more from ineptitude and just plain, old-fashioned evil than from any sort of warped sense of business acumen. Don't get me wrong, they're getting filthy rich, it's just too indirect. I mean look at Halliburton; if they ain't huntin' heads over THAT egregious, criminal enterprise, then Carlisle, Bechtel/Parsons, et al, are safe as mother's milk in a bank vault. I do like the way y'all's thinkin' tho'. At this point, I don't care if these Killa Klowns get hauled up on charges of sheep shearing without a permit as long as they just freakin' GO DOWN! Dear, merciful creator of all time and space, how long must we endure? I mean, these assholes are like corks floating in a sea of runny shit. Every time someone with a glimmer of conscience tries to knock a bushie down, they spatter runny poo all over themselves, and the evil G.O.P S.O.B.'s bob right back up. Meanwhile, you're so busy looking at the poo spattered guy that you forget about where all the poo came from in the first place. I know, that was a totally evil metaphor, but as a devoted bush hater... I'm looking to claw my way to the top. And it's not like I'm just hating some rethug out of some sort of knee jerk, reactionary angst, no, no, no... (I have Republican friends whom I would never abuse verbally like I'd love to verbally abuse le shrub), this guy has amassed a thick dossier of very valid reasons why anyone with anything growing above the neck should chase him out of the nation's scarred capitol in a frenzied, uncontrollable mob, armed with river cane switches and hurling gales of profanity.

:dem:
powwowdancer out

[gordianot]

9. So what are the chances that Miller's testimony is part of a conspiracy

that is currently developing? Notice how Bolton's visit to Miller made headlines and now a couple weeks later she testifies. Could Miller have struck a deal with the prosecutor early to see what reactions and how some of the key players interacted with her in a controlled environment while she was in the pokey? Bottom line for the New York Times would be the story of the Century.

Sorry if I am engaging in wishful thinking.

[KoKo]

11. Maybe Fitz flipped Miller.

Maybe she was central to the whole plot since she was sent in "embedded" in Iraq to show the WMD were found. When they weren't found she had egg on her face since she was Chalabi's pipeline for the evidence of WMD.
She wrote a Book on Bio-weapons with "suicided Brit Jack Kelly."

Miller is key to the conspiracy, imho. Maybe she will be the John Dean. The one who can connect dots? :shrug:

[gordianot]

12. It would not be without precedent for the New York Times.

A latter day Nellie Blye. No need for secondary sources when you are a key player. Who knows??

[Selteri]

15. Well, thanks to the patriot act, her visitations could be monitored

eavesdropped on with a judge's OK. I would laugh on the floor for a good ten minutes if it were to come out that the administration got bitten by their own quashing of our civil rights.

[gordianot]

19. I hadn't thought of that.

It used to be both parties knew when conversations were monitered or you had to get a Judge to allow the conversation to be taped, I had forgotten about the Patriot Act. That would be just too funny for words. Thanks

[IChing]

22. the aspens will already be turning.

Libby Writes IN CODE to Miller?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4945143&mesg_id=4945143

"the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work---and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers."

[gordianot]

23. Makes you wonder why that was released?

Such touching poetry. Curious isn't it?

[TerdlowSmedley]

32. I think he wrapped it up with "A wet bird never flies

at night" or something equally intriguing.

[daleo]

35. So many possible threats in that note.

So many possible coded messages.

[powwowdancer]

37. me like, me like...

Now, the conspiracy thing... that has legs. That's the candyman, baby! It can take a misdemeanor, sprinkle it with jam, kick cheney in the ass with it and land him in the can, the candy maaaaaan, the candy man caaaaan! He fixes it with felonies and makes it stick good, the candy maaaaaaaaaaan! (Sorry. I get a glimmer of hope and suddenly I'm rogers and frankenstein).

:dem:
powwowdaner out

[spooky3]

10. Here's a link to the WaPo article that your article quotes from...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/01/AR2005100101317.html

Cheney's staff was looking into Wilson as early as May 2003, nearly two months before columnist Robert D. Novak identified Wilson's wife as a CIA operative, according to administration sources familiar with the effort. What stirred the interest of the vice president's office was a May 6 New York Times column by Nicholas D. Kristof in which the mission to Niger was described without using Wilson's name. Kristof's column said Cheney had authorized the trip.

According to former senior CIA officials, the vice president's office pressed the CIA to find out how the trip was arranged, because Cheney did not know that a query he made much earlier to a CIA briefer about a report alleging Iraq was seeking Niger uranium had triggered Wilson's trip. "They were very uptight about the vice president being tagged that way," a former senior CIA official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. "They asked questions that set a chain of inquiries."

By early June, several weeks before Libby is said to have known Plame's name, the State Department had prepared a memo on the Niger case that contained information on Plame in a section marked "(S)" for secret. Around that time, Libby knew about the trip's origins, though in an interview with The Washington Post at the time, he did not mention any role played by Wilson's wife.

By July 12, however, both Rove and Libby and perhaps other senior White House officials knew about Wilson's wife's position at the CIA and, according to lawyers familiar with testimony in the probe, used that information with reporters to undermine the significance of Wilson's trip.

[MADem]

13. So, let me see if I understand this

Lying about a sexual indiscretion between two consenting adults, because you know your wife will kill you and your life will become a living hell, is a high crime or misdemeanor, but CONSPIRACY to out a covert CIA agent to discredit her husband solely because he is in political opposition to the administration is somehow NOT a SERIOUS CHARGE?

Shit, we really are living in bizarro world!!!

[hvn_nbr_2]

17. Lies about sex. Lies to start a war. Impeach whom?

I got that printed on a bumpersticker. The middle part about lies to start a war--we could replace that with a billboard of various lies and crimes.

[m_welby]

25. we all have to remember that it isn't the crime

It's the coverup!!

If in fact the members of the cabal lied when they were 'interviewed' then THEY ARE GUILTY OF THE SAME CRIME THAT CLINTON WAS GUILTY OF.

It will be difficult to walk away form a precedent they themselves set with their own witch hunt.

[newspeak]

27. NO, it's not just the lie!!!

They didn't just bring down Valerie Plame, they brought down the whole network!!!!! It's TREASON!!! The company was monitoring WMD's to keep American safer, someone exposed it, making us less safe. It's not just getting back at Wilson, it's exposing the network monitoring WMD's. Now what traitor would do that?

[jazzjunkysue]

18. This article is just a scrapbook of articles from the web: No one

person wrote it. But it's the prevailing opinion on the case, for whatever that's worth.

It's also proof that no one knows what's coming. They're all quoting the same 2 or 3 web articles and calling it journalism.

There's nothing leaking from Fritz's office. We'll have to wait and see. Let's hope it's not too long.

[lonestarnot]

21. Waiting and watching!

:popcorn:

[SittingBull]

24. ...

Who is Judy Miller kidding?
The New York Times reporter needs to write the truth about her involvment in Plamegate.

By ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
NOW THAT Judy Miller has finished testifying, finished spinning for the cameras on the courthouse steps, finished hugging her dog and finished eating that special meal she wanted her husband to prepare, she needs to do what Time reporter Matt Cooper did and immediately publish a full and truthful account of her involvement in Plamegate.

Because what she — and the New York Times' publisher and editor — have said so far just doesn't add up.


http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-huffington1oct01,1,2426416.story?track=mostemailedlink&ctrack=1&cset=true

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

26. "Many lawyers in the case"

The equivalent of the infamous "Some say" so beloved by the new school of journalism- no proof required to back your statement up.

[Catchawave]

28. Thanks to DUer usregimechange (video)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2128998

[BlueCaliDem]

29. Source to Stephanopoulos: President Bush Directly Involved In Leak Scandal

On thinkprogress.com via Buzzflash.com, I came across the following:

Near the end of a round table discussion on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos dropped this bomb:

Definitely a political problem but I wonder, George Will, do you think it’s a manageable one for the White House especially if we don’t know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments but if he is able to show as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions.

(Bold and Italics added by me)

Here's the link to the full story:

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/10/02/bush-directly-involved/

As I read this, I was thinking to myself: how dumb could I be that I didn't make the link between Joe Wilson's wife being "leaked" to the rightwing-loving media, and the irrefutable iron hand of this administration?

I should've at least tried to see that nothing is instigated by this WH unless approved by the top brass within it.

Stupid me.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

30. Wonder what the rw will do

if the GJ comes out with Bush and Cheney as unidicted co-conspirators?

[Rosco T.]

31. They'll say "It's Clinton's Fault..." n/m

[powwowdancer]

38. You're right...

KEE-RIPES! These idiots get more mileage outta "clinton did it," than a hybrid mo-ped. At what point do they milk that political cash cow dry? Of all the lame-o dodges. How's it go? Fix the problem, not the blame? And for folks who allegedly refuse to play the blame game, they sure do engage in it rather a lot.

:dem:
powowwdancer out

[WinkyDink]

39. Cheney will be indicted.

No safe haven for him. He is guilty, and this GJ and Fitz aren't rolling over.

[MasonJar]

33. Isn't there some reason to believe that Plame and the fellow CIA

investigators were getting too close to the biggest crook up there, Cheney? That would kill two birds with one proverbial stone. We all know that this crew has gotten increasingly bold in their crimes against the people and humanity. They never expected to be called to account since they own virtually all of the government. With Diebold et al it is going to be tough to ever dislodge them. So they will have to hang themselves.