Anxiety Takes Hold of Presidential Aides Caught Up in Leak Inquiry - NYT

[TacticalPeek]

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DAVID JOHNSTON

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 — It started almost casually last fall, with F.B.I. agents leaving business cards under doors around the White House, politely calling for appointments and even meeting some officials, without any lawyers present, over a few beers at a nearby bar.

But the investigation into who at the White House leaked the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer has become much more intense in the last few weeks. Some administration officials have been summoned for confrontational interviews. Current and former members of the White House's communications and foreign policy teams have hired lawyers. At least a handful of White House aides have had to appear before a federal grand jury.

At the White House, the topic is rarely discussed openly among those who have already been drawn into the investigation and those who think they may be, people who have been questioned in the case said. The result, they said, is an information vacuum that is being filled to some extent by fear of what current or former colleagues may be telling investigators.


more

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/politics/12LEAK.html



Gnash, gnash, gnash.

:evilgrin:

[Loonman]

1. Drip, drip, drip

The flood cometh.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. and no wonder the gossip mill is working overtime

The flood is coming. These scum will go down.

[Womblestuffer]

34. the cockroaches are running from the light

Hope Cheney or Rove burns for this, The media is starting to get fair and balanced

[Beetwasher]

3. Sweet!

n/t

[HootieMcBoob]

4. I wonder how long it will be

before the first one is frog-marched out of the white house?
:bounce:

[Jacobin]

5. heh heh heh

Oh what a tangled web we weave......


Couldn't be happening to a more deserving gaggle of felons and traitors.

When will Novak be shot? I think that should be televised.

[alittlelark]

8. I dislike Novak, but don't want him shot.

He reminds me of my (just as obnoxious, and even more racist) grandfather - now 20 years deceased.

[Jacobin]

10. Okay. Fine. Hung, drawn and quartered, then

:-)

[wakfs]

9. No, not shot

That would be too easy.

Perp walk him on the evening news!

[notadmblnd]

28. I 'Ve said it before I'll say it again

I want to see them tarred and feathered, stripped of their assets and standing in the street with a sign that says "WILL WORK FOR FOOD"

[yellowcanine]

6. Stomachs churning, sleepless nights

You know who you are.

[mac2]

13. Tough times in the bowels of the gutter?

They are getting pressure from everyone..including Rove. Not worth all the money on earth to work there.

[xchrom]

7. maniacal cackling

this makes me shiver with delight.

[yellowcanine]

11. Watch out - bad karma to delight in misery of others

Heh Heh. HA!

[Arugula Latte]

29. How do you spell that German word?

Starts with an s, ends with a d ... Oh, crap, I'm too lazy to look it up. Anyway, the one meaning taking pleasure in others' bad fortunes. I got me a bad case of that, however you spell it...

[bpilgrim]

30. schadenfreude

A malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2000/05/10.html

peace

[TacticalPeek]

32. Moderation in all things, including moderation.

Bwaaahahahahah. All their base are belong to us.

[skypilot]

12. See, this is why I rarely read the NYT anymore

"A White House that has largely avoided scandal..."?!?!

What the fuck does THAT mean? Avoided scandal? What it SHOULD say is "A White House that has avoided indictments..."

On edit: And that is the SECOND time that I have read that description of this administration in the NYT.

[54anickel]

14. Ha, Good one. That would be a great headline!

[Gin]

15. Good...they cost the Clinton aides plenty with their witch hunts...now let

bastards pay.

[Mandate My Ass]

18. agreed, NYT is whitewashing this

So although White House officials have publicly pledged to help investigators, there is some resistance just beneath the surface. Some people who have spoken with investigators say they have refused to sign statements that would waive any promise of confidentiality they received from reporters. The effort to obtain the statements is apparently intended to deprive journalists who wrote about the leak an ability, if questioned or subpoenaed, to cite the need to protect anonymous sources.

Some people questioned in the case say they have also declined to sign agreements that they will not disclose any information about their encounters with investigators.

Boiled down ,these two paragraphs say they are actively obstructing justice, supposedly against WH orders but we know they say one thing and do just the opposite.


And then there's this little piece of dishonesty:

Disclosure of an undercover officer's identity can be a crime.

[skypilot]

20. "...just beneath the surface."

Which of course means the resistance is coming from ABOVE. Not "beneath".

[Supormom]

23. Good point!

And how many scandals will be revealed in the months and years to come?

[skypilot]

24. Can you even imagine...

...the flood of books that is going to come out as soon as these pricks are out of office? There has got to be a bunch of people sitting on loads of info that they are dying to share but don't feel able to in the current environment. I expect to be doing LOTS of reading after 2004.

[tom_paine]

16. Good! Those Freeper Busheviks can dish it out, let's see if they

can take it.

Answer: No WAY those gutless wussies can without cryin' to Mama!

[The Magistrate]

17. They Had Better Be Anxious

Mr. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor conducting this inquiry, has shown every sign over the last several years in Illinois of being of skilled and vicious animal....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[ProfessorGAC]

19. What Goes Around Comes Around

What happened to the old "If you've got nothing to hide, why worry about the investigation?" line?

People are hiring lawyers and worrying about what colleagues may or may not be saying. Then, they're OBVIOUSLY HIDING SOMETHING!

These people believe in that line at the top, and yet they're cowering in the dark over being questioned. If they believe the first paragraph, the only logical explanation is that they did do something wrong.

Got 'em.
The Professor

[dw]

21. "The case has heated up since December"

The case has heated up since December, when Attorney General John Ashcroft removed himself from it and the Justice Department put the matter in the hands of Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney in Chicago. Soon afterward, some administration officials were summoned to interviews at an office building a few blocks from the White House that is customarily used for investigations of national security breaches.

I have this image of a pack of rats in the basement, scurrying for cover when a light is turned on. dw

[0007]

22. "The mood is concern, not worry," said one Republican

with close ties to the White House." - What's the difference between? If you're 'concerned' or you're 'worried'?? Or you're uptight - you're nervous - you're unsettled - you're ill at ease - you're perturbed.

I bet Robert Novak is all shook up.

[Nay]

25. Excellent. These bastards should never have another good night's sleep.

[colorado_ufo]

26. Anxious? They should be flippin' relieved

that the CIA didn't decide to take care of this matter themselves.

[damnraddem]

27. They must be getting close to naming the scapegoat.

The aide's are anxious about who'll be asked to take the bullet for Dubya and Cheney.

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[Stephanie]

33. "At a White House that has largely avoided scandal "

What are they TALKING about? Don't they follow the news? Maybe these writers don't consider bringing the nation to war on false pretenses scandalous.