WP: Free-Fall for the Fall Guy

[DeepModem Mom]

Under a perfect blue sky, Prosecutor Fitzgerald evoked "The Untouchables"

Free-Fall for the Fall Guy
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A02

Minutes after Scooter Libby's guilty verdict was read, Pat Fitzgerald did his best Eliot Ness impression as his prosecution team marched, Untouchables-style, across the federal courthouse plaza under a perfect blue sky. But it didn't take long for the clouds to roll in.

A reporter asked Fitzgerald if he still believed, as he had said in court, that there is a "cloud over the White House." The sunny victor turned slightly overcast at this memory and declined to say whether the gloom had lifted. "By Mr. Libby obstructing justice and lying about what happened, he had failed to remove the cloud," Fitzgerald said. "And sometimes when people tell the truth, clouds disappear."

The cloud over the White House grew darker a few minutes later, when juror Denis Collins, standing in front of the same microphone, spoke of the "tremendous amount of sympathy" jurors had for the man they convicted. "It was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove, where's -- you know, where are these other guys?' " Collins said. "We're not saying that we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of, but that it seemed like he was . . . the fall guy."

As a political matter, Libby's trial had long ago ceased to be about one man's guilt or innocence. Witnesses made it plain that at least three other administration officials had joined Libby in leaking the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame, including top Bush strategist Karl Rove and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (whom jurors dubbed "Slick Willie"). Libby's conviction, and Collins's "fall guy" remark, only increased the determination of congressional Democrats to spread the blame throughout the White House....

***

Libby maintained his stoic look as he walked out to the cameras with (his wife) and his lawyers. (Attorney Ted) Wells uttered a mere 119 words and took no questions, prompting about 25 photographers, 15 camera crews and dozens of reporters to chase Libby back into the courthouse.

"Are you willing to go to prison to protect Vice President Cheney?" shouted NBC's David Shuster.

"Do you expect a pardon?" another reporter called out....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601998.html