My Four Hours Testifying in the Federal Grand Jury Room

[Walt Starr]

<snip>

My notes indicate that well before Mr. Wilson published his critique, Mr. Libby told me that Mr. Wilson's wife may have worked on unconventional weapons at the C.I.A.

My notes do not show that Mr. Libby identified Mr. Wilson's wife by name. Nor do they show that he described Valerie Wilson as a covert agent or "operative," as the conservative columnist Robert D. Novak first described her in a syndicated column published on July 14, 2003. (Mr. Novak used her maiden name, Valerie Plame.)

This is what I told a federal grand jury and the special counsel investigating whether administration officials committed a crime by leaking Ms. Plame's identity and the nature of her job to reporters.

During my testimony on Sept. 30 and Oct. 12, the special counsel, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, asked me whether Mr. Libby had shared classified information with me during our several encounters before Mr. Novak's article. He also asked whether I thought Mr. Libby had tried to shape my testimony through a letter he sent to me in jail last month. And Mr. Fitzgerald asked whether Mr. Cheney had known what his chief aide was doing and saying.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/national/16miller.html

sound like "Cover Everybody's Ass" time from Judy "Traitor" Miller.

[i miss america]

1. IMO, this is all going to come down to who is willing to cover for Cheney

and who is kissing @ss to secure a pardon.

Everyone in the WH (with the exception of the dim son) was in on the Plame outing.

Just our luck...all those suckers will be indicted and removed from office and little boots will be in charge.

Heaven help us.

[Walt Starr]

2. Read the entire five pages of the article

I'm amazed at how in depth she gets about the testimony!

[fooj]

3. I wouldn't count "Dim Son" out just yet!

Peace.

[emulatorloo]

30. Bush got his start as a political operative ala Lee Atwater

If he didn't have a Karl Rove, he would be a Karl Rove.

So I would not be so sure that he was not in on it.

[i miss america]

32. Yes, but that was back when he still had functioning brain cells

and was still capable of uttering a coherent sentence. A lot has changed since then.

[never cry wolf]

4. What BS

She is stating what her notes indicate or do not indicate. C'mon Judy, what was said? I don't give a shit what you wrote down, tell me what was said, what was understood between you. Shit, MY notes don't indicate the sky is blue...

[countryjake]

5. "Valerie Flame"

"We have everything to be proud of and nothing to apologize for," Ms. Miller said in the interview Friday.


HUH? How exactly does this woman think? Those two words in her notes speak volumes of her complicit intentions. What is it that she's proud of, I wonder?

[savemefromdumbya]

6. there's nothing proud about breaching national security!

:banghead:

[snippy]

7. Looks like Fitzgerald will certainly indict Libby and was trying to get

evidence against Cheney. According to Miller's account she did not have any evidence against Cheney, but Fitzgerald would not have asked questions about Cheney's possible involvement without a reason. Maybe he has other evidence from a witness other than Miller. I can hardly wait until Indictment Day.

[Garbo 2004]

23. There's been speculation since 2004 that John Hannah flipped

after Feds put the squeeze on him. Hannah worked for Cheney, was fed info by Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (Judy's buds of record), also was a liaison with Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. He was in the thick of the "fixed"/"flawed" intel and push for war.

Juan Cole's 2004 article on Hannah includes speculation as to motivation for the Plame leak. http://www.juancole.com/2004/02/john-hannah-allegedly-focus-of-plame.html

The UPI article Cole refers to may have been the last leak expressly attributed to the DOJ if memory serves. Fitz had taken over the investigation little over a month before and no doubt clamped down on leaks after Sale's article and related rumors made the rounds.

[snippy]

27. Very good. I had forgotten about Hannah and Sale's article.

I am very confident that Judy Miller is not Fitzgerald's sole witness against Libby.

[spooked]

8. This article makes Libby look good...

and the CIA look bad.

[napi21]

11. I wouldn't want to piss off the CIA if I were these guys/gals!!!

Right or wrong, the folks in the CIA KNOW a lot!!!! I'm positive they don't like the admin making they look like everything has been their fault!

I don't know if we will ever know all the people who testified before this GJ.

I have put all my faith in Fitz. If there's nothing he can prove in court, I'll accept that. i'LL HATE IT! But I'll accept it. I know he is a good lawyer, and is doing his best.

Having said that, I firmly believe Fitz will announce indictments within the next 10 days!

[spooked]

17. Having read Miller's piece, it also strikes me that Novak's source

was NOT Libby. Miller met with Libby just 2 days before Novak's column and admitted that she was "annoyed at having been beaten on a story".

[snippy]

14. Miller tries to make Libby look good but Fitzgerald doesn't seem to have

a very high opinion of Libby. Most likely because Fitzgerald probably dislikes criminals who leak classified information as part of a plot to smear political critics.

[Halliburton]

28. well judith miller wrote it

[emulatorloo]

31. also makes it clear that SCOOTER LIED TO THE GRAND JURY. . . .

and was maybe trying to get Judy to lie too.

[snippy]

41. I agree. n/t

[madrchsod]

9. i`vie been in court , around courts ,and

even in front of a grand jury and to me she is either covering her ass and hoping the jury bought what she said or tipping off her handlers. she can say anything she wants but if fitz bring a charge against her it`s up to the grand jury to decide on whether her role in this is an indictable offense.
judy should never take a small plane or drive on a dark night...

[never cry wolf]

10. Check out this para...

I said I couldn't be certain whether I had known Ms. Plame's identity before this meeting, and I had no clear memory of the context of our conversation that resulted in this notation. But I told the grand jury that I believed that this was the first time I had heard that Mr. Wilson's wife worked for Winpac. In fact, I told the grand jury that when Mr. Libby indicated that Ms. Plame worked for Winpac, I assumed that she worked as an analyst, not as an undercover operative.

This entire article is hip deep in legal bullshit. "I said," "I told," "my notes indicate." She's not saying what happened, she's saying how she tried to spin it all. And for a reporter who couldn't take note during the GJ her memory seems quite good but when recalling her conversations with Libby she can only rely on notes and has "no clear memory of the context..."

Everyone remember, this was written by someone on the inside of the conspiracy and the article is intended to present a rose colored glasses version of the events.

[spooked]

19. More legalese here in this quote...

"Before the grand jury, Mr. Fitzgerald asked me questions about Mr. Cheney. He asked, for example, if Mr. Libby ever indicated whether Mr. Cheney had approved of his interviews with me or was aware of them. The answer was no."


The answer was no. But IS No THE RIGHT ANSWER!?

[Justice Is Comin]

35. You "a-s-s-uumed??

How conve-e-enient!

[thinkingwoman]

37. and that's why I assume

that she's lying...because journalists don't assume anything. They ask. They clarify. They verify.

[Neil Lisst]

12. Libby is in trouble, even as she shaded it.

The letter from Libby to her contains language that will hang him. He attempted to appeal to her to go along and say he didn't mention Plame to her. And that weak ass attempt at analogizing the connectedness of Aspen demonstrates why wingers make lousy writers.

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst/

[wishlist]

15. Libby is screwed since he told her in 2 meetings about Wilson's CIA wife

Most posters on the Miller threads this evening are focusing on her allegation that Libby did not tell her Valerie Plame's name and complaining that she is covering up for Libby.

However Miller testified that Libby did bring up the CIA identity of Wilson's wife first and brought it up at two different meetings before Novak published his article. She says she later found out the exact name and discussed Plame's identity with other people. However her first source about 'Wilson's wife' working on WMD's at CIA was Libby.

[Neil Lisst]

21. wishlist, or cuz, as I'll call you since your last name is list ...

Right on the point.

He's toast now because she proved him a liar. If you read between the lines, he gave her the info she needed, then she went to find out who Mrs. Joe Wilson was. Someone gave her the name VALERIE and someone gave her the name PLAME, which she appears to have misheard and therefore called FLAME initially.

[napi21]

26. Why couldn't "Flame" indicate flaming Valerie?

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw that! Reporters are not in the habit of screwing up on names! That's the one thing they HAVE to get right!!!

I'm thinking that "Flame" was a Judy code for herself.

[dogman]

22. Also there is a possibility of Novak's testimony being overlooked.

Since Novak appears not to have been put through the wringer it is possible he told a lot. He has refused to discuss it and it is possible that Fitzgerald knew exactly what to look for.

[snippy]

29. Agreed. The actual name is irrelevant. The subpoena issued to Miller

demanded information about Libby's references to Plame by name or as Wilson's wife.

[jazzjunkysue]

44. That's right. It also contradicts the initial Ashcroft BS testimony.

Plus, she fingered him for the cover up. If it wasn't wrong, why did he ask her to attribute it to someone else?

Libby's toast and that's what the cryptic letter in jail was about: "The aspens are turning. No need to save me now. I'm already toast."

My guess is he'll have resigned by the end of the week, just like Miller did.

Card one in the house of cards has fallen.

[babylonsister]

13. I wonder if Ftiz gave her a pass to start jabbering about

her side of the story, and why. :shrug:

[snippy]

16. He told her she was only a witness and not a subject or target of

the investigation. It would be risky for her to publish lies about what she testified to because that could get Fitzgerald wondering whether she was attempting to obstruct justice. I think her account of her testimony probably is more truthful than her testimony, especially about what she could not recall. But Fitzgerald may not need her testimony on those matters, he may have evidence from other sources.

[seejanerun]

18. My fave is the part about the aspens---

do you think it means if he goes down she goes down?

[i miss america]

20. I think it means they will all testify that it was Rove in a coverup

to protect the big Dick.

:popcorn:

[Neil Lisst]

24. Maybe it means she tested his Weiner of Minor Distinction

While in Aspen.

Just a thought.

[seejanerun]

25. Nice

You're ahead of me.

[spooked]

33. If Miller is SO SURE that Libby didn't name Plame, WHY DID SHE GO TO JAIL

FOR 85 DAYS until Libby "Freed" her!?

"But I believed that nothing short of a personal letter and a telephone call would allow me to assess whether Mr. Libby truly wished to free me from the pledge of confidentiality I had given him. The letter and the telephone call came last month."

[i miss america]

36. She went to jail to protect Cheney. Libby's letter signaled that he

was prepared to fall on the proverbial sword to cover for his boss.

Fitzgerald can see through the BS...he knows the truth. Whether he will live long enough to issue indictments sometime during the next week is anybody's guess.

[Halliburton]

38. he has to get libby to flip

I think hannah provided him with some info, but Libby probably has a treasure trove of info on Cheney's role. Judy took her marching orders from Libby.

[pdxmom]

34. I think the fact that he had her change the attribution

makes it look like he was engaging in a smear. If her articles look like she has "multiple sources" by attributing information to "a former Hill staffer" as opposed to a "senior administration official", then it's harder to pin down the source. Seems like he was really working hard to cover himself.

I thought the article was pretty clear that Scooter Libby gave Judy Miller the impression that he wanted her to protect him. And that this was all a coverup and smear on a giant scale headed by the administration.

[Justice Is Comin]

39. Not as much evidence

as in the Simpson case, but pretty good. :popcorn:

[snippy]

40. This article describes only the evidence provided by Miller.

But the questions asked by Fitzgerald hint that he has other evidence, particularly concerning Cheney. I think the article makes it clear that Libby will be indicted, probably on several counts, and that Fitzgerald is after Cheney as well.

[tiptoe]

42. She volunteers info of evidentiary value in her notes...

Examples:

<A> "My notes indicate <evidence>..."

<A1> "...Mr. Libby told me that Mr. Wilson's wife may have worked on unconventional weapons at the C.I.A."

<B>"My notes do not show <absence of evidence>..."

<B1> "...that Mr. Libby identified Mr. Wilson's wife by name..."
<B2> "...that he described Valerie Wilson as a covert agent or 'operative,' as...Robert D. Novak first described her in a syndicated column published on July 14, 2003. (Mr Novak used her maiden name, Valerie Plame.)"

Volunteering to share an absence of certain evidence in her notes? Looks like Ms Miller -- in her published article -- related not only topics she discussed with the GJ, but also details of legal implication that lawyers around her may have prompted her to "advertise" (self-servingly). I'm sure the lawyers of other interested parties, too, appreciate learning what does and does NOT appear as evidence in Miller's (once-private) notes.

Not to forget, though: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

[Neil Lisst]

43. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

worth repeating tiptoe, since many readers don't get that far