Can someone kindly catch me up as to what the Libby trial is all about? Somewhere along the way I lost the plot. Thanks.
Valerie Wilson was a covert CIA operative. Her cover was blown. A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate. Lewis Libby, the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, made statements during the investigation that appear to have been lies. That’s perjury, a felony. Right now he’s on trial for interfering with the investigation. If enough evidence emerges during the perjury trial to implicate someone in the crime of revealing Mrs. Wilson’s name, that person will be prosecuted as well.
I thought Richard Armitage was revealed as Novak’s source? He is being sued in civil court but why not in criminal court?
Thanks, Pochacco. 
First, it’s important to understand that there were several leakers.
The investigation revealed that several sources leaked the fact that Wilson’s wife was a CIA employee. Both Armitage and Karl Rove gave Novak the info. Rove also leaked the info to Matt Cooper of the NY Times. Armitage also leaked it to Bob Woodward. Ari Fleischer gave the info to Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, David Gregory of NBC News, John Dickerson of Time magazine, and possibly others. Libby leaked it to Judith Miller of the NY Times. There is some dispute as to whether Libby also had a conversation with NBC’s Tim Russert on the subject
Second, I think the conclusion of the investigation was that no crime was committed in disclosing Wilson’s identity. I say “I think,” because all we know in the end is that nobody was indicted for committing those crimes, even though the source and circumstances of the leaks is fairly well documented. The prosecutor has declined to say why he did not indict anyone, so we are left to speculate as to why. But I think the bottom line is that no crime was committed by making this leak.
I suppose, but I don’t think there was any expectation that this would happen. (The defense rested today). There are some who suggest that Libby lied to cover up a crime, in other words, that somebody else leaked the info in a way that constitutes a crime, and he lied about it to prevent prosecution. But the facts of the case don’t support that, I dont think. The essence is that Libby just lied about things that could be checked against other sources… ie, conversations with other people, white house meetings. His motivations remain unclear.
Libby decided to play the FBI by lying to them and got caught. Odd thing is that what he was lying about may not (technically) have been a crime after all.
This is from a transcript of the press conference held by Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel in this case, when the indictment against Scooter Libby was announced (the whole transcript is at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/2005_10_28_fitzgerald_press_conference.pdf - PDF warning):
In other words, the grand jury didn’t indict anyone for leaking Plame’s status as a spy because Fitzgerald believed Libby’s behavior obfuscated the case too much. Fitzgerald didn’t say at the time that there was no illegal leak, only that with Libby’s alleged perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators it wasn’t possible to make a good case against any individual.
I
A lot of noise has been made over the concept that Armitage was the first to blow Mrs. Wilson’s cover to Mr. Novak. However, several reporters are involved; only Novak put the cover-blowing in print. Armitage was not the first to talk to all of the reporters. Matt Cooper, IIRC, heard it first from Karl Rove.
Yes, but this implies that Fitzgerald couldn’t find out who leaked the information. On the contrary, I think the flow of leaks was documented pretty clearly.
For example, there’s no doubt that Armitage leaked the info to Bob Woodward… the conversation is on tape, and Armitage appears to have admitted what he did from the outset. Why then was Armitage not charged? Fitzgerald refused to answer that questions at his press conference (you posted the relevant quote). The prosecutor knew precisely what Armitage did and when, regardless of what Libby did to throw sand in his eyes. The only conclusion I think we can reach is that Fitzgerald concluded that Armitage’s disclosure did not violate any law.
That’s the central legal issue of this case, and I’m disappointed that there hasn’t been any official explanation. Did Wilson not meet the statutory definition of covert agent? Is an accidental disclosure not a violation of the law? If one person leaks the story on Monday, is a leak by someone else on Tuesday ok? We just haven’t been offered any specific answers. The public focus appears to be more on the political issues, and frankly that’s just boring.
Maybe not, but he was possibly lying to protect Cheney. Clearly, the pres and the veep were terribly concerned about the public’s questioning of the Iraq invasion. That’s been documented recently. My belief about the higher levels of our government right now is that to them legality is not of prime concern. Their fidelity to their ideology and to their superiors trumps the law. It’s an old story with this crowd. (Remember Watergate?)
I can only speculate on Fitzgerald’s thinking, but I suspect the problem (from his point of view) is that Libby was claiming that the information was already public - that he learned about Plame’s status as a CIA agent from Tim Russert. Armitage’s lawyers would certainly use this in his defense if Fitzgerald were to prosecute the leak - a fact that’s public knowledge can’t be a secret. That would put the burden on Fitzgerald to show in his prosecution of Armitage that Libby was lying, turning the case against Armitage into a case against Libby. A good defense lawyer could probably use this to create reasonable doubt of Armitage’s guilt.
It’s possible that, if Libby is found guilty, Fitzgerald will then try to get indictments against the other accused leakers (like Armitage and Rove). The job of prosecuting them will be much easier if they can’t hide behind Libby’s claim that Plame’s status was already public knowledge.
Wait, who’s this Valerie Wilson person? I thought her name was Plame.
Of course, the reason it is technically not a crime is because the administration declassified the stuff he was talking about but not telling anyone they declassified it thus making it a secret declassification which is just strange.
Her maiden name is Plame, but she took the name of her husband, Joe Wilson, after she married him.
Professional (maiden) name Plame. Married name Wilson. Code name Flying Fish (not really, I don’t know)