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Judith Miller Finds Earlier Notes on Libby

By Jeralyn, Section Valerie Plame Leak Case
Posted on Fri Oct 07, 2005 at 02:01:54 PM EST
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Uh-oh. For Scooter Libby. Reuters reports that Judith Miller has found and turned over notes on an earlier conversation from June, 2003 with Scooter Libby.

Miller's notes about a June 2003 conversation with Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, could be important to prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's case by establishing exactly when Libby and other administration officials first started talking to reporters about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson.

What else happened in June, 2003? One thing is the classified State Department memo that mentioned Valerie Plame. WAPO reported

The material in the memo about Wilson's wife was based on notes taken by an INR analyst who attended a Feb. 19, 2002, meeting at the CIA where Wilson's intelligence-gathering trip to Niger was discussed.

Bloomberg reported in July, 2005:

Another key question that Fitzgerald is interested in, according to the grand jury witness and the lawyers familiar with the case, is whether Rove or Libby learned of this earlier report and, if so, shared its content with reporters.

So, if Libby told Miller about the memo in June, and she has it in her notes, Libby could be in big trouble if he denied it. On the other hand, maybe this is what Libby meant when he said Miller could help him. Maybe her notes show no discussion of the memo.

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    Judith Miller Finds Earlier Notes on Libby | 4 comments (4 topical)
    Re: Judith Miller Finds Earlier Notes on Libby (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Who did she talk to in May after Kristof's May 6 NYT op-ed. Perhaps she will find those notes next week. I believe that Miller was in on crafting the memo from the start. It was written in reaction to Kristof's op-ed. It is amazing that she withheld the June Libby notes. What was she thinking? Did she imagine that Fitzgerald did not know that she talked to Libby in June? Someone must have let her know that Fitzgerald knows and that is when she 'found' the notes. It will be amazing if the memo is not in the notes and this is what libby meant by telling him that she could help him. I do not think so because if she could have helped him with those notes she would have produced them the first time around. If that turns out to be the case that the memo is not mentioned I am sure that another forgery has just taken place. Sara has an interesting take over at TPM:
    Patrick Fitzgerald will indict the case he has -- nothing more, nothing less.  If he can name Cheney and Bush as un-indicted co-conspirators, he will, because it will mean they cannot provide aid to any of their appointees. It will protect his essential case.
    Re: Judith Miller Finds Earlier Notes on Libby (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Update-
    The NY Observer says the notes may concern a conversation as early as May 2003 (when Kristof's column about the unnamed diplomat's Niger trip appeared)?
    War & Peace

    Re: Judith Miller Finds Earlier Notes on Libby (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Um....She just found these notes? Seems like the heat is on someone.

    Re: Judith Miller Finds Earlier Notes on Libby (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    She withheld evidence. I'm pretty sure that's contempt of court without a damn good excuse, and there isn't a good excuse. I'm sure hope she's having a real excellent weekend, caviar and dancing girls, because next week she may be going back to the clink.

    Judith Miller Finds Earlier Notes on Libby | 4 comments (4 topical)