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PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, Novak and Libby

Murray Waas has a new article on PlameGate with the inside scoop on why Ashcroft recused himself in the Valerie Plame leaks investigation.

Shorter version: The FBI had evidence Libby lied about where he first heard about Plame (his handwritten notes showing it was Cheney who told him) and suspected Karl Rove and Bob Novak made up a cover story as early as October, 2003. It's a great read.

What's taking so long for the investigation to conclude? I wonder whether Fitz still isn't looking for evidence (or a confirming witness) to show Cheney's involvement was not limited to instructing others to attack Wilson's statements on uranium, WMD's and Iraq but that he also instructed aides to attack Wilson personally and tell reporters his wife worked for the CIA and the trip was nepotism.

I suspect he has Rove's cooperation. Will Stephen Hadley or someone else supply the final nail in the Cheney coffin? Or does Fitz need Libby -- which would mean he has to wait until either Libby is convicted and his appeals are over, pardoned or acquitted in order to force him to testify? (Those are the events which would cause him to no longer have a 5th Amendment privilege since nothing he said afterwards could be used to incriminate him.)

Also from Murray's article:

Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft continued to oversee the Valerie Plame-CIA leak probe for more than two months in late 2003 after he learned in extensive briefings that FBI agents suspected White House aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of trying to mislead the FBI to conceal their roles in the leak, according to government records and interviews. Despite these briefings, which took place between October and December 2003, and despite the fact that senior White House aides might become central to the leak case, Ashcroft did not recuse himself from the matter until December 30, when he allowed the appointment of a special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, to take over the investigation.

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    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#1)
    by scribe on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 11:39:04 AM EST
    I thought it interesting the incestuous relationships among, inter alia, the flacks. Corrallo - was working for Ashcroft when the investigation got started, now working for Rover. Comstock - was working for Ashcroft when the investigation got started, now working for Libby. And, so it goes.... I'm left to wonder (a) who Murray's source(s) on Ashcroft's involvement was(were), and (b) whether Ashcroft shared his information with personages in the WH, before or after recusing himself. I'd suspect Fitz has had to tease that out, too.... As to timing, I'm standing on my pool bet of a Rover indictment on 6/19. The date just feels right, and the media motions will (or should) be out of the way by then, as will the coming scheduling conference and the discussion about "early" trial subpoenas.

    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#2)
    by Tom Maguire on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 11:44:42 AM EST
    Those are the events which would cause [Libby] to no longer have a 5th Amendment privilege since nothing he said afterwards could be used to incriminate him Really? I would think that Fitzgerald could come up with a brand new indictment suggesting new crimes the day after the current charges are resolved. No double jeopardy at all. Or at least, I have seen plenty of folks keeping hope alive for a superseding indictment. I am sure you are right about a full Presiodential pardon, however (not just a pardon for the current charges). That said, if Fitzgerald needs Libby to get Cheney (and this whole Libby case seems to have been a failed attempt to gain his cooperation), IMHO Cheney has nothing to worry about. Good luck at the conference - being the voice of reason in that gathering will be..., well, fun, I'm sure.

    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#3)
    by scribe on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 12:11:46 PM EST
    re: delays in concluding probe, part II Fitz is busy with other corrupt folks.

    Tom, Fitz would immunize Libby from future indictments on other crimes if he were convicted, lost his appeals and not pardoned. Or if he was acquitted. And as you point out, a pardon would be complete enough to cover everything related to Plame and probably to his actions while serving in the Administration.

    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#5)
    by squeaky on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 12:40:47 PM EST
    With so many nefarious Republican tentacles deeply planted in all corners of the Bush machine it is amazing Fitzgerald has made any headway at all. Comstock is one of the most trecherous of the lot of scoundrels. FDL has her dirty history.

    A blog design request... Please don't use the MORE... option when you only have three sentences left. Some of us are on dial-up. Thanks!

    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#7)
    by mjvpi on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 01:22:20 PM EST
    One can only hope that this waites untill September. The political aspects of this case don't fit Fitzgerald's style. It would seem just if the legal issues came front and center in time to be a real issue in the 2006 elections. Fitzgerald's job is the law. The House or the Senate need to look at the manipulation of pre-war intel and the political hard ball of outing Ms. Plame. Does anyone at Talk Left know how long the term of the current grand jury is? The Libby charges were announced just as the first GJ expired even though the facts seemed to have been in Fitzgerald's possetion for a long time.

    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#8)
    by annburns on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 06:22:31 PM EST
    No one who indulges that loon Clarice Feldman (sampling of her views: Iraq did the first world trade center bombings, the blind sheik should be released from jail, the CIA has proof the WMD were moved to Syria, everyone on the 9/11 commission was involved in a coverup ....) should ever talk about being 'a voice of reason'.

    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#9)
    by orionATL on Fri Jun 09, 2006 at 06:53:56 AM EST
    i need a lawyer - to answer this question. regarding fitzgerald's delay in moving to other indictments some posters and commenters seem to favor a view that fitzgerald is simply waiting to move on other "conspirators" because he wants to finish up the libby discovery issues. does this make sense to you lawyers? would fitzgerald gain a lot by waiting until discovery was "complete" on libby?

    Re: PlameGate: Waas on Ascroft's Recusal, Rove, No (none / 0) (#10)
    by zak822 on Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 08:11:53 AM EST
    I echo orionATL's question. I hope some lawyers out there will offer comments that address it.