Libby: Bush Authorized Plamegate Leak, And Zots Against Civilians

The Smoking Gun ^ | 4/5/2006 | The Smoking Gun

[good god]

APRIL 6--A former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney told a federal grand jury that President George Bush authorized him to leak information from a classified intelligence report to a New York Times reporter. Details of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's testimony were included in a court filing made yesterday by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is prosecuting Libby for perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in connection with the probe into the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

According to Fitzgerald's filing, an excerpt of which you'll find below, Libby, 55, testified in 2003 that he provided reporter Judith Miller with information from a classified National Intelligence Estimate after being told by Cheney that Bush "specifically had authorized" him to "disclose certain information in the NIE." Libby also testified that Cheney also specifically directed him to speak to other reporters about information in the classified NIE (which addresses Iraq's purported weapons of mass destruction programs) as well as a cable authored by Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. The leaking of the classified material was apparently done in an effort to counter claims made by Wilson regarding the White House's justification for invading Iraq.

The Fitzgerald filing also notes that Libby told grand jurors that he conferred with David Addington, Cheney's counsel, about the leak directive and that Addington told him "that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document."

While both Bush and Cheney have been interviewed by Fitzgerald, it is unknown whether they confirmed or disputed Libby's assertion that he was authorized to disclose findings in a classified report. Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, resigned his White House post last October following his indictment on five felony counts.

[mnehrling]

It is very interesting how this story has warped.. originally, it referenced only National Intelligence Estimates with the only mention of Plame as by the reporter discussing the 'back story' on Libby.. this has slowly devolved into being a 'Plame' story..

[SIDENET]

Welcome (sniff, sniff...)

[blueminnesota]

Hmmmm....

[Arrowhead1952]

Welcome to FR!!! I think....

[good god]

Thanks! I hope :)

[edcoil]

If this were true, the MSM would have uncovered this long ago.

Me thinks "Good God" troll.

[zarf]

Uh oh, this means that the "Cheney is gay" rumors can't be far behind.

[mnehrling]

Outside of the story warping.. read the doc attached on the Smoking Gun link. It is a major damnation of Wilson and the left's accusations.. it pretty much destroys Wilson's credibility.. Like I've always said, this is going to backfire on the left...

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

post-zot? bummer. At least I get to see the kitties...

[icwhatudo]

The title implies Bush authorized the outing of Plame yet the body of the article does not bear that out.

All he did was allow the release of some parts of a classified report on Iraq WMD programs (which is in his power to do IIRC) and the article is trying to use a fake headline to imply something else.

If i am wrong please correct me-Thanks!

[weegee]

NB4ZOT

[liberty_lvr]

YES! WE GOT HIM NOW!

Impeachment time!! Boy, it's finally going to happen, eh fellow DUmmie? Wait till we tell all the rest...oh, oops.

Wrong site, sorry...

[Wristpin]

That's the good thing about being the Prez...You can declassify anything!!!

[TexasCajun]

[sinkspur]

So Bush authorized, in response to Joe Wilson's lies, that a portion of an NIE be released which gave the rationale for the Iraq invasion.

Sounds like a good thing to me. And, the President has the authority to release classified information.

How is this news?

[mnehrling]

You are exactly correct.. the media is trying to warp the story hoping people don't read the documents attached.. The left and the media relies on the pop culture mentality of following headlines like lemmings instead of researching the story and actually reading the entire article..

[Admin Moderator]

Sooooooooo, whaddaya think of all that?

[True Republican Patriot]

Definitely a newbie Troll minted today! Reads like a confused mass of areo fritto to obfuscate screw ups and a non case as indicated by the Jury shopping that went on.

[weegee]

(AP) Papers: Cheney Aide Says Bush OK'd Leak

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Plame's CIA identity.

[#1CTYankee]

"Sooooooooo, whaddaya think of all that?"

Apparently the same thing his profile says.

[andie74]

Thanks, good god.

Remember, the president has the authority to declassify any intelligence and make it..uh...unclassified.

Nice try.

Meow.

[nutmeg]

IB4TZ!!

[Coop]

Lookie heeyah, boy! When da Admin Mod aks you a question, you better git on heeah and talk most respectful like. Unnahstan?

[ravingnutter]

On October 7, 2002 DCI Tenet sent a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee declassifying portions of its new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.

Sen. Carl Levin News Release

More:

A 25-page version of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was released in October 2002. It made clear-cut statements about Iraq's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons capabilities in two pages of "Key Judgments."

Source

The document can be found here. Warning: .pdf file

[zook]

ABC radio news just said there was no authorization to give out anyone's name.

[gov_bean_ counter]

How is this news?

The MSM will try and make this news because Bush complained about leaks.

[darkwing104]

Well kitties here is part 1 of 2!

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Viking Kitty/ZOT ping list!. . . don't be shy.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

In B4ZOT?

[stephenjohnbanker]

ZOT?

[roaddog727]

WOW.

You didn't last long.

Philistine

[stephenjohnbanker]

: )

[darkwing104]

Don't know why as of yet. The Admin Mod must know something we don't.

[stephenjohnbanker]

The Mods often work in mysterious ways : )

[weegee]

The media keeps "revising" their coverage of this story.

The most recent Fox Radio News headline ended with a paraphrased version of "The president didn't leak because as president he can declassify information".

[SlowBoat407]

At least I get to see the kitties...

Aye, that you do, lad!

[BJClinton]

From the AP via Yahoo!:

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity

[hiredhand]

ZOT!


We hope you enjoyed the ride while you were here at FreeRepublic!




We know how you must be feeling right about now. :-) ...

[Kimberly GG]

The media keeps "revising" their coverage of this story.

The most recent Fox Radio News headline ended with a paraphrased version of "The president didn't leak because as president he can declassify information".

That's because they pulled Brit Hume on air to explain and he was furious that even their titles were misleading and read like the AP and used the words "Bush authorized leak'. They haven't said it since!

[JewishRighter]

Yeah, he's and did you hear, he shot his lover in a jealous rage and called it a "hunting accident", which was a coverup story devised by the Illuminati who really run Halliburton as a front group to cover up their plot spread their mind-control technology all over the world? Did ya hear? /sarcasm

[Thunder90]

[FreedomNeocon]

+

=

[StarCMC]

LOL!!! I love that graphic!!

[amutr22]

I'm sorry---I LOVE this President....but this just does not sound good. It makes him look guilty and the MSM is all over this tonight. They will make this into something huge and .......really?? I am not sure how to defend it.

[weegee]

(A) The President is permitted to declassify information. There is no "leaking of classified information" angle but the press is parroting this. The hit and run media doesn't care about "correcting" errors, they want the mileage they get even momentarily out of smears.

(B) The President did not authorize the leaking of Plame's name (as some articles are suggesting).

The media lies. Why try to debate a liar? Facts mean nothing to them. Expose them as habitual liars and you don't need to answer their charges. Tell them to bring facts to the debate.

[PilloryHillary]

good bye

[mcvey]

Yes, welcome to what is one of the last places where you can escape the daily pablum.

McVey

[JRios1968]

[mcvey]

Well, I agree that this really seems to be much ado about nothing. After I read the filing, it is clear that it was not Plame's name that the declassification involved, but rather the data from the NIE.

The MSM may try to make this something it is not and most Americans do not have the resources one gets by belonging to FR to check such things out.

I gather we are in full indignation mode out on the news networks. We should not underestimate the damage that this could do to the President--since the Demrats and their MSM allies have already made him a target of opportunity.

McVey