Matt Cooper Had To Be Lying, To The Grand Jury and in TIME Magazine

me | 19 July 2005 | yaya123

[YaYa123]

Matt Cooper called Karl Rove on July 11, 2003.

In his TIME article, Matt Cooper wrote what he calls an honest accounting of his testimony to the Grand Jury, and the following is how Cooper described his call to Karl Rove on July 11.

ROVE in TIME magazine: "Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes.

I'm not buying that. Granted, Robert Novak's column outting Valerie Plame didn't appear till July 14.

But the State Department memo which explained the role Wilson's wife played in her husband's Niger trip, was taken aboard Air Force One by Colin Powell, on the president's July 7 trip to Africa. In one account, Powell was "waving the memo around". In a new twist, Ari Fleisher is being accused of sharing the memo contents with reporters who were aboard Air Force One.

I don't know if Matt Cooper went on the Africa trip, but even if he didn't, there's no way Cooper would not have gotten wind of the memo's contents before his July 11 phone call to Karl Rove. One even has to wonder why Cooper would have been calling Rove in the first place, if not to obtain confirmation on Wilson's wife.

(And even if Matt Cooper is such a piss poor reporter that he might have missed out on what every other Washington reporter supposedly knew, you can be sure his wife Mandy Grunwald was in on the latest Washington buzz and would have told him.)

I believe it's more likely Matt Cooper, not Karl Rove, lied to the Grand Jury, and I think Cooper's lie was about what he knew and when he knew it. He had to have known about Valerie Plame before Karl Rove told him.

I think it's highly unlikely Cooper would put information in his TIME article which differed from his Grand Jury testimony.

[YaYa123]

I've never posted a "vanity", I checked the appropriate box, I've put myself on record, and if I'm proven wrong on this, I'll donate an extra $50.00 to FR.

[Fenris6]

I've been following the facts of the case on Powerline.

Read Cooper's latest drivel - he spins almost every fact out of context, plays word games, uses his "art" to mislead and distort the issue.

If his writing is any indication of his character, he's a lying weasel. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in jail with Miller.

[YaYa123]

One other point. Or rather question I have. Who did Matt Cooper call first...Karl Rove or Scooter Libby?

[sirchtruth]

ROVE in TIME magazine: "Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes.

Shouldn't that read Cooper?

This is all about the changing of the guard. Bush and Goss are cleaning house and the MSM&D don't like it!

[Rodney King]

But the State Department memo which explained the role Wilson's wife played in her husband's Niger trip, was taken aboard Air Force One by Colin Powell, on the president's July 7 trip to Africa.

I never quite understood why everyone assumes that it would have been the only copy of the memo.

[Archon of the East]

I've put myself on record, and if I'm proven wrong on this, I'll donate an extra $50.00 to FR. every FReeper

Wow!!!!Now that is assuredness. Seriously though you may very well be correct. I understand that the Memo was in fact a big part of the SP investigation recently.

[Red Badger]

Isn't Cooper's wife a big Clinton-ista?........

[Tom_Busch]

Yes...Mandy Grunwald.

[SwatTeam]

I've been wondering for at least 2 weeks if the supposed leaker that is being protected by Miller and everybody else is none other than Colin Powell. After all, he seems to be the one who took the reported memo aboard AF1 and he is such a hero to the left I can see them trying to hang Karl Rove in order to protect Powell. And there is no way in hell a reporter for Time or the NY Times would go to jail to protect a Republican.

[Red Badger]

Of course SHE didn't know anything about the identity of Ms. Plame's husband's wife........

[Buck W.]

"Yes...Mandy Grunwald."

Perhaps that's who Judith Miller is protecting...

[cvq3842]

It's a good post.

People keep asking why the investigation is continuing, especially since there appears to be a lot of evidence that Plame was not undercover and outing her was not a crime. Could it be that someone is being investigated for perjury?

I would love to get everyone on record regarding how they feel about perjury in this context, and then watch the fun if an accusation of it is in fact made.

Certainly we have a history with this in the political context already.

But silly me, I look for logical consistency in politics. I should know better.

[YaYa123]

thank you so much for correcting my stupid mistake. Of course I meant to type "COOPER", not "ROVE"

[Boundless]

> ... I believe it's more likely Matt Cooper,
> not Karl Rove, lied to the Grand Jury, ...

It's more likely that Cooper is lying ABOUT what he
testified. Spinning and dissembling on the court
house steps is a liberal technique pioneered by
Clinton hack Sydney Blumenthal in Feb 1998.

The theory is that since grand jury proceedings are
secret, no transcript will surface and contradict
the spinner. Unfortunately for Sydney, the transcripts
did later get released.

[Tom_Busch]

lol, right.

[Galtoid]

I believe this case has gone beyond leaks and columns and journalists. Read what Isikoff writes today on MSNBC about Fitzgerald, the presecutor. This guy takes no prisoners, and he's prosecuted some high level national security threats.
What if Fitzgerald has stumbled upon an insidious agency-wide effort to thwart our own national security by undercutting the Bush administration? What if there exists some Clintonites within the agency who neglected or missed very important intelligence that would have prevented 9/11? We all know that the 9/11 Commission white-washed a ton of stuff. I'm no tin-foiler, but I am now beginning to believe this aint about the press anymore.

[Tom_Busch]

Could be, but it wouldn't surprise in the least if she is protecting Wilson himself.

[Terabitten]

I never quite understood why everyone assumes that it would have been the only copy of the memo.

What *was* Sandy Berger getting from the Archives?

[Galtoid]

Interesting tie-in with Berger. I read earlier this week that the judge in his case has suspended Berger's sentencing date indefinitely.
Could it be these two cases are intricately woven together, and that the press (in their egocentric as all getout) manner, has mistakenly thought this was about a stupid leak that didn't break any laws? The White House press corps thinks they've finally got their Watergate, when in fact, they might have something much bigger and not about them at all. This could destroy a lot of over-inflated egos. Helen Thomas will need a shrink.

[Cboldt]

I think it's highly unlikely Cooper would put information in his TIME article which differed from his Grand Jury testimony.

I'm not so sure on that. The sworn testimony is supposed to be truthful, but there is generally no crime by publishing lies. The remedies for publishing lies are contained in defamation law, not in criminal law.

IIRC, some of the people who testified in grand juries of Clinto cronies came out and lied about their testimony.

See, for a parallel, where 36 media organizations signed on to a legal brief that asserts the "outing" of Plame was not criminal. That brief was submitted to the DC Circuit Court in March of this year. Yet today, these very same media outlets persist with the argument that a crime was committed.

The only reasonable conclusion is that they are liars, and one is hard pressed to figure out what part of their assertions, if any, represents truth.

[Soliton]

you can be sure his wife Mandy Grunwald was in on the latest Washington buzz and would have told him

According to NewsMax, Mandy Gruwald is so close to the Clintons that Hillary threw her a baby shower at the Whitehouse.

[YaYa123]

You wrote, "It's more likely that Cooper is lying ABOUT what he testified."

I disagree. The Grand Jury is still in session, Fitzgerald could always call Cooper back in to explain the inconsistency in what he testified and what he published in TIME. I think the lie(s) Cooper told to the Grand Jury, he must keep repeating now. And I think that's exactly what he's doing, on what he knew about Valerie Plame, and when he knew it.

[Red Badger]

I agree. The MSM is bending over backwards, sideways and inside out to cover this up with Rove-O-Rama. The NYT House of Cards is teetering in a hurricane. No One is asking the question : If Not ROVE, Then Who?. The prosecutor has said publicly that ROVE IS NOT THE FOCUS OF THIS INVESTIGATION. The press is collectively closing its eyes and chanting like The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, "It IS about ROVE, It IS about Rove!" Only, unlike the poor Lion, they ARE fooling themselves. This whole situation will explode when the Grand Jury hands down indictments to someone the press already knows about. A Pulitzer is just waiting to be picked by some REAL journalist who is sane enough to write the truth........

[Wristpin]

"What if Fitzgerald has stumbled upon an insidious agency-wide effort to thwart our own national security by undercutting the Bush administration?"

There is a seperate FBI investigation into the dessemination of the forged NIGER documents that has been hiding under the radar. I beleive Joe Wilsons OP ED piece released classified information. The whole business of being given an "operational Secret" clearance without signing a Non Disclosure agreement and then being debriefed in his home by the CIA stinks to high heaven IMHO.

[Terabitten]

The White House press corps thinks they've finally got their Watergate, when in fact, they might have something much bigger and not about them at all.

It could well be the MSM's Watergate.

Think of it: A former national security advisor, with close ties to the Democratic presidential frontrunner in '08 leaks information to the press to discredit the administration. The MSM willingly complies with the attempted smear campaign.

Could it be that Judith Miller is in jail to protect her source, Sandy Berger?

Now, admittedly, I'm just kinda free-associating here. I don't know if the timelines fit or not. But, you have to admit, it'd make a great paperback.

[YaYa123]

Good grief! How did I miss reading Sandy Berger's sentencing was delayed from July 8 to sometime in September???? All I can find on it is a newsmax article:


http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/13/190705.shtml

Was the delay not even reported by the MSM?

[Terabitten]

Yeah, it was reported here on FR.

[rocklobster11]

I always thought Ari Fleisher might have been responsible for initially leaking this to reporters, and perhaps that was part of the reason he left shortly thereafter.

[YaYa123]

looks like both posts here, on Berger's sentencing postponement were newsmax articles.

[Terabitten]

Oh okay... I just read the FR articles, didn't read the original. :)

[YaYa123]

Fleischer did leave the White House the week of July 14, 2003.

[Cboldt]

The Grand Jury is still in session, Fitzgerald could always call Cooper back in to explain the inconsistency in what he testified and what he published in TIME.

And all he has to say is that what he wrote for TIME is not the truth, but his testimony before the grand jury was truthful.

[Cboldt]

How did I miss reading Sandy Berger's sentencing was delayed from July 8 to sometime in September???? All I can find on it is a newsmax article:

Here's more. The US Government brief requesting sentencing be delayed until August 25th.
http://unbillablehours.typepad.com/unbillablehours/files/berger.pdf

[Cathymac]

Did you see that hag Hellen Thomas yesterday at the WH breifing? What she was proposing by telling Scott McClellan what illegal - that GWB needed to call Rove into the White House to find what was going on - in essence disregarding the investigation all together.

[YaYa123]

Drats, I can't read it!

[ravingnutter]

Here's an article I found while doing research on the multitude of CIA resignations a few days ago, which at the time I dismissed as moonbat rantings...BUT:

Why did DCI George Tenet suddenly resign on June 3rd, only to be followed a day later by James Pavitt, the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations (DDO)?

The real reasons, contrary to the saturation spin being put out by major news outlets, have nothing to do with Tenet's role as taking the fall for alleged 9/11 and Iraqi intelligence “failures” before the upcoming presidential election.

Both resignations, perhaps soon to be followed by resignations from Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, are about the imminent and extremely messy demise of George W. Bush and his Neocon administration in a coup d'etat being executed by the Central Intelligence Agency. The coup, in the planning for at least two years, has apparently become an urgent priority as a number of deepening crises threaten a global meltdown. Shortly after the “surprise” Tenet-Pavitt resignations, current and former senior members of the U.S. intelligence community and the Justice Department told journalist Wayne Madsen, a former Naval intelligence officer, that they were directly connected to the criminal investigation of a 2003 White House leak that openly exposed Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA officer.

Seymour Hersh dropped a major bombshell that went virtually unnoticed, 54 paragraphs deep into an October 27, 2003 story for the New Yorker titled “The Stovepipe.”

“Who produced the fake Niger papers? There is nothing approaching a consensus on this question within the intelligence community. There has been published speculation about the intelligence services of several different countries. One theory, favored by some journalists in Rome, is that [the Italian intelligence service] Sismi produced the false documents and passed them to Panorama for publication.

“Another explanation was provided by a former senior C.I.A. officer. He had begun talking to me about the Niger papers in March, when I first wrote about the forgery, and said, 'Somebody deliberately let something false get in there.'

He became more forthcoming in subsequent months, eventually saying that a small group of disgruntled retired C.I.A. clandestine operators had banded together in the late summer of last year and drafted the fraudulent documents themselves.”

Source

Okay...there is much misinformation in the article which has now been disproven, as Rove/Bush/Cheney did not leak Plame's name, but what about the basic premise that this whole thing was a coup set up by the CIA? That would explain the shakeup at the CIA, Goss's aide, Patrick Murray was literally coming unglued over leaks within the agency. You will notice that Powell's name is in there too as being complicit. They are now trying to hang that memo around Bush's neck.

Yes, I have my tin foil hat securely on, LOL!

[mentor2k]

ping

[Cboldt]

Drats, I can't read it!

`pdftotext` to the rescue ...

Case 1:05-mj-00175-DAR
Document 11
Filed 06/24/2005

Page 1 of 3

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
SAMUEL R. BERGER Defendant

: : : : : : : : Criminal Number: 05-0175M-01

Motion to Extend Sentencing Date

Unopposed Motion to Extend Sentencing Date

The United States respectfully submits this unopposed motion requesting that this Court extend the date for sentencing in this matter to allow the defendant to continue to provide cooperation pursuant to the plea agreement entered April 1, 2004.

On April 1, 2004, the defendant entered a plea of guilty to a single count information charging a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1924. Pursuant to that agreement, the defendant has agreed to continue to cooperate with the government in its investigation of matters related to the defendant's conduct at the National Archives. That cooperation includes meeting with the Inspector General of the National Archives. Defendant's cooperation is ongoing, and the government needs the additional time to allow for full and complete cooperation.

We respectfully request that a sentencing date be set for August 24, 2005, approximately a one and one half month extension.

Case 1:05-mj-00175-DAR

Document 11

Filed 06/24/2005

Page 2 of 3

The defendant has no objection to this motion nor the proposed date for sentencing.

Respectfully submitted,

Noel L. Hillman
Chief, Public Integrity Section

__________________________
Thomas Reilly
Daniel A. Petalas
Trial Attorneys
U.S. Department of Justice
Criminal Division

-2-

Case 1:05-mj-00175-DAR

Document 11

Filed 06/24/2005

Page 3 of 3

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing was served by first class mail, postage prepaid this ___ day of June, 2005 on the following counsel of record:

Lanny A. Breuer
COVINGTON & BURLING
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004-2401
(202) 662-5538
Counsel for Samuel R. Berger

__________________________
Daniel A. Petalas
Trial Attorney

-3-

[RegulatorCountry]

History repeating itself. Touting a fake memo, in an attempt at bringing down a presidency. Unlike "Rathergate," this one should scare the crap out of anyone paying attention. Not so "tinfoil" anymore, to think that certain elements within the intelligence "community" are perfectly willing to go "rogue."

[YaYa123]

thanks so much.

I'm out of tin foil, or no doubt I might consider some wild speculation on whether Berger's "continued cooperation" includes taking questions from Fitzgerald.

[Cboldt]

I'm out of tin foil, or no doubt I might consider some wild speculation on whether Berger's "continued cooperation" includes taking questions from Fitzgerald.

LOL. I think the two events are unrelated.

[RightFighter]

Both resignations, perhaps soon to be followed by resignations from Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage, are about the imminent and extremely messy demise of George W. Bush and his Neocon administration in a coup d'etat being executed by the Central Intelligence Agency. The coup, in the planning for at least two years, has apparently become an urgent priority as a number of deepening crises threaten a global meltdown. Shortly after the “surprise” Tenet-Pavitt resignations, current and former senior members of the U.S. intelligence community and the Justice Department told journalist Wayne Madsen, a former Naval intelligence officer, that they were directly connected to the criminal investigation of a 2003 White House leak that openly exposed Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA officer.

I posted last week that I think Tenet himself may have been the leaker. Here's a follow-up post I did this morning:

Why I think it's Tenet

My earlier post on my thoughts on the whole matter: Freeper Thoughts on the Plame Kerfuffle

[JRios1968]

What *was* Sandy Berger getting from the Archives?

Good point. If I were a betting man, I would place even money on Joe Wilson and Sandy Berglar as my top 2 candidates in the "Who is Judith Miller Protecting?" sweepstakes.

[lowbridge]

Time reporter: Rove didn't give any name