Posted on 11/7/2005, 6:24:14 AM by indianrightwinger
Reporters May Get Hottest Seats At Cheney Aide's Trial By ANNE MARIE SQUEO Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL November 7, 2005
After initial protests over protecting their sources, three prominent journalists ended up telling a federal prosecutor about their conversations with I. Lewis Libby, leading to the White House official's indictment for perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice.
Although no date has been set, Mr. Libby's case is expected to go to trial some time next year. When it does, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney won't be the only one in the hot seat. The reporters are expected to face a barrage of questions from defense lawyers. Instead of protecting sources, they could end up defending their own credibility, reputations and reporting techniques.
William Jeffress Jr., an attorney for Mr. Libby, told a federal judge last week that he expected significant First Amendment issues that could delay the start date of the trial. While he declined to elaborate further, defense attorneys involved in the case and First Amendment advocates said Mr. Libby's lawyers would almost certainly want to go beyond the scope of the areas covered in testimony the reporters have provided to a grand jury.
Judith Miller of the New York Times, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Tim Russert of NBC News were cited in the indictment and are expected to be called to testify. Much of the case against Mr. Libby rests on contradictions between the journalists' accounts of conversations with him and what he told Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald about those conversations. Mr. Fitzgerald was investigating who leaked the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency agent, Valerie Plame, to the reporters in what may have been retaliation against her husband, Joseph Wilson, for publicly criticizing the Bush administration
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Could there be secret tapes of the phone calls?
I would be stunned if Libby had secret tapes. That kind of went out of style, so to speak, back in the early seventies.
Of course, in this case I would be thrilled to be stunned.
The MSM is desperate for a trial. They want something so that the likes of Crissy Matthews and Woof Blitzer can hold "trial specials" each evening.
If Libby can not question the reporters extensively, he has a good case for claiming that he can't get a fair trial.
In fact, in a fair world, he would be able to depose them and then follow up on all the leads those depositions would produce...
Would three liberal reporters lie to take down a Republican? Why...yes. They would. It's their word against his. They all should have been charged with the same thing, and the jury could figure it out.
This whole thing is starting to smell more and more like a left wing media frame job.
He's innocent until the reporters can prove him guilty. It's their word against his. The only way to find out who's lying is to indite them all to be fair, and them get them on the stand. Fritz screwed up. He should have treated them all equally. Choosing Libby and not the left wing press members shows bias.
I wonder if Libby's attornies will remember Russert's slip during Election Night 2000 when he refered to Al Gore's campaign as "we". Conflict of interests? Surely somebody is still holding onto that tape.
Add Plame and Wilson to that list. The frame started with that trip to Niger. No one was paying attention to Wilson after he got back, so he had to come up with something else. Outing his wife was it. Remember, the press called Rove, not the other way around.
I still don't understand what it is that turned the nyt's against Judith Miller. One day she was being held up to the clouds as their hero for going to jail rather then testify and then all of a sudden the nyt's turned on her. Why? What happened? I'm missing an important key to the story.
It all depends on the which judge he gets. A rat judge could tell Libby's lawyers to go pound sand.
Good point. I hope Libbys lawyer knows about Russerts "Freudian slip".
Miller testified that Libby was not the source of her knowledge about Plame. That she had been told about Plame by someone else, who she could not remember.
Makes it that much easier to haul 'em to the stand to testify.
I think Russert and Cooper do have tapes....
Opportunism. Well, there have been signs that NYT was souring to Judith Miller about her supposed promotion of war stories using leaked CIA information about WMD. When it was convenient, they used her going to jail to prop up their principled journalism.
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/891
Wilson’s Green Problem
UPDATE:
The list of people who knew about Plame working for the CIA is getting quite large! From the Kerry Campaign to most of NBC News to Victor Davis Hanson….
Amazing.
END UPDATE
Gen Paul Vallely has come forward and claimed Joe Wilson was talking about his CIA wife in the Fox News Green Room - a charge Wilson is denying with threat of legal action.
“This is slanderous,” Wilson wrote. “I never appeared on tv before at least July 2002 and only saw him maybe twice in the green room at FOX.
Well, when was Wilson possibly in the Green Room with Vallely? In reverse chronological order:
January 10th, 2003 (Vallely, Wilson). Wilson was on John Gibson’s show this day. Which is why Gibson has similar recollections to General Vallely. Vallely was on Cavuto which airs right before Gibson’s show.
November 18, 2002 (Vallely, Wilson). Vallely was scheduled for 1:10, Wilson was to be on after 3:00 PM.
October 1, 2003 (Vallely, Wilson). Wilson was on Fox and Friends in the morning, Vallely on Cavuto. Depending on when Vallely came in to tape his section they could have met up.
September 12, 2002 - they were on the same show at 3:00 PM.
August 20, 2002 (Vallely, Wilson). Wilson was on Greta and Vallely on Cavuto. Depending on when/if things were taped the could have run into each other.
Well, four good opportunities to run into Wilson in the Green Room. BTW, all the guests listed in the same days as these make for potential witnesses. Not to mention all the times Wilson was at Fox and other networks.
MAJOR UPDATE:
I cannot believe how many people are ready to say Joe Wilson himself outed his wife. Now, through a 3rd party recollection, Victor Davis Hanson also recalled Joe Wilson talking about his CIA wife in a Green Room. What a putz he and Fitzgerald both are. Hat Tip Academic Elephant.
And this:
“…WEST POINT RALLIES AGAINST WILSON.
Lt. General Tom McInerney, USAF (ret), West Point ‘59, will join his colleague Maj. General Paul Vallely, USA (ret), West Point ‘61, on my show Monday 7 November (1005 pm Eastern Time on ABC Radio Network) to repeat and expand upon Vallely’s memory that Joe Wilson more than once in 2002 in the green room at Fox New Channel in Washington D.C. boasted about his wife the “CIA desk officer.” McInerney has the same memory and more, since both he and Vallely were on FNC between 150 and 200 times in 2002 each.
You will recall that Vallely received a threatening e-mail from Wilson’s attorney Christopher Wolf on Saturday 5 November, demanding Vallely retract his remarks on my show Thursday November 3, and to WorldNetDaly.com on Friday November 4. Vallely has not such intention.
Included in the threatening e-mail was an attached e-mail from Wilson himself, calling Vallely’s remarks “slanderous.”
Also, I have written my regular correspondent Victor Davis Hanson to ask after his reported memories of Wilson boasting to him in a green room meeting that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA…
…n brief, why did Fitzgerald not investigate Wilson for the same concerns he investigated Libby and Rove and others?
Time for Fitzgerald to start again? New grand jury? Put Wilson under oath along with Vallely and McInerney and all others who remember Wilson’s boasting of his wife as a “CIA desk officer” prior to Novak’s publication?
For now: Monday November 7, 1005 pm Eastern Time, West Point rallies against Joe Wilson. Who is more credible, two decorated combat heroes with a combined five stars and nearly one hundred years living with their oath to defend the Constitution - or Joe Wilson”?
http://john-batchelor.redstate.org/story/2005/11/6/235210/851
If they taped an off the record conversation they are toast
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