Posted on 09/09/2006 3:48:25 AM PDT by libstripper
WASHINGTON - For three years, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald knew the answer to one of the biggest questions in Washington: Who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame?
Now that former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage acknowledged this week that he was the leaker, the new question is what Fitzgerald has been looking for during a quest that rattled the White House and sent a reporter to jail.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Patrick Fitzgerald—A Tale of Two Cases and a Congressman
The general media view of Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor who has indicted “Scooter” Libby for perjury, obstruction of justice, and false statements in the Plame leak investigation is that he is an incorruptible “prosecutor’s prosecutor.” A closer look at an earlier communications interception case involving Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) and the Libby case, a curious recommendation for him made by Representative Gerald Nadler (D, NY), and his own background all suggest something far different and more sinister.
I. THE TWO CASES
According to an October 22, 2005 NewsMax article, http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/22/142646.shtml Fitzgerald. was the U.S. Attorney assigned to investigate a communications interception case where operatives of U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) arranged secretly to tape a strategy meeting involving Harkin’s Republican opponent, Rep Greg Ganske. Brian Conley, a former aide to Harkin, made the recording while attending the meeting at the request of Rafael Ruthchild, a Harkin operative, and returned the recording and recorder to Ruthchild. When the Ganske campaign learned of this, they complained to Polk County, Iowa Attorney John Sarcone and to Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Conley and Ruthchild both refused to participate in the investigation and Ruthchild resigned from her job with Harkin.
The Federal statute in this case, 18 USC § 2511(1)(a) specifically prohibits any person from intercepting “any wire, oral or electronic communication[.]” This taping of the Ganske meeting appears to have been such an illegal interception. Nevertheless, the noted NewsMax article reported that Fitzgerald, after about a two week investigation, “announced there was no violation of federal law by Harkin’s team.” Fitzgerald apparently did not even interview Harkin, who “staunchly denied he had any prior knowledge of the possibility of a criminal tape plot.”
This starkly contrasts with Fitzgerald’s investigation of the Plame leak case. Here the alleged underlying violation was of either the 1992 Intelligence Identities Protection Act (the Identities Act) or the Espionage Act. The Identities Act prohibits disclosure of the identities of “covert” CIA agents, 50 USC § 421, and narrowly defines a “covert” CIA agent as an individual whose “identity . . . is classified information and . . . who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States[.]” The Espionage Act, 18 USC § 793 is equally narrow in that it applies only to a specifically listed set of disclosures, not including the disclosure of covert agents’ identities and prohibits such disclosure only if it is done “with intent or reason to believe the information is to be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation[.]”
Plame wasn’t a “covert” agent since she had returned to the United States more than five years before her identity was disclosed. There couldn’t have been a violation of the Espionage Act because “covert” agents’ identities aren’t covered by that act and any disclosure of her identity was to protect the United States from the damage she and her husband were doing to it, not with intent to use the knowledge to injure the United States or help a foreign power.
Nevertheless, Fitzgerald went ahead with the Plame investigation without any reasonable chance of discovering any underlying statutory violation while he dropped the Harkin investigation, in spite of clear appearances that there was an underlying violation. Why??
II. THE CONGRESSMAN
Enter Gerald Nadler (D, NY), a far left Democratic congressman from New York, who distinguished himself with his passionate defense of ex-president Clinton during Clinton’s impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives. Subsequently, Mr. Nadler enthusiastically supported of Hillary Clinton in her run for the NY Senate seat she now holds. He can be anticipated to do his all supporting her in her likely run for the presidency in 2008.
Mr. Nadler has apparently been watching Patrick Fitzgerald’s handling of the Harkin and Plame cases and approved of the way he’s done both or, at least, Fitzgerald’s handling of the Plame investigation. Once again our old friend NewsMax has done some worthwhile digging and gone to Mr. Nadler’s website. On October 22, 2005 NewsMax, http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/22/234208.shtml reported that “Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are so pleased with reports that Leakgate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is about to indict senior White House officials that they want him to lead an impeachment investigation into whether President Bush lied to Congress about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.” According to the same report, Nadler has written to the Justice Department and requested it to expand Fitzgerad’s investigation.
All this leads an inquiring mind to ask why Nadler, a strong supporter of Hillary in all her endeavors, is such a strong supporter of Fitzgerald. Is it possible that he knows something about Fitrzgerald, or ethically dubious communications involving Fitzgerald, that have not been publicly disclosed?
Fitzgerald’s background and general present situation suggestion that’s exactly the explanation for Nadler’s view.
Fitzgerald turned 45 on December 22, 2005. He has served a little more than four years as US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, having been confirmed on October 24, 2001. Before then his entire career was spent in various positions in the Justice Department, meaning he is now and has always been a man of no more than upper middle class means. His whole career shows that he’s a very ambitious man. According to an August 4, 2005 article in the Chicago Sun-Times http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-fitz04.html US. attorneys normally only serve four year terms, Fitzgerald’s time is up, and there’s “speculation that he’ll be shown the door[.]”
Thus, it boils down to the fact that Fitzgerald is a very ambitious lawyer of no more than upper middle class means who’s at the end of his current career trajectory. He must find another way to advance and has shown an unscrupulous willingness to attack the Bush administration in the Plame investigation far different from his disinclination to follow a more promising investigation against Harkin. Now he has the golden opportunity of a lifetime—the chance to be the lynchpin of the Democrats’ effort to do what they have been absolutely unable to do since 2000, elect a Democratic President and Congress by destroying the Bush presidency in a time of war. If Fitzgerald accomplishes that, he will be their superstar and is almost assured to become Hillary’s Attorney General. His motive for pursuing this investigation where there is no underlying crime is clear—he ambitiously and unscrupulously desires to become Hillary’s Attorney General.
This is going to be fun to watch. Now the Rat's are going to turn on their "hero" Fritzy. Wonder if the involvment of little Chucky Schumer, head of the Democrat Senate Electoral Comittee, in this Fritzmus PR scam will see the light of day?
Rush is doing his best to see that it hapens.
It's so obvious. Fitzgerald, in cahoots with Schumer and Nadler, has been trying to abuse his power from day one to conduct a legal coup against a duly elected president so that he, Fitzgerald, can become the next AG. In so doing he cares not a whit about the fact that he's giving aid and comfort to America's mortal enemies, both domestic and international. The man's a traitor and ought to be prosecuted for treason.
How do you smell spell opportunistic self-aggrandizement?
bttt
Finally, AP gets around to questioning Fitzgerald's motives and methods!
We can all hope that the house is about to fall in on the "prosecutor's prosecutor."
If Fitz just say he "forgot" or "made a mistake", he will be OK with the Dems. That's how they get away with anything.
Also, if Armitage was the leak, then anyone after him is not really leaking since the same info is already out.
Look, I think Fitz is a train wreck, but the last two paragraphs of that piece you posted are lame-o. There's plenty of substantive reasons to tar and feather Fitz without resorting to fantasy. The so-called "evidence": Fitz is ambitious, his run as US Atty is expiring, the Libby case is BS, Nadler likes him. 0 + 0 = 0.
This on same day as the WaPo article. More proof that Rush is right about all the media saying the same things.
Were Fitz against the Dems, they would be demanding his removal, publishing pictures of his house, protesting in front of his house, giving details of his security system, when he takes walks in his neighborhood, what restaurants he goes to, who are the members of his family and what they do or where they go to school.
But he's their man.
Please put away the tin-foil and have someone lock up all your narcotics. Granted, Fitz appears to be a major league asshat with the Libby brouhaha, but Hiltery's AG he'll never be.
FYI he is currently dismantling the DEMOCRAT Daley Machine here in Chicago indictment by indictment and conviction by conviction. This follows on the heels of 'gazillions' of convictions of the utterly corrupt RINO Gov Geo Ryan - who just got 6 1/2 years in the slammer - along with his criminal cronies.
And like the Ryan criminal probe, with the current take down of the Chicago Dems, there is an unnamed "Official A". Odds are it's Mayor Daley, just like Ryan was the "unnamed Official A". Furthermore, one of Fitz's current targets involved is the Hispanic Democratic Organization, or HDO, who are now the political powerhouse in Chicago (much to the chagrin of the Blacks).
Ergo, there is NO WAY in hades that Hitlery or any Dem will appoint someone AG who:
The Libby fiasco aside, Fitz is a great prosecutor. He goes after all corrupt pols.
Oh, in his spare time he's cleaning up what remains of the once all powerful Chicago Syndicate (the Mob, aka The Outfit).
What stuns me about this question is that MSNBC actually asked it
The next question is will they follow through for an answer.
Nothing to see here ... move along.
The media are trying to cover up their role in this.
And they are issuing a little warning to Fitz to not investigate who was leaking from his office or to whom.
They knew as soon as Fitz did who the leaker was. Yet they continued the "investigation" of Rove on their front pages and news shows.
The Wilson NYT article appeared on July 6, 2003. The Novak column appeared eight days later on July 14, which means that Armitage divulged this information to Novak in the intervening period. According to Isikoff, his sources also revealed to him that Armitage told Bob Woodward Plame's identity three weeks before talking to Novak. Armitage says that shortly after reading Novak's column he reported it to Powell and subsequently the Justice Department.
The Times claims that White House counsel Alberto Gonzales was informed that Armitage was involved on October 2, 2003, but asked not to be told details.
On December 30, 2003, Fitzgerald was appointed Special Counsel (under Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600) in the Plame affair investigation.
Armitage and Powell failed to notify the WH over five months before the appointment of a Special Counsel. Why? Armitage and Powell should be asked this question.
The reason Fitzgerald kept going with the lame witch hunt was because of people like Chrissy Matthews claiming that this whole thing was revenge and there was more to this than met the eye.
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