 |
SwiftVets.com
Service to Country
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
|
 Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:19 pm Post subject: Libby Pleads Not Guilty in CIA Leak Case |
 |
|
| Quote: | Libby Pleads Not Guilty in CIA Leak Case
Nov 3, 10:53 AM (ET)
By PETE YOST
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff pleaded not guilty Thursday in the CIA leak scandal, marking the start of what could be a long road to a trial in which Cheney and other top Bush administration officials could be summoned to testify.
Libby entered the plea in front of U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, a former prosecutor who has spent two decades as a judge in the nation's capital.
Once the charges were read and the judge asked for his response, Libby said: "With respect, your honor, I plead not guilty."
Libby, who is recovering from a foot injury, leaned his crutches against a podium from which lawyers normally question witnesses or address the court. He stood with his recently expanded legal team at the table reserved for the defense during trials as the charges were read. A short time later, they left the courtroom.
Cheney's top aide signaled his determination to fight the charges after Friday's grand jury indictment, which has provided more fuel to the political debate over the White House's possible misuse of prewar intelligence on Iraq. Libby bolstered his defense team this week with two well-known criminal trial lawyers, Ted Wells and William Jeffress.
Wells won acquittals for former Agriculture Secretary Michael Espy and former Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan. He is a partner at the New York-based firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Jeffress is from the firm Baker Botts, where Bush family friend and former Secretary of State James A. Baker is a senior partner. Jeffress has won acquittals for public officials accused of extortion, perjury, money laundering, and vote-buying, his firm's Web site says.
Libby was charged with lying to investigators and the grand jury about leaking to reporters the CIA identity of the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson. Valerie Plame's name was published by conservative columnist Robert Novak after Wilson accused the administration of twisting intelligence in the run-up to the war to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction. |
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051103/D8DL35785.html
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
blue9t3
Admiral
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 1246
Location: oregon
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
I hope Libby is working on his presidential pardon as you read this, then sometime in Jan. 09 he can ride a scooter over too the White House and give it too CIC, just like the hillbilly did for his bud's. 
_________________
MOPAR-BUYER |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This should be interesting! By indicting Libby, the prosecutor is choosing to believe reporters testimony over that of Libby based on a he said/she said basis. Shouldn't we know why Fitzgerald believes the reporters???
| Quote: | Fitzgerald's Eight Pages
Let's unseal the reason he put Miss Run Amok in jail.
Friday, November 4, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST
Apart from Scooter Libby, the biggest loser by far in the Patrick Fitzgerald probe has been the press. The "leak" investigation that every liberal editorial board demanded has already sent one reporter to jail, and the damage is only going to get worse.
Thanks to the disastrous New York Times legal strategy, the D.C. Circuit of Appeals dealt a major blow to a reporter's ability to protect his sources. Prosecutors everywhere will now be more inclined to call reporters to testify, under threat of prison time. And if Mr. Libby's case goes to trial, at least three reporters will be called as witnesses for the prosecution. Just wait until defense counsel starts examining their memories and reporting habits, not to mention the dominant political leanings in the newsrooms of NBC, Time magazine and the New York Times. "Meet the Press," indeed.
Rather than join this parade of masochism, we thought we'd try to speed things along, as well as end one of the remaining mysteries in the probe. That's why Dow Jones & Co., this newspaper's parent company, filed a motion late Wednesday requesting that the federal district court unseal eight pages of redacted information that Mr. Fitzgerald used to justify throwing Judith Miller of the New York Times in the slammer.
The pages were part of Judge David Tatel's concurring opinion in the ruling against Ms. Miller and Time magazine's Matthew Cooper. Judge Tatel said the eight pages showed that, with his "voluminous classified filings," Mr. Fitzgerald had "met his burden of demonstrating that the information [sought from the reporters] is both critical and unobtainable from any other source."
The pages remain sealed, but now that Mr. Fitzgerald has indicted Mr. Libby and said "the substantial bulk" of his probe is "completed," there's no reason to keep those pages secret. The indictment itself discloses the nature and "major focus" of Mr. Fitzgerald's grand jury probe, including the fact that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. The special counsel's own extensive public discussion of the facts in the case should also have vitiated any protection from disclosure under grand jury rule of evidence 6(e). Future prosecutors and judges trying to decide whether to throw a reporter in jail should be able to inspect the evidence in this case, which will be an influential precedent.
Unsealing the eight pages would also help put to rest the wilder "conspiracy" claims that continue to circulate about the case. Residents of the Internet fever swamps can now point to the sealed pages and say, aha!, dark secrets are being covered up. As the Dow Jones motion notes, the D.C. Circuit has ruled in an earlier case that "contemporaneous access" to information is vital "to the public's role as overseer of the criminal justice process."
Beyond this motion, we think Mr. Fitzgerald also has a broader duty, as well as some self-interest, in wrapping his probe up quickly. By keeping the case open even though his grand jury has been shut down, he keeps a cloud over the Bush Administration and hampers its ability to function. If after two years of digging he hasn't found any other crimes, he has an obligation to close up shop.
As for his own self-interest, Mr. Fitzgerald is going to have a hard enough time proving that Mr. Libby lied based largely on the testimony of three journalists. This is something all libel lawyers understand, and they get to spend weeks preparing reporters under the cloak of attorney-client privilege. Rest assured that Ms. Miller's evocative self-description, "Miss Run Amok," will surface on cross-examination.
At his arraignment yesterday, Mr. Libby pleaded not guilty and his newly hired defense attorney said Mr. Libby wants a jury trial to "clear his good name." Sounds like Mr. Fitzgerald has a fight on his hands. |
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007504
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Anker-Klanker
Admiral
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Richardson, TX
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Notice how the above article - and almost everything breathlessly written on this subject - does not distinguish between Valerie Plame's working for the CIA and being a covert agent. Why is this? Do these reporters really not know or understand the difference? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
LewWaters
Admin
Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
|
| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
Let's hope this actually makes it to a trial. Listening to Tony Snow this afternoon, it sounds like a lot of reporters should be sweating bullets real soon. They won't be able to hide behind the First Amendment now  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Doll
Commander
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Posts: 339
Location: The Beltway
|
| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 3:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
| LewWaters wrote: | | Let's hope this actually makes it to a trial. Listening to Tony Snow this afternoon, it sounds like a lot of reporters should be sweating bullets real soon. They won't be able to hide behind the First Amendment now |
Don't you just love when the first amendment works for us for a change!!!!!!!
_________________
The HILL Chronicles
Soldiers' Angels
"Wednesday Hero - Google It!" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
