Friday, October 28, 2005

Libby indicted, Rove not.

I. Lewis "Scooter' Libby Jr., Assistant to the President of the United States, Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States and Assistant to the Vice President of the United States for National Security Affairs, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for 1 count of obstruction of justice, 2 counts of making false statements to FBI Special Agents and 2 counts of perjury to a federal grand jury. The indictment is here.

Reading through the indictment seems to indicate that prosecutor Fitzgerald believes that he can establish that Libby was informed on several occasions and by several different people that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. Libby, however, told FBI agents and later the grand jury that he was informed by Walter Pincus about Plame's employment. Fitzgerald also accuses Libby of lying about conversations he had with Pincus, Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller. I have to wonder why Fitzgerald would believe the reporters and not Libby. This looks like a little he said-she said, but Fitzgerald probably thinks he can show a pattern of misstatements and attempts to mislead by Libby that would cast more doubt on the he said than the she said. Interestingly, there were no charges of unmasking secret agents nor of mishandling classified information.

The old, "there was no crime until the coverup" scenario. Libby, his family and friends and his colleagues have just got to be sick about this.

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