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This is the First time in 135 years that a senior WH official is indicted and Republicans are acting like it's Fitzmas.
Cheney's top aide quits after indictment
Lewis Libby indicted on 5 counts
Friday, October 28, 2005; Posted: 2:28 p.m. EDT (18:28 GMT)
CnnWASHINGTON (CNN) -- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, resigned on Friday after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges related to the CIA leak investigation.
Libby was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements, court do ents show.
During an afternoon news conference, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said, "A CIA officer's name was blown and there was a leak and we needed to figure out how that happened, who did it, why, whether a crime was committed, whether we could prove it, whether we should prove it. Given national security was at stake, it was especially important that we find out accurate facts."
The indictments were not directly related to the actual leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name.(Watch as news of Libby's resignation breaks -- :52)
Libby discussed Plame's iden y in the summer of 2003 with reporters after her husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson, wrote a highly critical op-ed column in The New York Times that challenged intelligence used as a rationale for the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Descriptions of those conversations by reporters say Libby discussed Plame's iden y, in part, to cast doubt in the reporters' mind about Wilson's account and criticized the CIA, the indictment alleged.
"These are very serious charges," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. "They suggest a senior White House aide put politics ahead of our national security and the rule of law. This case is bigger than the leak of highly classified information. It is about how the Bush administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq."
These indictments are the first in a nearly two-year investigation.
A news release by Fitzgerald said Libby allegedly lied "about how and when in 2003 he learned and subsequently disclosed to reporters then-classified information concerning the employment of Valerie Wilson by the Central Intelligence Agency."
It said Libby "lied to FBI agents who interviewed him" in October and November 2003; committed perjury "while testifying under oath before the grand jury" in March 2004; and "engaged in obstruction of justice by impeding the grand jury's investigation into the unauthorized disclosure -- or 'leaking' -- of Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA to various reporters in the spring of 2003." (Read the full text of the indictment)
"When citizens testify before grand juries they are required to tell the truth," Fitzgerald said in the statement. "Without the truth, our criminal justice system cannot serve our nation or its citizens."
There was no immediate response from Libby to the charges. His attorneys have previously denied that he was guilty of any criminal conduct.
Cheney said in a statement he accepted Libby's resignation "with deep regret" and said Libby must be "presumed innocent" before he is proven guilty. Libby told Cheney he was "resigning to fight the charges brought against him," the statement said.
"Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and talented individuals I have ever known," the statement said. "He has given many years of his life to public service and has served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction."
Meanwhile, President Bush's top political strategist Karl Rove will not be indicted Friday by the federal grand jury investigating the leak, sources close to the investigation tell CNN. But, the sources said, Rove is not out of legal jeopardy as the matter is still under investigation. (Full story)
Lawyers involved in the case have told CNN that Fitzgerald is focusing on whether Rove committed perjury. Rove testified four times in front of the grand jury.
'No decision'
Rove's attorney Robert Luskin issued a statement Friday that Fitzgerald "has advised Mr. Rove that he has made no decision about whether or not to bring charges."
"Mr. Rove will continue to cooperate fully with the Special Counsel's efforts to complete the investigation," Luskin's statement said. "We are confident that when the Special Counsel finishes his work, he will conclude that Mr. Rove has done nothing wrong."
As Rove departed his home in Washington Friday morning, he told reporters, "I am going to have a great Friday and a fantastic weekend and hope you do too."
Libby's indictment came at a time when Bush's approval ratings already are at a low ebb.
CNN's Kelli Arena, Dana Bash, John King and Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.
One can only wonder whom Lewis Libby is falling on the sword for:
Last edited by Nbadan; 10-28-2005 at 01:46 PM.
This is the First time in 135 years that a senior WH official is indicted and Republicans are acting like it's Fitzmas.
Woooo Hooooo!
Yea, it's no big deal at all,
it's not like the guy lied about getting a blowjob or anything.
^^or scamming people from a huge real estate transaction. I mean, next time theres another Ken lay he should just get a bj and he'll escape the wrath of the courts. Because after all, its all about sex.
Maybe Libby should have gotten a blowjob, maybe you'd then think differently.
And how many people had even heard of Libby a month ago? Hardly anyone, so big deal.
And he says he will be totally exonerated and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
So the logical structure is:And how many people had even heard of Libby a month ago? Hardly anyone, so big deal.
And he says he will be totally exonerated and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
"If hardly anyone has heard of a person, it isn't a big deal that they are indicted for perjury."
So...
"if hardly anyone has heard of, Alan Greenspan, then if he is indicted for perjury that is no big deal"
Hmm, maybe that logical construction doesn't work.
That must mean only one thing...
But lots of people have heard of Greenspan. Start over with an unknown quan y and then you may be able to formulate a logical conclusion to the point that you have presently failed to make.
Don't count on it though, if you name another relatively unknown you'll get, and deservedly so, another "big deal".
Want to read the whole 22 pages of the indictment? Click on the link below, the actual indictment.
http://www.emeraldcoast.com/specialo...indictment.pdf
The right hand of the most powerful man in the US is hardly a "little fish".
In business terms this is what is know as the "tone at the top".
If the ethical tone at the top is not 100% ironclad, that should make anyone with a level of professional skepticism wary.
Perjury charges against this administration on something like this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
Quite frankly the spin from this administration has long since passed from merely making a case and into the realm of cynical manipulation a long time ago.
As someone who likes facts and figures, I know exactly how they are lying and it pisses me off to know end to see people suck up those lies as the truth and become mindless puppets parrotting what they are told without questioning it.
I'm sick of partisan defenders claiming that, well, we have to expect a certain amount of felonies in any political enterprise, be it DeLay or Abramoff or Noe or blah blah blah right up to the White House itself, and it's really quite crass to expect otherwise.
Throughout the entire pundit brigade -- blogosphere included -- everyone is trying to decide whether or not the Fitzgerald indictments are a "victory" for their side or the other side. It's not, OK? It's just not. There is nothing good or victorious about this situation, for either side. Nothing. Nothing.
We've got exactly two choices here. Either the White House outed a covert agent because they handled sensitive and classified information so incompetently that it was distributed throughout the administration and into administration-selected leak receptacles without anyone realizing that the classified information was, duh, classified...
Or, they did it on purpose. I say "they", because we know that even though Libby is currently the only one indicted, the public record already shows, at minimum, Karl Rove as being one of the other administration figures that discussed Plame's classified CIA status with multiple reporters. That little tidbit ain't going away, regardless of how it's spun.
Incompetence, or intentional.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/30/20183/704
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