FITZMAS, FITZMAS, TIME IS NEAR, TIME FOR SCHADENFREUDE AND BEER!!
Scooter Libby once quipped to an aide that he planned to stay as Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser until "I get indicted or something."
I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.
Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.
The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration's handling of intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war.
Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show
Update [2005-10-24 22:20:48 by RegenerationMan]: Raw Story! Raw Story
This is direct conspiracy on the part of Cheney. The notes are devastating. No wonder Cheney is looking for a house.
What did Bush know and when did he lie about it?
More:
"Lawyers said the notes show that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003."
"Mr. Libby's notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson. But they contain no suggestion that either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby knew at the time of Ms. Wilson's undercover status or that her identity was classified. Disclosing a covert agent's identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent's undercover status."
"It would not be illegal for either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby, both of whom are presumably cleared to know the government's deepest secrets, to discuss a C.I.A. officer or her link to a critic of the administration. But any effort by Mr. Libby to steer investigators away from his conversation with Mr. Cheney could be considered by Patrick J. Fitzgerald to be an illegal effort to impede the inquiry."
This means George Tenet dropped the dime on Cheney as well as Libby. No wonder Cheney lawyered up and refused to take an oath! This is going to rock DC and the GOP!
Let's not forget this leak might have killed an agent. From the Book of Honor, a CIA agent killed between Feb and Oct of 2003:
Here is the Conspiracy Statute:
Section 371. Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States
If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense
against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any
agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of
such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy,
each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
five years, or both.
If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object
of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such
conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for
such misdemeanor.
Remember that Nixon was about to be impeached for conspiracy to misuse the CIA and the FBI. Fitz is also one step closer to charging conspiracy for Bush and Cheney on Lying to Congress if he's got Wurmser flipping!
That may be even bigger news.
Pic Thanks to Georgia10!