The lead story on the New York Times web site, just posted, says that notes in Fitzgerald's possession show that Libby learned about Plame from Cheney himself. In addition to the really obvious questions that this raises is the slightly less obvious question: What "lawyers close to the case" leaked this information, and above all, why?
Here is the
Link
Key excerpt from the article below the fold:
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.
I for one do not immediately see how either Libby or Cheney is anything but hurt by this information which would seem to rule out their own lawyers.
UPDATED: The best answer I've seen so far to my question, but my goodness, hang onto your hat before you read it:
(posted below by Knut Wicksell)
It means that Libby flipped. We can ask why did he flip? In my opinion, the only thing that could flip him is the threat of something close to the death penalty, which means some one died as a consequence of the revelation of Ms Plame's job. Perjury alone wouldn't do it, since he could expect to do time in a minimum security prison with time out for good behavior and a good job at the end of it for keeping his trap shut. So Fitz must have something that really hurts, and the only thing that could really hurt is a certified death.
FINAL COMMENT: Taking one's country to war under false pretenses is the worst possible thing a leader can do, and fulfills the definition of treason. That is what is at the bottom of all this. Tonight I have a small glimmer of hope that the people who committed this treason, at the cost of 2000 young American lives, God knows how many Iraqi lives, and untold amounts of our national treasure, might be brought to account. If that really does happen it will validate the American experiment in democracy in a profound way. Let's keep our fingers crossed, for our country.