Adapted from The Next Hurrah
RawStory has posted a copy of Fitzgerald's response to Libby's lawyers, so I thought I'd do a document dump of what it tells us. And there's a lot more in there than just big news (noted in my last Libby's Ocean of Motions post, Georgia10's FP post, and Volvo Liberal's recommended diary) that Fitzgerald knows that not all emails were saved. Gee, you think? Like maybe an email from Rove to Hadley?
First, apparently Joseph Tate, he of the leaked Aspens letter, is still employed by Scooter Libby. Huh? He really really didn't do Libby any favors in the pre-indictment period. But I guess it's useful to have a lawyer who's willing to brush up against the borderlines of obstruction, if you're the kind of criminal who likes to obstruct justice. Also note that William Jeffress, he of the Nixon SCOTUS victory, gets top billing on the letter. Just noting. Maybe Jeffress is the one leading the pre-trial discovery effort, since his job is to sneak details out to Jim Baker, who can then pass them onto the rest of the cabal. As I point out in my last Libby's Oceans of Motions post, these motions are not about defending Libby, they're about defending the larger Neocon cabal.
Now the stuff that tells us where Fitzgerald is going and where he won't let Libby follow, yet. We learn he's getting "all the material" from OVP, where he "was employed." We might get into fighting over Org charts, because Libby had a funky dual appoint such that he also served directly under Bush. But Fitz doesn't appear to be letting any White House news go.
Fitz also seems to be protecting State--or at least that's my guess. Fitz says, "any communications Mr. Wilson had with anybody at any time about the trip is over broad." We know Wilson communicated to State about his trip, because he had to get a visa and had to coordinate with Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick. But this detail, plus the way Fitz denies LibbyCo details from the journalists who didn't get the leak from Libby, makes me wonder whether there isn't some merit to the Armitage speculations after all. On page 4, Fitz describes how much detail there is about the leaks journalists have gotten, as if to tell Libby to just go read the newspaper. But he notes that Woodward described the "general timing" of the leak. I'm guessing that Libby wants to know the date of that leak (or at least evidence of the date) as badly as I do. That suggests Libby may not know who leaked to Woodward--or at least not when. And that Woodward has been deliberately obtuse at Fitz' request.
Fitzgerald says (on page 3) he's not putting Wilson on the stand. Well, why would he? Wilson wouldn't know a damn thing about Libby's lies. But the comment might suggest that Wilson would be able to testify to some details that Fitz is holding off for the big conspiracy fun.
Speaking of which, Fitz says he's not going to tell Libby a damn thing about that larger conspiracy fun. Well, we guessed that. But he says it so much better than I:
Lest there be any doubt, we do have some documents responsive to your request which we are electing not to produce because we do not agree that we are obligated to provide them.
Which brings me back to Woodward--and Novak. Fitz is not going to give Libby any details of their testimony. Nor is he going to give details of the Novak subpoena (assuming there was one).
We are specifically withholding subpoenas (and correspondence) which were addressed to reporters whose testimony was directed towards government officials other than Libby. (5)
Too bad for LibbyCo. I'm sure there are a lot of Bush White House officials who would like more details on the Novak subpoena--and subsequent communication.
There's a bit more on other journalists. John Dickerson seems to have had some conversation about Plame. But this was in Africa, on July 11. I'm guessing he spoke to either Ari or Condi, in response to Condi's disastrous presser on the 11th. Also Fitz appears to rule out as relevent Phelps and Royce (from Newsday)'s confirmation of Plame's covert identity altogether.
My favorite detail about the journalists is this one:
We note that we understand from our January 18 telephone conference that the requests numbered 13 and 14 were intended to be requests limited to the time frame prior to July 14, 2003. (4)
So what were requests 13 and 14? Well they appear to have been requests for details of testimony of the leak conversations for the relevent journalists. And I'm guessing, but if they were in order (that is, 12 applying to the first journalist listed, 13 to the second, and so on), this caveat would apply to Judy (unlucky 13) and Novak (14). Whoever it is, Fitz is as much as saying there are details from conversations post-July 14 that Fitz ain't giving up. Hmm. What do Judy and Novak have in common, besides they're shills? Maybe the evidence that they tried to help Libby and Rove obstruct justice? Just guessing here, but I'll bet Fitz has some interesting goodies relating to obstruction charges from post-July 14.
Two more bits. First, we learn from this that the intent of the July 8 conversation--the one where Judy had to come to DC for breakfast at the St. Regis? Well, the stated reason for that meeting was so Libby could leak the classified contents of the NIE to Judy. Now, apparently Libby "was authorized to dislcose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors." (6) Hmm. Libby is the Chief of Staff to the VP. Who are his superiors. Hold on, I know!! Dick Cheney! George Bush! Both telling Libby to go peddle classified information to journalists. Nice crowd, this Bush White House.
But, alas, there is no justice. I've long been hoping that the Bush White House gets a taste of its own PATRIOT Act / NSA eavesdropping medicine, that Fitz would use the expanded powers to tap security threats. At the very least, to tap people like Judy and Novak to find out if they were conspiring to obstruct justice. Alas, it was not meant to be.
There have been no search warrants executed and no communications intercepted pursuant to Title III at the direction of the prosecution team during the course of this investigation.(6)
Actually, I don't know what I'm talking about. Maybe there is still a loophole that allowed Fitz to eavesdrop on the eavesdroppers. Any opinions?
Well, that's my document dump, complete with no logic or grammar. Needless to say, I think Fitz has plenty of work ahead of him. He's certainly keeping all of the evidence of conspiracy (both before and after the leak) hidden until he's ready to use it.