I'm cross-posting two TNH posts below. The first shows that--in new news--the CIA actually received a copy of the Niger forgeries, in addition to the State Department. The second offers some thoughts on the Libby trial. I'll be liveblogging again over at FDL.
Post One:
Here's the holy shit no one has noticed from yesterday. Here's the version of the INR memo introduced in court yesterday.
You'll note in the last paragraph of the second page--it says, "These documents, which were sent to Washington via both CIA and [State] Department channels..."
This is really big news. The CIA got the forgeries. But all this time, they've been saying CIA only got the forgeries through State.
Nope. They had their own copies. And still didn't analyze them until after it was too late.
Also note that it says that INR "may" have concluded the forgeries were forgeries earlier than January 12. This is totally disingenuous--they say they've looked at emails, but they clearly are ignoring the email the INR analyst sent back in October 2002. Huh. Still reading this, but it's time to go to the Court House.
Post Two:
I'm sure you've all either read my liveblog or read some reviews of yesterday's coverage, so you know the stunners and new information from the first day of the trial:
- Libby is throwing Rove under the bus
- Ari leaked (according to the very unreliable Wells) to David Gregory, something which none of his colleagues knew
- Libby has his own annotated copy of Wilson's op-ed
- Cheney wrote some orders on Libby's sonnet looking for Scottie to clear him
- Armitage talked to Grossman the night before his FBI interview
I can't help but think there's an interesting dynamic going on. I've long argued that WH couldn't pardon Libby bc if they did it would make the civil case easier. Well, I can't count the number of times that Wells said Libby had "a day job" and his second "Meat Grinder" job of responding to Joe Wilson.
Geez. That seems like it would make it a slam dunk to take the civil case, at least to get past the bar of proving that whatever they did to Plame, they did it as a freelance activity, something outside the world of their ordinary duties.
So here's what I'm wondering. Pre-trial, the White House had an incentive to wait on a pardon beyond the resolution of the civil trial. But so long as Libby's team sits there exposing what Rove did and implicating Bush and so on, I think they've got a new incentive to pardon Libby.
It's an interesting dance, playing the criminal trial and the civil trial and the dying Bush Administration off of each other. Glad I have a front row seat.