Jason Leopold leaks further details on the apparent army of witnesses available to Fitz. Sounds like Scooter Libby's
Steve Martin defense is playing like a comedy routine to those who were there.
...that defense strategy may unravel when ... Fitzgerald calls to the stand some of Libby's former White House colleagues who have promised to tell a much different story about Libby's alleged memory lapse, according to six sources close to Fitzgerald's investigation.
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...officials ... in the office of the vice president ...have made deals ... Other officials ...in the State Department, the CIA, and the National Security Council ...have also ... Libby was questioned by investigators twice in 2003 - in October and November - and he testified in 2004, ... that he did not retaliate against the ambassador's criticism ... and that he found out Wilson's wife worked at the CIA from reporters.
It was revealed last year that Libby had actually been a source for at least two reporters... in July of 2003.
... officials have told... that Libby continued his campaign against Wilson long after Libby and other White House officials allegedly unmasked Plame Wilson's identity ....
In September 2003, Libby is said to have first instructed his staff to monitor the Internet for any new articles related to Wilson and his wife during this time and provide him with printed versions, which he kept in a binder, the sources said.
.....
... during the time of Libby's grand jury appearance in 2004, the time frame in which his attorneys say Libby allegedly forgot about Wilson and his wife, Libby had a packet of information on Wilson that included every comment, interview and media appearance Wilson had made since early 2003 when Wilson first started to criticize the administration's rationale for war.
Moreover, the administration officials told Fitzgerald that from September 2003 through March 2004 Libby urged White House communications director Dan Bartlett on numerous occasions to aggressively respond to Wilson's further attacks against the administration. ...
Libby also discussed with Cheney and other aides to the vice president Wilson's relentless "campaign against the administration" and sought his colleagues' support for issuing a response, one person close to the investigation said.
"Mr. Libby was a lone wolf in that regard," this person said. "He did not receive any backing from the administration. Everyone thought he should just let it go."
... Weeks before he was questioned by investigators probing the leak in November 2003, people close to the case said, Libby had discussed Wilson with unnamed individuals of the Republican National Committee and sought help in discrediting Wilson.
Libby reportedly became angry when Joseph Wilson's book, "The Politics of Truth," was released in April 2004. He had been closely following the book's release during the prior weeks, which coincides with his grand jury appearance, and had again pressed the White House to respond to certain passages he believed were untrue...
"The Wilson affair was still very much on his mind," said one attorney who is representing a witness .... "Mr. Libby seemed to be consumed by it."
These packets or scrapbook thingies, which probably contained some good work by Kossacks, is/are undoubtedly in ashes in a urn on Scooter's mantle, or perhaps at the bottom of the Potomac. But Fitz has other documentary evidence, never fear: CIA briefer notes, and the mysterious 250 pages of 'mis-archived' emails.
Libby's only shot, it would seem, are the graymail and/or "Gray Lady" defenses: If Libby is not allowed access to, or is prevented from presenting, classified material or journalist's notes/testimony, then he can argue that the charges should be dismissed because he was unable to present his case. Judge Walton has thus far seemingly steered a moderate course on the graymail/lady issues.