Cheney Said To Have Revealed Plame's Identity To Aide

Breaking NYTimes:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 — 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.

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.

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, the special counsel in the case, to be an illegal effort to impede the inquiry.

Comments

[cindi in pa]

Mr. Cheney could be considered by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the case, to be an illegal effort to impede the inquiry.

Posted by Dan in News | Permalink

pass the cigar.

[VC]

Republican, conservative, democrat, liberal or independent. SOMETHING stinks here, and it isnt the grand jury.

Rather like many people felt about clinton its not the act itself, but the fact that it seems lies were told to the grand jury, a reporter was in jail for 85 days thanks to not getting a personal disclosure permission until then, -which makes me wonder if someone was going to leak that libby was the source..so he gave permission- rove going back 4 times to "re explain" his testimony.

I always respected Kay bailey-hutchison until this weekend as much as i totally disagree with her politics. When she implied that perjury was a technicality (hmm cancel that..when she said it) and otherwise tried to minimize it i was flabbergasted. Its still a crime, and if the top people in the nations administration are doing it, how in the world can she call it a technicality. Let alone the message it sends to every other individual charged with it in the nation.

We shall see if indictments come down, but right now the administration is looking less than honorable.

[!]

I have much respect for Dick Cheney and I doubt he had anything to do with any leaks.
God bless him and his family !

[Brooke]

IF (emphasis on IF)our VP not only perjured himself but leaked the name in retaliation because he wanted the war to happen than he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

What does that say about this administration and a senator from Texas to say that a crime commited is a "technicality"?

This is a sad commentary for all Americans!!

[Sgt. York]

Rumor has it that Plame's undercover role in the CIA was not blown to get back at Wilson for pointing out that Bush knew the yellow-cake fabrication was a fabrication when he gave his SOU speach...

...but rather that Plame was actively involved in tracking back the forged document - back to Italy - back to government clerks in Niger - back to WH front-men who rigged and financed the whole event. Thus, the roumor goes, outing Plame was to stop Plame from tacking this forgery back to Cheney [et. al.] by blowing her cover.

Of course, who the hell knows?
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[coconuttree]

Hurricane Wilma victims are struggling to find the basics like electricity, food, water and gas, a day after the storm plowed across the Florida peninsula. "We've lived here 37 years and we've never had a hurricane like this," Broward County resident Paul Kramer told The Associated Press. "We didn't expect this. This one got our attention." Wilma, which still is a hurricane, is blitzing up the coast causing problems in New England.

It seems hurricanes are no news anymore.

[homewoodmom]

According to a person who helped draft the bill for this law, a CIA operative had to be either currently working undercover or done so within the last 5 years. None of that applies to this so-called case. This woman had been working a Langley, in a desk job, for the last 7 years. This whole thing is a joke!