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Republican_Man
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 Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:03 pm Libby Indicted in CIA Leak Probe |
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| Quote: | Libby Indicted in CIA Leak Probe
Friday, October 28, 2005
WASHINGTON � Vice President Dick Cheney's chief aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby (search) was indicted Friday by a grand jury in the investigation of a leak of a CIA operative's name to reporters two years ago.
Karl Rove (search), President Bush's top political aide, was spared from criminal charges on Friday, but the possibility remained that he could be charged later.
Libby stepped down as Cheney's chief of staff just minutes after the indictment was handed down. A replacement could be named as early as Saturday. The vice president's office was expected to release a statement and President Bush was expected to remark on the case in the afternoon.
The 22-page indictment charges Libby with two felony counts for making false statements to mislead the grand jury. He is also charged with obstruction of justice and perjury. In total, five counts were included in the indictment.
� Click here to view the indictment. (pdf)
The special counsel's office released a summary of the charges. They wrote that Libby was indicted for "allegedly lying about how and when in 2003 he learned and subsequently disclosed to reporters then-classified information concerning the employment of Valerie Wilson by the Central Intelligence Agency."
A guilty verdict could mean a maximum 17-year jail sentence. Federal prison has no parole. However the odds of Libby, who has no prior record and who has years of public service, getting a maximum sentence are considered low.
The charges are based on the assertion that Libby was not forthcoming with the grand jury or the FBI when questioned about when he first learned the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame (search).
Part of the indictment focuses on Libby's alleged deception about conversations he had with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper (search), New York Times reporter Judith Miller (search) and TV's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert. According to the indictment, in those conversations Libby allegedly confirmed without equivocation Plame's identity to the reporters, rather than learning her name from them.
Libby's own notes show that he learned Plame's identity from his boss, the indictment contends.
"The charges allege that Libby lied to FBI agents who interviewed him on Oct. 14 and
Nov. 26, 2003; committed perjury while testifying under oath before the grand jury on March 5 and March 24, 2004; and engaged in obstruction of justice by impeding the grand jury�s investigation into the unauthorized disclosure � or 'leaking' � of Valerie Wilson�s affiliation with the CIA to various reporters in the spring of 2003," the special counsel's office wrote in a press statement.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was to hold a 2 p.m. EDT press conference Friday to discuss the grand jury's activities. The White House said it would comment on Friday's events after Fitzgerald speaks.
Watch Fitzgerald's press conference live on FOX News Channel at 2 p.m. EDT.
The charges do not implicate Libby in the original cause for convening the grand jury � that someone in the White House knowingly and deliberately revealed a covert intelligence officer's identity.
Democrats were quick to react to the news.
"The criminal indictments of a top White House official mark a sad day for America and another chapter in the Republicans' culture of corruption. At the heart of these indictments was the effort by the Bush Administration to discredit critics of its Iraq policy with reckless disregard for national security and the public trust," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
"This case is bigger than the leak of highly classified information. It is about how the Bush White House manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq and to discredit anyone who dared to challenge the president," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a statement.
Prior to the indictment, Cheney arrived at the White House at 6:25 a.m., more than an hour earlier than usual. His chief of staff, Libby, left home about 6:15 a.m., his normal commuting time, and was at the White House in the morning.
Libby, 55, was Cheney's right hand man, a powerful position in a White House where the vice president has had unprecedented power. A trial could provide the public with details about the White House's thinking as it prepared for war in Iraq.
Some lawyers have raised the specter of broader conspiracy charges as well. When the investigation began two years ago, a White House spokesman checked with Rove and Libby, then assured the public that neither was involved in leaking Plame's identity.
Rove's legal problems stem in part from the fact that he failed initially to disclose to prosecutors a conversation in which he told Time reporter Cooper that Plame worked for the CIA. The president's top political adviser says the conversation slipped his mind.
Reports have indicated that Fitzgerald would keep Rove under investigation. The grand jury was set to expire on Friday. Fitzgerald would then have to call for a new jury or simply proceed without any jury at all if he wanted to continue to pursue Rove.
"The special counsel has advised Mr. Rove that he has made no decision about whether or not to bring charges, and that Mr. Rove's status has not changed. Mr. Rove will continue to cooperate fully with the special counsel's efforts to complete the investigation. We are confident that when the special counsel finishes his work, he will conclude that Mr. Rove has done nothing wrong," Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said in a statement released Friday.
Columnist Robert Novak (search) revealed Plame's name and her CIA status on July 14, 2003. That was five days after Novak talked to Rove and eight days after Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson (search), published an opinion article in the Times accusing the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq.
Wilson and his supporters have charged the leak of Plame's name, which ended her ability to work undercover for the CIA, was designed to discredit him and punish him for his criticism and intimidate others inside the government critical of Bush's Iraq policies.
Also in the backdrop of Fitzgerald's investigation is a set of forged documents that stated Iraq was acquiring uranium yellowcake from the African nation of Niger (search). Wilson had been sent by the CIA to Africa to investigate such reports, later used by Bush to help justify the war in Iraq.
FOX News' Carl Cameron and Megyn Kendall and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source |
I'll speak a lot about this later, but just keep in mind one thing: There was no crime until after the investigation began. What does this say about our system?
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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IntrepidIsMe
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Joined: 14 Jun 2002
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Location: New York
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| Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:02 pm |
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http://www.startrekvoyager.com/viewtopic.php?t=23129
One topic seems to be enough on the subject. This can be continued there.
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"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
-Wuthering Heights
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