Pass the popcorn
Some people are hoping that the biggest story coming out of the Libby trial will be that Dick Cheney committed treason by willfully disclosing, or orchestrating the disclosure, of Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters for political reasons.
Some Democrats in Congress are paying very close attention to certain testimony .. maybe day-dreaming about drafting Articles of Impeachment to bring against Cheney as soon as the Libby trial is over.
From the LA Times:
"WASHINGTON — In the first such account from Vice President Dick Cheney's inner circle, a former aide testified Thursday that Cheney personally directed the effort to discredit an administration critic by having calls made to reporters in 2003.
Cheney dictated detailed "talking points" for his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and others on how they could impugn the critic's credibility, said Catherine J. Martin, who was the vice president's top press aide at the time.[..]
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-libby26jan26,1,2730931.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
Now treason is a very serious specific charge .. they'll have to back it up by naming the enemies to which Cheney gave aid and comfort, and two witnesses to an overt act.
It came out in the Libby trial on Friday that the CIA briefer who was responsible for Cheney’s daily briefings, warned both Cheney and Libby that leaking Plame’s identity could cause several agents to be subject to "imprisonment, torture and death."
The CIA front company that Plame worked for--Brewster-Jennings--posed as an energy consulting firm and Plame’s outing could cause CIA agents to die or be nullified in their quest to seek out WMDs.
That's pretty close to treason .. but we'll have to just wait for the Libby trial to play out, there may soon be more witnesses to Cheney’s "treason."
Ari Fleischer will testify Monday. He suddenly quit the WH when Plame was outted. And wasn't he the one carrying that memo around during the infamous Air Force One flight? Can't wait for Monday's testimony.
And since Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald gave Ari immunity, wouldn't that suggest that Fitz is looking for bigger fish to fry than Libby? Maybe Libby is the bait and Fitz is out to get Cheney.
Be still my heart! Karl Rove has received a subpoena to testify! They say he might not cooperate .. might even have to be declared a hostile witness. Rove is a slippery customer, Fitz had him on the stand in five grand jury appearances and couldn't entrap him...
With Rove and Cheney testifing, it would be wonderful if they were cornered into giving testimony that might bring this around to what Fitz probably wanted in the first place--that there was a deliberate conspiracy to seek revenge against Joe Wilson by outing his wife as a covert CIA operative.
Maybe once Libby is taken care of, Fitz will work his way up the food chain. He might even skip Rove and instead zoom in on Cheney .. who of all of them, seems to most exposed by his own staff's testimony.
Fitz is a very competent little bulldog of a prosecutor. His MO is: Turn who you can .. play the rest off each other .. bring small-fry in on sure-fire charges .. call all players as witnesses, making them choose allies .. force major players to plead the fifth, make deals or resign.
He got the Gov. of Illinois that way .. it took years and years, but he got him.
I saw "All the President's Men" again the other day .. a fascinating time capsule of what excellent investigative journalism was like 30 years ago. Two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, took down a corrupt Nixon presidency. It reminded me that Watergate was all about the Cover-up .. the investigation started out slow with little steps, then snowballed.
So could Plamegate .. which is also a Cover-up.
Hey, this trial may come to naught .. my dreams of seeing Rove and Cheney frog-marched out of the WH may never come true ..
But gosh, right now this is so much fun! Pass the popcorn!
