Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government is calling on Patrick Fitzgerald to reopen his investigation into the political outing of covert CIA asset Valerie Plame-Wilson after her husband wrote a New York Times Op-Ed questioning the veracity of the Bush administration and their reasons for going to war in Iraq.
From Raw Story:
In light of the missing emails and what they might contain, Sloan urges that Fitzgerald "should immediately reopen his investigation into whether Rove took part in the leak as well as whether he obstructed justice in the ensuing leak investigation."
When the Libby trial concluded, Mr. Fitzgerald was asked if he planned further investigations into the Plame matter. "If new information comes to light, of course we'll do that." He replied at the time.
Well Mr. Fitzgerald, I do believe that this qualifies as new information coming to light.
1 comment:
Remember this scenario? From Joe Conason at Salon, Dec. 16, 2005:
"...In his initial testimony about his role in Plame's exposure, Rove had omitted mention of his July 2003 conversation with Time reporter Matthew Cooper about Plame and her husband, ambassador Joseph Wilson. But that false testimony had resulted from his failure to recall a brief and insignificant telephone chat and not from intentional mendacity.
"By October 2004, when he revised his flawed testimony in the grand jury, his recollection had improved, evidently thanks to a suggestive conversation between his defense lawyer, Robert Luskin, and Cooper's Time colleague Viveca Novak. As Novak recently explained, she had indicated to Luskin, in a meeting over drinks sometime between January and May 2004, that Cooper was saying he had spoken with Rove about Plame. Luskin and other defense sources have suggested that this alarming news prompted Rove to search his e-mail, where he found a contemporaneous message he had sent to Stephen Hadley in July 2003, then the deputy national security advisor, about his chat with Cooper."
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Then there's this from The Washington Note, Mar. 26, 2006:
"According to several Pentagon sources close to Rove and others familiar with the inquiry, Bush's senior adviser tipped off Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to information that led to the recent "discovery" of 250 pages of missing email from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.
"Rove has been in the crosshairs of Fitzgerald's investigation into the outing of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson for what some believe to be retaliation against her husband, former U.S. Ambassador to Gabon, Joseph Wilson. Wilson had been an ardent critic of pre-war Iraq intelligence.
"While these sources did not provide any details regarding what type of arrangements Rove's attorney Robert Luskin may have made with the special prosecutor's office, if any, they were able to provide some information regarding what Rove imparted to Fitzgerald's team. The individuals declined to go on the record out of concern for their jobs.
"According to one source close to the case, Rove is providing information on deleted emails, erased hard drives and other types of obstruction by staff and other officials in the Vice President's office. Pentagon sources close to Rove confirmed this account.
"None would name the staffers and/or officials whom Rove is providing information about. They did, however, explain that the White House computer system has "real time backup" servers and that while emails were deleted from computers, they were still retrievable from the backup system. By providing the dates and recipient information of the deleted emails, sources say, Rove was able to chart a path for Fitzgerald directly into the office of the Vice President."
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The net result via Karl Rove's cooperation uncovered 250 pages of "deleted" or previously missing emails from the OVP. Something about a Special Prosecutor, subpoenas, possible jail time seems to cause missing stuff to appear and people to talk. If Fitz declines to pursue further for whatever reason, Congress can bring in fresh talent.
Someone suggested at PA that if they are looking in the Microsoft Outlook back-ups, of course, they wouldn't find emails that had been archived in the previous Lotus Notes system. Depends on what "lost" means in weasel-speak. When Rove's ass was on the line, he made emails magically appear.
I wonder who Karl can finger as the fall guy this time? Libby's lawyers, BTW, announced they will file an appeal but not a motion for a new trial.
Gates, as you've said, is a highly-skilled political operative and would "poison the coffee pot, make a cup of tea... and step over the bodies at lunch." Could he become a player in taking out Bush or Bush's brain if they fuck with him any more? Someone at the Pentagon may have some dirt with all those covert ops Rummy started up. Or could Cheney seek revenge for putting Scooter in the meat grinder? And then there's folks at the RNC. Who the hell would risk covering up for Rove? Karl has made some enemies I'd reckon.
I think it was Corpus Juris at WTWC who made the remark about Sen. Leahy's smile during his Senate floor speech about the missing emails.... Like the former prosecutor turned senator has got 'em right where he wants 'em. I hope CJ is right.
Drip, drip, drip. What a hot and humid summer to come. This could drag on and on into the 2008 campaign. It's too soon to speculate but get the popcorn ready. We can munch and save some to string for a possible Fitzmas tree.
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