Infinite Loop of Leak Investigations?:
The Associated Press is reporting an interesting development in the Plame investigation:
Presidential confidant Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA operative originally from journalists, then informally discussed the information with a Time magazine reporter days before the story broke, according to a person briefed on the testimony.I wonder if the Plame story will now play out in an infinite loop of leak investigations. The Plame investigation is looking into the leak of Plame's identity; Rove testified about the leak; and now someone is leaking Rove's testimony, perhaps in violation of the grand jury secrecy rules. This clearly calls for a new investigation of who is leaking Rove's grand jury testimony. The prosecutor can them empanel a grand jury and call in witnesses to see who leaked the Rove testimony, which presumably will lead to more grand jury testimony, and then someone will leak some goodies from that new testimony. Then a new prosecutor can investigate the new leaks, opening an investigation to see who leaked about the leak about the leak about the leak. Could be a long summer.
The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.
Eh, at least that would be real news.
Who will watch the watchers [watching those wathers]?
I'm wondering if this is true or just disinformation? NPR and a lot of other "talking heads" approaches seems to have become nothing but two people sticking to their talking points and it gets tiring.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/14/wbr.01.html
Which seems to cover all sorts of things, including the lurking issue of whether or not Wilson was prosecutable for the number of times he referred to his wife before Novak.
If she was not clandestine, perhaps that resolves things, and explains why the CIA told Novak it was ok to use her name.
If cnn.com is reporting accurately.
I almost expect Fitzgerald to report that Novak told Rove who told Cooper who told Miller who told Rove who told Novak.
I'm guessing the MSM assumed that Rove used her maiden/working name, making it easy to suggest that naming Valerie Plame (wife)is equivalent to leaking Valerie Plame (covert CIA agent). But Rove didn't use Plame's name and it's a hard sell to suggest that mentioning Mrs. Wilson (wife) is equivalent to leaking Valerie Plame (covert CIA agent). Or at least it appears a hard sell to the MSM who tend to regard us all as stupid -- and hopefully gullible -- sheep. Hence the herd-like shift from Valerie Plame to Valerie Wilson, nee Plame.
No, no, no! Fitzgerald will discover that Novak, Rove, Cooper, Miller, and Fitzgerald himself are all the same person.
:-)
We've already got "Cooper learned from Rove" and "Rove learned from Novak."
All we need is a Novak leak saying "I learned from Cooper."
Then, you've got your infinite loop. Everyone is outed, but you can never get back to the "Prime Leaker."
Wilson is a tool. He was the one who went public, with the high-profile NYT column attacking the administration and talking about pre-war intelligence. If he thought he could be a public player in a debate about the CIA, and keep his wife's identity as a "covert operative" secret, he is dumber than a bucket of mud.
Now he's backing and filling the fact that he set this whole thing in motion all by himself, claiming that she was never a covert operative. Of course, he's been saying nothing but the opposite for a couple of years now, but if we can't expect self-serving, mendacious lies from Joe Wilson, who can we expect them from?
No, by the time Rove piped up, the press corps knew all about Plame and Wilson. Even Judy Woodruff admitted as much.
All your leaks are belong to us.
Maybe we need a "special investigator" to investigate the "special investigator". Now that would be a fun infintiy loop to start. *grin*
As for the grand jury leak itself, it seems like an open secret is that Luskin would be the "lawyer" involved. Assuming that the consensus is right, given that Rove presumably gave him permission to share his testimony (which is rather helpful to him in the public debate), I suspect there isn't much for a special prosecutor to investigate.
I've been sadly impressed by the assumption that "Rove said X, therefore, X." Give me a break.
Even the AP headline treats it as simple truth. "Rove Learned CIA Agent's Name From Novak." Not: "Source: Rove Learned, etc."
It was well known that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA before this. If someone says to you "Mr. X's wife works for the CIA" and it's something everyone in their circle knows (she told people for crying out loud), I don't think your instinct is to think this is a secret agent.
Again, I think this will shake out in a manner that shows that it was a reporter who learned from Wilson that she was an agent who arguably fell under the protection of the relevant statute. Wilson is a hack and a liar who loves the limelight. Don't underestimate his complicity in all of this.
In other words, what's the solution for the total set? This seems to be elementary calculus; the solution is left as an exercise for the reader.
Plame Name Blame Game
Limbaugh and others are alleging that it is Joe Wilson himself who is the originating source of Plame's name and employment, and possibly Ms. Miller's source. However, I think that the MSM would not go to the wall like this for Joe Wilson. The leaker, then, must be someone who meets one of these descriptions:
a. Someone who is not presently in the administration (and I mean appointment level), but has left the administration since this so-called scandal began;
b. Someone who was a member of a previous administration, who knew of Plame's assignments and status;
c. Some bureaucrat with clearance who is disgruntled or who opposes the present administration's policies (e.g., Scheuer);
d. Member of Congress with security clearances;
e. And lastly, someone who is a member of a foreign intel service who knew about Plame, and who has close contact with the media.
Option A may be viable only for Colin Powell, but I think that it is unlikely that the media would have shielded him during an election season. This is because several media people still think of him as a potential Presidential candidate despite his denials.
All of the remaining alternatives would be embarassing for both the media and the Democrats. The last one would be the most embarassing of all for the media, but Democrats would then turn on the media to get themselves off the hook.
District of Chicanery entertainment at its finest.
chsw, former Washingtonian.
Anyway, I agree that this is all getting tiring. But so was Whitewater...and Lewinsky. That's the effect of political scandals. We get tired enough until we find the real truth.