E&P: Libby Trial Resumes Today: Ari Fleischer will testify

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher: SPECIAL: Libby Trial Resumes Today -- Return Here for Updates
By E&P Staff
Published: January 29, 2007

....Cathie Martin, the former spokeswoman for Vice President Dick Cheney who last week discussed the preferred White House strategies for beating back negative media stories, returns to the stand Monday.

She'll be followed by another media veteran, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who will testify about discussing a CIA operative's identity with reporters before leaving the administration in July 2003...

***

Fleischer's testimony will be key to the prosecution because he says Libby told him about Plame and encouraged him to keep it quiet. As Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said in his opening statement: "You can't learn something on Thursday that you're giving out on Monday."

Defense attorneys want to cast Fleischer as a witness who's pointing fingers at Libby to save himself. Fleischer was promised immunity in exchange for his testimony.

Libby's attorneys want to know exactly what Fleischer promised in return, so they can describe the deal to jurors. Fitzgerald says he never knew what to expect from Fleischer but gambled that it would help the case....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003538686

[Tin Man]

1. You've highlighted an important excerpt

"Libby's attorneys want to know exactly what Fleischer promised in return, so they can describe the deal to jurors. Fitzgerald says he never knew what to expect from Fleischer but gambled that it would help the case...."

Seems to suggest that, from the beginning, Fitz recognized the coordinated manner, conspiratorial nature, in which leaks were delivered to the various reporters. So logically Fitz went right to the "hub of the wheel", Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, and granted him imunity in a gamble that his testimony would be central in developing cases regarding the "spokes and rim" components around him.

[Eugene]

2. AP: Ex-Aide's Immunity Deal Won't Be Detailed

Ex-Aide's Immunity Deal Won't Be Detailed

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

Monday, January 29, 2007

(01-29) 07:58 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Attorneys for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby won't know
the specifics of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer's unusual
immunity-from-prosecution deal when Fleischer testifies against their client
Monday.

A federal judge ruled that Fleischer's agreement with prosecutors is not
relevant to Libby's perjury and obstruction defense. Libby's attorneys believed
Fleischer promised specific testimony against Libby in exchange for immunity
— a deal they wanted to use to question Fleischer's credibility.

Prosecutors normally require an informal account of what a witness will say
before agreeing to grant immunity. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said
that he reluctantly gave Fleischer immunity without knowing specifics and
believing only that the former top White House spokesman could help the
investigation into who leaked a CIA operative's name.

Fitzgerald gave U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton a summary of his conversations
with Fleischer's attorneys and Walton agreed that it didn't need to be disclosed
to Libby's attorneys.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/29/national/w075231S64.DTL

[tinfoilinfor2005]

3. Is coverage being televised or streamed anywhere?

n/t