Bloomberg: Ari Linked to Leaked Document and Top Officials

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aagJweX0XNCQ

snip
The memo, prepared by the State Department on July 7, 2003, informed top administration officials that the wife of ex- diplomat and Bush critic Joseph Wilson was a CIA agent. Seven days later, Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was publicly identified as a CIA operative by syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

On the same day the memo was prepared, White House phone logs show Novak placed a call to White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, according to lawyers familiar with the case and a witness who has testified before the grand jury. Those people say it isn't clear whether Fleischer returned the call, and Fleischer has refused to comment.

The Novak call may loom large in the investigation because Fleischer was among a group of administration officials who left Washington later that day on a presidential trip to Africa. On the flight to Africa, Fleischer was seen perusing the State Department memo on Wilson and his wife, according to a former administration official who was also on the trip.

On edit: BTW, Andrea Mitchell said on Imus Ftzgerald is trying to trace this memo and its origin and distribution path.

[paineinthearse]

1. This is at least the second Bloomberg article on this matter in 24 hours

Bloomberg bears watching, could get very interesting.

[maddezmom]

2. and it has added infor on the memo..linking to Powell

As a result of these facts, the State Department memo has become a central element in Fitzgerald's investigation of how Plame came to be publicly identified as a CIA agent and whether that violated a 1982 law making it a federal crime to divulge the identity of a covert intelligence operative.

The memo was prepared by the department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the request of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to current and former government officials familiar with Powell's request.

Powell asked for it on July 6, 2003, the same day Wilson published an opinion article in the New York Times revealing his trip to Niger and his conclusion that there was no evidence to support the claim that Hussein was seeking uranium there. Wilson went on to accuse the Bush administration of ignoring his findings and similar intelligence to make a case for war in Iraq.

The current and former government officials say that the report reached Powell sometime on July 7. It said Wilson had been approved for the Niger trip by mid-level CIA officials on the recommendation of his wife, a counter-proliferation expert at the spy agency.

more:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aagJweX0XNCQ

[maddezmom]

3. but the key is who got it first?

A key question will be which officials received the report and when. The special prosecutor has subpoenaed telephone and fax records from Air Force One and the White House.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Still confused about how many memos there are Maddezmom..

This memo referred to below, is a CIA memo about the same subject. This is the one that they purport may not be true? Someone's notes that people say the person who wrote them wasn't even in the meeting?

And then a second classified document that they had on AF1 ???

Trying to sort the documents out...




http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/5/212837/3714


October 17, 2003 - David S. Cloud from the Wall Street Journal is the first to mention (other than Novak) the existence of the 2002 CIA memo that purports to show that Plame recommended Wilson for the Niger mission.

http://www.cryptome.org/plame-memo.htm


An internal government memo addresses some of the mysteries at the center of the White House leak investigation and could help investigators in the search for who disclosed the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency operative, according to two people familiar with the memo.
The memo, prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel, details a meeting in early 2002 where CIA officer Valerie Plame and other intelligence officials gathered to brainstorm about how to verify reports that Iraq had sought uranium yellowcake from Niger.

Ms. Plame, a member of the agency's clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested at the meeting that her husband, Africa expert and former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson, could be sent to Niger to investigate the reports, according to current and former government officials familiar with the meeting at the CIA's Virginia headquarters. Soon after, midlevel CIA officials decided to send him, say intelligence officials.

Classified memos, like the one describing Ms. Plame's role, have limited circulation and investigators are likely to question all those known to have received it. Intelligence officials haven't denied Ms. Plame was involved in the decision to send Mr. Wilson, but they have said she was not "responsible" for the decision.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. And another point. One memo referred to is from the CIA and one

is from the State Dept. How did CIA info get to the State Dept? Where is the link there?

[chieftain]

4. Would Ari have had clearance for this type of document?

If not, who would have given it to him? Surely not Colin, he would be too smart to do that. So who would be not smart enough? Could it be W?
That is too delicious to contemplate.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. Delicious but unlikely. He is too dumb and too out-of-the-loop

to understand all this. He probably didn't have a clue. He just said his line "And Saddam is buying uranium from AFFF REEK AH" and then he later finds out it wasn't true and he probably went WHHA??

[chieftain]

8. I don't disagree about his lack of understanding

on key issues. I do think, though, that plotting revenge on Joe Wilson by attacking his wife is right up his alley. He is one nasty individual and remember his self appointed role in Poppy's campaign was loyalty enforcer.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. It would be very interesting to be a fly on the wall for a day to see

what his management style is. Yes, I agree, dirty tactics are definitely B** MO. But I wonder, does he just stay on the periphery and someone says, "Wilson is hurting our cause and contradicted you." and B** says "Get the bastard." And then the administration cronies, repugs in congress, and sympathetic press formulate and roll out the plan?

I mean if this guy exercises for hours, plays video games for hours, takes naps for hours, goes on vacations and then goes on more vacations, and then goes to sleep at 9:00, and has been characterized as not being able to handle any detail...

[WhoseMarie]

20. Fly on the wall - and respect.

That's what I find amazing. How can this shithole ride his bike-y, take his nap-py's, and spend 50+ percent of his time on vacation 'clearing brush', go to bed before the sun sets (in the west) and still DO anything? He just sends his little demons out to do their dirty work.

It WOuld be interesting to watch the reality that in effect, rules the world. Think 'bout it - his Stepford Wife, his Darth-vader handler, and his 'brain', Rove. PATHETIC!

It's a monstrous embarrassment to this country.

(And...by the way, today the MSM concentrates on what? A bunch of college girls who showed up at the White House in Flip Flops, as being 'non-respectful'???? I was disgusted by today's news coverage. Hey, I LIVE in flip flops and why would it be that my clothing would convey 'respect' or not? Respect comes from the heart - not from the external trappings. I met Hillary And Bill Clinton in flip flops and she didn't seem to feel 'disrespected'! )

[magnolia]

10. Ari is a follower...not a leader.

The plot against Wilson was not a one-man show...it was a group effort.

[wallwriter]

19. Yeah, but would Rove and Novakula try to hang this on Ari?

He resigned. He's expendable.

[magnolia]

11. Does anybody know who....

"according to a former administration official who was also on the trip."

Who is the former official? Could they have gotten immunity in exchange of information?

[wicket]

12. Ari left right around the time this all broke right?

Back in 2003?

[cosmik debris]

13. Josh Marshall has some more on this

at Talking Points Memo http://talkingpointsmemo.com/

He has some real insider scoop.

[kentuck]

14. Ari...Ari ??? Can you call the special prosecutor??

He has a couple of questions he would like to ask you..

[Vickers]

15. Wait...is this the memo that Novak wrote?

:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:
:eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes:

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. *lol*

[Catrina]

17. Or the one Jeff Gannon

mentioned in an interview with Joe Wilson, which he says on his blog recently, took place in September, 2003!

Gannon himself now says that no media outlet, other than the WSJ had mentioned the memo. They, however, didn't mention it until October, 2003.

Strange that, since he was visited by the FBI after his interview with Wilson was published by Talon in October, 2003. He drew their attention by implying he had had access to the Memo, but when confronted by the FBI, claimed he had read about it in the Press. The only article about it appeared in the WSJ in October, 2003.

Two weeks ago on his own blog, he seems to be contradicting himself again, claiming once again that he had special access to the memo, apparently either forgetting what he told the FBI, or baiting them?

This exchange between Gannon and someone called John Galt in March, 2004 on Freerepublic is interesting now, even more so, since it was before he was outed as a fake journalist by bloggers amongst other things.

To: ConservativeMajority
Mr.Gannon is not being truthful when he says he does not know why he is being subpoenaed. When he interviewed Wilson last October he made reference to "an internal government memo" purporting to be the minutes of a meeting at which Plame played a key role in getting her husband the Niger assignment.

From the interview: TN: An internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel details a meeting in early 2002 where your wife, a member of the agency for clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested that you could be sent to investigate the reports. Do you dispute that?

Since the Niger Uranium documents have been judged forgeries, Gannon is suggesting that he was made privy to counterfeit official/government documents which is a crime, and a separate crime at that and logically he would be hauled in front of a grand jury probing the Plame affair.


7 posted on 03/09/2004 7:12:26 AM PST by JohnGalt (If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied. -- R. Kipling)

.....

To: JohnGalt
Your professed insight into the motivation of the Grand Jury is merely guesswork.

The document in question has never been acknowleged by any government agency to even exist.

This is a one-sided investigation where people are being accused of crimes for revealing names and information that may have not been secret in the first place.

11 posted on 03/09/2004 7:53:13 AM PST by Jeff Gannon (Listen to my radio show "Jeff Gannon's Washington" on www.RIGHTALK.com)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies >

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1093819/posts?page=18

It's a very interesting exchange ~

What's become really important now, is when did Gannon actually interview Joe Wilson, September or October? In his latest comment on this, he says September. On June 30th, 2005 this is what he says:

I acquired knowledge of the memo and the Wall Street Journal reported on it, but no other media outlet mentioned it. I confronted Wilson about it in a September 2003 interview, for which I was rewarded by a visit from two FBI agents. All of the their questions surrounded the document they could "neither confirm nor deny" even existed. They were not interested in what I had heard that suggested a cell at the agency was actively undermining the Bush administration, payback for being blamed for not preventing the 9/11 attacks. When Porter Goss became the CID in 2004, some familiar names quickly headed for the exits. Grumblings from faithful leakers to the mainstream press indicated that Goss was looking into this.

http://www.jeffgannon.com/archives/2005/06/plame_probe_may.html#comments

As mentioned before, the Wall Street Journal DID mention the memo, but not until October. Since no other media outlet mentioned this memo, and if Gannon is NOW telling the truth that he asked Wilson about it in September, who told him about it? I believe his excuse to the FBI was that he had read about it in the media. Talon News didn't post his Wilson interview until October. But if the interview took place in Sept. which he now claims, then it was not from the media that he got his info.

If true, did he lie to Federal agents about where he heard about the memo? Wonder if the FBI is reading Jeff's website? They might find his June 30th entry very interesting. I see someone asked him on his site in the 'comments section' for the date in September on which he interviewed Joe Wilson. That was on July 2nd. He hasn't answerered.

[Supersedeas]

18. Ari and Andrea...what a party!!!