Fitzgerald Turns Down Waxman in CIA Leak Case (David Corn of The Nation)

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 03/15/2007 @ 3:10pm
Fitzgerald Turns Down Waxman in CIA Leak Case


Members of the Libby Lobby--those conservatives who have urged George W. Bush to pardon Scooter Libby--have decried special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and derided the case he brought against Dick Cheney's former chief of staff as a political persecution. "The criminalization of politics," virtue cop/gambling addict Bill Bennett called it. This attack is the culmination of a campaign that has depicted Fitzgerald as a run-amok prosecutor who abused his power to follow an agenda.

Fitzgerald, though, has refused to cooperate with this campaign. Just ask Representative Henry Waxman ?, who was hoping to draw the prosecutor as a witness to a congressional hearing this week on the CIA leak case. Fitzgerald apparently had no interest in appearing at an event where he would have an easy opportunity to score political points and settle scores. More on that in a moment.

Fitzgerald has taken plenty of incoming from various quarters. For years, he has been pummeled by media rights champions for his decision to pursue reporters with subpoenas (which led to the imprisonment of then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller for 85 days). But Jack Shafer, media follower for Slate and once a denouncer of Fitzgerald and his methods, recently offered a post-verdict reassessment:

The press (including me) may have overreacted in regarding special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald as some sort of Torquemada, and our fears of a shredded First Amendment are starting to look a little overwrought. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=175736

[tblue]

1. Fitz sure appears to be a straight shooter. I don't get the impression that he is political at all,

though I can only imagine the pressure the righties are trying to put on him. But I think he's smarter and has more integrity than that. Time will tell, I guess.

SOMEBODY must want to be on the right side of history, right?

[fooj]

4. Fitz IS a man of integrity, as is Waxman.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3164009&mesg_id=3164009

:hi:

[AndyA]

2. And yet, despite the facts, the GOP will STILL declare that

Patrick Fitzgerald was exercising political muscle in the Libby trial.

Yes, he could have inflicted much worse damage if he wanted to, but he didn't. The hypocrisy continues.

[fooj]

3. Fitgerald hasn't REFUSED to cooperate with anything.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3164009&mesg_id=3164009

<snip>
More importantly, Fitzgerald is bound by Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which requires that grand jury information remain secret, at least until after indictment. All true, and all in PatFitz's letter.
<snip>


Oh.....the spin I'm in! :crazy: