Novak: Fitzgerald knows who outed CIA agent

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-novak20.html

Robert Novak said Wednesday that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald knows who outed a CIA agent to the Chicago Sun-Times columnist but hasn't acted on the information because Novak's source committed no crime.

Novak also hinted that he personally didn't rely on the Fifth Amendment -- which protects people from testifying against themselves -- in Fitzgerald's investigation. Fitzgerald is investigating who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to Novak and other reporters in an effort to discredit her husband, a critic of the Bush administration.

Novak made his remarks at the first of an occasional series of forums jointly sponsored by the Sun-Times and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sun-Times political writer and Channel 5 reporter Carol Marin, who moderated the forum, immediately asked Novak what he could say about the Plame case. snip

Novak said he doesn't believe his source violated laws forbidding the disclosure of a CIA agent's identity.

A spokesman for Fitzgerald declined to comment on Novak's remarks.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Novak has more hair on his head, than credibility.

[Supersedeas]

9. a political shill and an expert in criminal prosecutions too?

[Justice]

2. oh, okay, if Novak says so.

so interesting. Novak loves to hint, claims everyone is innocent, but yet cannot tell the truth?

Also, assuming Novak is right, that the person who outed Plame "committed no crime" (which I strongly disagree with but for the sake of argument, assume for the moment) the only way Novak knows that is because of the years of investigation into the issue. There was no way Novak knew that at the time he wrote his column - so he recklessly played into the hands of his source.

[ClassWarrior]

3. Then he ate several small children in one bite.

NGU.

[exlrrp]

4. Of Course He Does

After almost 3 years of investigation, fitzgerald must know about every detail of this sordid affair. The question is: whats he going to do about it? And when?
Its not about what he knows, its about what he can prove--and there may be no crime here but it may attach itself to the responses--as Libby knows now. I don't think Fitzgerald is concerned that much with the Plame outing anymore as much as the administrations responses.
One thing for sure, Fitzgerald is dragging his feet, no doubt on instructions from above. The Rwepublicans don't want this settled, or even discussed much, before the November elections, so it won't be. I think whatever comes out of this will be after the elctions--after that, the effect won't matter much on Bushco

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Well, Fitzgerald just convicted Gov Ryan on all counts

a few days ago. What have you accomplished this week?

[madrchsod]

11. what? please do a little research on fitzgerald and especially

the ryan case...fitzgerald has altered the way to go after political corruption on the state and federal level. he convinced a jury not to follow the money but follow the favors that were handed out.he is not dragging anything out and no one is giving him orders....the guys of are of special interest are scared shitless that they will have to roll or already have. everything you hear or read is not coming from fitzgeralds office.
i live in illinois and have watched him work, and you or i would never want to be a person of special interest....

[npincus]

5. does Cheney ever speak directly w/reporters?

Since Cheney has proclaimed his right to delectively de-classify documents, perhaps that's why Novak claims his source committed no crime.

Also, perhaps Fitz "hasn't acted" on the Plame revelation, because the cover-up and conspiracy surrounding this is keeping him way too busy. It looks like Rove's up next.

[FuzzyDicePHL]

6. Yes he does

But only those from Fox News.

[dogday]

7. And why would I believe Novack

who fired the flames of this deceit in the first place?????

[DELUSIONAL]

10. Well we KNOW Novak outed her in the printed media

and just giving her name wasn't enough for steno Novak -- he then had to expose the company she worked for.

Novak should be in jail.

[madokie]

15. so far back they have to pipe sunshine in,

and shoot beans to him with a cannon.

[leveymg]

12. Of course Fitz knows who outed Valerie Plame. Novak told him who.

That's why Bob, "The Prince of Darkness", wasn't locked up along with Judy in the Alexandria City Jail.

As I've been saying for a long time here, the Plame outing was designed from the beginning to avoid prosecution under the Intelligence Agent Identities Protection Act (IAIPA)of 1982. The complex evidentiary requirements of the Act determined how the participants in the conspiracy to out Plame structured the crime.

First, there's the requirement that the person who outs the intelligence agent be a government official authorized to receive a classified document that identifies a covert U.S. intelligence officer or a foreign agent working for the U.S. That imposes the requirement on the prosecution to produce the classified document that specifically identifies Plame. There are several versions of a classified State Department International Research Branch (INR) document that identify Valerie Wilson as a "WMD manager" that Scooter Libby obtained before he allegedly discussed it with Judy on July 8, 2003. A version of that same document was reportedly shared around by other WH staffers at about the same date, roughly a week before Novak's column appeared.

Second, the classified document has to identify the intelligence agent who is outed as a covert operator. This is where evidence gets difficult. There are several versions of the INR and a source document that identify Valerie Wilson. While all are marked Secret, each is somewhat different in the classification stamps at various places where Valerie is referenced. This creates some area for lawyers to argue whether Libby and others actually understood that Plame was undercover.

Third, the government official has to knowingly and willfully reveal the identity of the covert agent to someone not authorized to receive that classified document. Sharing information with other persons who have security clearances or an unintentional slip of the tongue wouldn't be prosecuted under the Act. This is where an IAIPA prosecution gets really complicated, as Bob Woodward, who first learned about Plame (perhaps from Cheney, perhaps from Hadley), may have a residual security clearance from his pre-Washington Post days as a briefing officer for the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), and Judy Miller may have been granted some sort of security clearance in 2003 when she was imbedded with a WMD-hunting unit in Iraq. Woodward and Miller may have been chosen to act as cut-outs for this reason. Even if it could be shown that this pair of quasi-spook journalists really didn't have clearances to receive such information, the President has claimed to have a summary power to declassify documents, even without seeking the normal approval of the head of the agency that did the original classification. Bush and Cheney have already made such a claim in the case of a section of a CIA October, 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that Scooter had admitted he shared with Miller. We do not yet know whether Bush or Cheney will make such a claim on the INR notes that reference "Valerie Wilson" as a WMD manager. The same written classication procedures would mandate that then Secretary of State Powell have signed off on the release of the INR notes. Neither Tenet nor Powell have indicated that they gave their approval prior to the release of any classified documents that might reveal Plame.

****

One can certainly see why Novak might be under the impression that Rove and whoever the second high Administration source who outed Valerie Plame to him might have believed that they would escape legal consequences under the IAIPA. Too bad for Libby and Rove that there are laws against lying to federal Grand Juries and prosecutors.
________________________________________________
2006, Mark G. Levey

[Roland99]

13. But the person that told the source about Plame to leak her identity *did*

commit a crime.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. Well then, if Novak says no crime was committed....

Fitzgerald should just close shop. :eyes:

[Norquist Nemesis]

16. Sure, Novak doesn't "believe" his source violated laws...

because IOKIYAR. If it would have been a Democrat, that would be a whole different story for Novak. :grr:

[Me.]

17. Mealy Mouthed Coaward

Blathering nonsense. Tattles and then cries Fitzgerald made me do it.