Fleischer: Plame came up over lunch

[Kadie]

Fleischer: Plame came up over lunch
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
9 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer testified Monday that then-colleague I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told him over lunch that the wife of a prominent war critic worked at the CIA.

Fleischer said the conversation happened June 7, 2003, days before Libby told investigators he was surprised to learn about the CIA operative from a reporter. That discrepancy is at the heart of Libby's perjury and obstruction trial.

snip...
"Ambassador Wilson was sent by his wife," Fleischer recalled Libby saying. "His wife works for the CIA."

Fleischer said Libby also used the woman's name, Valerie Plame, and told him it was "hush hush."

"My sense is that Mr. Libby was telling me this was kind of newsy," Fleischer said.

snip...
"I cannot be prosecuted for what I did with the information I was provided," Fleischer said. "The immunity provides no protection for perjury."

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070129/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak_trial_8

[Kagemusha]

1. By the way...

According to FDL liveblogging, Ari pointed out when asked, this was the first time he'd had lunch with Libby.

EVER.

You'd think that might be a wee bit relevant to the story...

[H2O Man]

2. Great point.

David Shuster on MSNBC said the jurors were making notes of everything Fleischer said. I'm sure they caught that one, too. It's very significant.

[TahitiNut]

8. The AP story also fails to mention that Libby told Ari she was in CPD in CIA.

That's hugely significant ... and far more than merely working just somewhere in the CIA.

[Kagemusha]

9. Agreed, I've commented elsewhere to that effect.

Ari didn't even know what Libby meant by it at the time - that was probably the only reason he fully digested his meal at the time.

[Clovis Sangrail]

17. what's CPD?

/nt

[NewJeffCT]

20. I think it is Counter-Proliferation Division

But, I could be wrong.

[H2O Man]

22. Right.

The Counterproliferation Division of the Directorate of Operations is the most secretive part of the CIA. Within it was the Joint Task Force on Iraq. The chief of operations was Valerie Plame.

[wordpix]

38. OMG, I didn't know she had a position re: Iraq intel. Cheney should be in jail over this

not to mention starting the war in the first place :grr:

[Kadie]

11. re: the first time they had lunch together

This is the third paragraph of the article...

snip...
Fleischer, who was the chief White House spokesman for the first 2 1/2 years of President Bush's first term, said Monday that Libby invited him to lunch to discuss Fleischer's planned departure from the White House. He said it was the first time he and Libby had eaten lunch together.

[Kagemusha]

12. Damnit, I missed it.

They should've moved it higher so no one could gloss it over.

Edit: Was trying not to pronounce with confidence it hadn't been in the article but, I guess the words came out wrong regardless. Busy day on my end. Live and learn.

[Kadie]

14. I had a hard time deciding which paragraphs

to include in my post... sometimes I really wish we could post the entire article.

:hi:

[Kagemusha]

19. Ahh ok. So that's that...

At any rate, it's all good - this Ari stuff is incredibly damning for Libby, because normal people can believe that a mere press sec wouldn't believe that the chief of staff to the VP is telling him the covert identity of a CIA agent in a critical anti-WMD proliferation post, at their first, and presumably only and last, lunch together...

[joeunderdog]

25. How quaint, wouldn't ya say?

We could have lunch, enjoy a few laughs, talk about old times... and out a CIA agent.

[twylatharp]

27. funny how little facts like that get left out

of our "liberal" media.

[Kagemusha]

47. Well I was corrected, it wasn't left out.

It was underplayed and made a side note barely worthy of mention.

To me, lunch is something casual, unless it's the first and last time it occurs with someone, within hours of announcing you're leaving your job and entering the private sector.

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

48. Funniest line of the day.

You'd think that might be a wee bit relevant to the story...

That lunch bill is mounting by the moment.

[AllexxisF1]

3. OK

There are a dozen threads on this already. Can someone please merge this into one big thread.

Why would you start a post and not see a dozen other one's already started.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. It's allowed.

[Kagemusha]

6. In large part, because it was re: an AP article that was 9 minutes old

at the time.

The manner in which the mainstream media is covering this is in itself a sort of news.

[Bunny]

21. Why don't you just calm down and read all the threads? It's more

interesting that way, and it helps keep the One Giant Thread from becoming a dial-up nightmare.

[yellowcanine]

4. Ruh roh. Fleisher is now the FIFTH witness to show that Libby lied.

And he may be the best one yet, as Libby surely did not "misremember" something so much in the recent past. Libby is fucked. Plea bargain time. Got to give up "the shooter" now, Mr. Libby, before the jury deliberates on the fate of your sorry ass.

[spindrifter]

35. Yes. This is plea bargain time, except for one thing--

the bargain is probably not available from Mr. Fitzgerald, if one ever was. Now the pity of it all is that (1) nothing will keep Cheney off the stand so he will have to PERJURE himself to "save" the little Scooter; (2) Scooter will have his position in the Hall of Infamy as pardoned by W, which he will be, though he may have to spend a night or two locked up.
Oh well, liar, liar, pants on fire.

[Sugarcoated]

7. The evidence is so overwhelming!

Libby's screwed. That is, until he gets pardoned. I want VP snarl to be snagged - I hope this is step in that direction.

[zara]

26. I am looking forward to the Daily Show report on Cheney!

[NewJeffCT]

28. Steward eviscerated Cheney last week

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=14229&mesg_id=14229

It's about 8 minutes long.

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. Will Libby crack & admit that cheney forced him to lie?

[cain_7777]

13. ...and the cards come tumbling down

[Auggie]

16. Please, please, please...

[AllexxisF1]

15. Update!

Jurors coming in.

You may be seated, good afternoon. Asks about temperature. Ari is laughing about something. Now has his face fixed again.

P resuming.

P just finishing up asking questions about lunch on July 7. Did Libby say anything to you to make you think the info was classified or protected. Later that day, overseas trip.

Fl Overnight flight to Senegal. The President was going on a trip, left out of Edwards aboard AF1.

P Staff

Fl COS, SOS,NSA, Bartlett, and other support people from WH, press aboard AF1.

P scheduled duration?

Fl Left US on July 7, returned on July 12. Involved 5 African nations.

P During the course of the trip, decision made that WH would walk away, no longer stand behind 16 words.

Fl Night of July 7, meetings taking place, whether we would stand by the 16 words, conveyed by Hadley or Michael Anton, one of those two, WH not stand by this any longer, our position was we didn't know if accurate or not, but it didn't rise to the level of SOTU.

P Conveyed to the press? End controversy?

Fl Started the controversy.

P July 11, Dr. Rice, press gaggle on same subject.

Fl On a trip abroad, I'd ask NSA to go to the back of the plane to address press. Dr. Rice came to the back. That was contentious, Press asking how could this happen? You're the WH, mistakes like this shouldn't happen. Dr. Rice said something that had not been previously said, Had DCI wanted those words to come out, it would have come out. Now WH seems to be blaming CIA for words not getting taken out.

P Are you able to monitor press coverage.

Fl Yes, I get transcripts, news shows.

P Coverage about Africa, what it had hoped for?

Fl Whole trip mired in controversy.

[DrZeeLit]

18. Love the "headline" -- came up over lunch -- soooo vivid, doncha think?

All these people make me wanna puke.
Over lunch, my ass.
Sheesh.

[Gman]

23. argue during cross-examination that the immunity deal makes Fleischer's testimony less credible?

So is that an admission that Fleischer was less than credible as Press Secretary? Of course, we all know he wasn't.

[Catherine Vincent]

24. "oh my god did I play a role in outing a CIA officer,"

Fleischer: I was absolutely horrified. I thought I may have played a role in outing, oh my god did I play a role in outing a CIA officer, even though I had no idea that she was classifed or covert,

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. was this AFTER he was told by Libby she was CPD?

[Cookie wookie]

37. ".... I had no idea."

Oh, my my, I was such a victim. I was just running around in my big important job at the mercy of having to repeat everything I heard without thinking about what I was doing......

Oh yeah? So when did using one's brain to have a thought lose favor, when science and truth went out of vogue?

[lovuian]

45. He is a lying schmuck

if the jurors believe that one well they'll believe anybody

He knew dang well what he was suppose to do Smear Wilson and his wife

No Wonder he made a deal for Immunity...

Ari is really hanging out there

[FlaGranny]

29. Damn those dangerous lunches. n/t

[WI_DEM]

30. I'm hoping to hear "what did the president know and when did he know it"

too.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

32. Yeah, who told Libby she was in CPD?

[Spazito]

50. Very good question!

We know from Cathie Martin that she was told by someone from the CIA that Mr. Wilson's wife was a CIA agent but she was not told that Mrs. Wilson was in the CPD nor that her cover name was Valerie Plame. We also know that Cathie Martin told Libby and Cheney that Mrs. Wilson was a CIA agent but seeing as she did not know her cover name nor what department Mrs. Wilson was in she could not have told Libby those details so where did he the additional, crucial details he told Ari?

Did Cheney or Libby, after hearing about Mrs. Wilson being a CIA agent, dig further to find out her department and, if so, from whom did they discover this?

My bet is Cheney dug out the additional info, told Scooter at the time he also told him to spread it around, try and get the media to use it to discredit Wilson.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

51. wasn't cheney trotting over to Langley quite a few times?

the head was 'slam dunk' Tenet?

[wordpix]

39. maybe we can get both Smirk and Cheney thrown in jail at the same time. My fantasy

[dave123williams]

33. Guess they had a choice between chilidogs...and TREASON for lunch...

[dancingme]

34. Will Ari wake up with Barbaro's head in his bed?

just a little revenge from Libby.

[yardwork]

36. The White House was blabbing her identity all over town!

Nice behavior. Revealing the undercover identity of a CIA agent working on anti-terrorism during a war on terrorism. If anybody else did this, they'd be in jail for treason.

[wordpix]

40. these asses SHOULD be tried for treason---looks like Cheney might be first

[Rex]

41. Follows the BFEE MO

People are political capital meant to be spent however Bush sees it. I wonder if that little speech will comeback to haunt him? Seems they were ready to throw America to the wolves at the first chance of making money.

[roamer65]

43. Yup, just like Nixon. * bleeds people then throws their corpse over the cliff.

To quote Martha Mitchell.

[Morgana LaFey]

42. no protection for perjury

And as we all know, Ari knows what's lyin'.

[Initech]

44. Man, there may be more to this case than originally thought.

Really, I'd be curious to know how many people knew about this before Jackass Novak published it.

[mmonk]

46. This case actually is connected in so many ways

to just about everything. It's like the spoke of a wheel.

[Initech]

49. I'm sure you could play the Six Degrees game...

And come up with the fact that everyone who's even remotely associated with the GOP knew about this case before it happened.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

52. who was the decider in all of this?

[Zambero]

53. The truth will set you free

It appears that Fleischer gets it. Will Libby wise up and follow suit? Falling on one's sword becomes rather pointless once facts come to light.