Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Bush Appointed Judge Orders Libby to Report to Jail

host · 06-14-2007, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aceventura3

What question(s) remain unanswered in the investigation?

The answer to your question has been widely reported, ace...

(scroll down 65 percent from top of page: )

Quote:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politic...tin_070221.htm
<h3>
<a name="p6"></a>Fitzgerald: "Cloud" Hangs Over Cheney</h3>
Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Tuesday delivered closing arguments in the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The CBS Evening News reported prosecutors "told the jury today there is a cloud over the Vice President's role in the case because they say Libby obstructed justice. The defense contends Libby did nothing wrong and the case is about faulty memories." Fox News' Special Report says special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald "got the last word saying that the Vice President's office was obsessed with the Wilson trip and used his wife as a weapon against him." And NBC Nightly News reported Fitzgerald "got political too, saying because Libby lied and obstructed justice, 'a cloud still hangs over the Vice President.'"



The <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-libby21feb21,1,3565678.story">Los Angeles Times</a> also notes "Fitzgerald argued that Cheney's office was behind many of the prewar claims that Iraq had stockpiles of banned weapons and that it had aggressively sought to silence critics." The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/washington/21libby.html?hp">New York Times</a> notes that "the prosecutors presented a detailed and businesslike summing up of their case."


The <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c8e42f0e-c121-11db-bf18-000b5df10621.html">Financial Times</a> and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022000122.html">Washington Post</a> run similar reports on the closing arguments, while Dana Milbank in his <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001435.html">Washington Post</a> "Washington Sketch" column is critical of the "cohesion of" defense attorney Ted Wells' "closing arguments. Libby was alternately portrayed as a man who told the truth, a man who inadvertently misspoke, and the victim of conspiracies involving everybody from President Bush to Tim Russert."



In a widely-distributed story, the <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-cia-leak-trial,0,7096756.story">AP</a> reports deputy prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg pointed to a flow chart showing arrows tracking information from several officials to Libby and on to other sources. With each conversation, it became less likely the CIA operative would just slip Libby's mind." Using a "similar chart," Wells "noted their memory inconsistencies." <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070221/a_libby21.art.htm">USA Today</a> notes "a tearful" Wells told jurors, "Don't...sacrifice Scooter Libby for how you may feel about the war in Iraq or about the Bush administration." The <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001858.html">Washington Post</a> also runs a generally sympathetic profile of Wells, saying "a portrait emerges of a tough defense attorney who has mastered the balance between easygoing and hard-charging."