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Banned
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Scott McClellan: Bush Admitted Declassifying Portion of NIE, Outing CIA's Plame
Is it an act of treason if the president outs a CIA operative, during a time of war, for partisan politcal purposes?
From this am Today Show Video:
Quote:
Scott McClellan: But the other defining moment was in early April 2006, when I learned that the President had secretly declassified the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq for the Vice President and Scooter Libby to anonymously disclose to reporters. And we had been out there talking about how seriously the President took the selective leaking of classified information. And here we were, learning that the President had authorized the very same thing we had criticized.
Viera: Did you talk to the President and say why are you doing this?
Scott McClellan: Actually, I did. I talked about the conversation we had. I walked onto Air Force One, it was right after an event we had, it was down in the south, I believe it was North Carolina. And I walk onto Air Force One and a reporter had yelled a question to the President trying to ask him a question about this revelation that had come out during the legal proceedings. The revelation was that it was the President who had authorized, or, enable Scooter Libby to go out there and talk about this information. And I told the President that that's what the reporter was asking. <h3>He was saying that you, yourself, was the one that authorized the leaking of this information. And he said "yeah, I did." And I was kinda taken aback.</h3>
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Quote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/wa...rtner=homepage
Libby a Scapegoat, His Lawyer Tells Jurors
By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: January 23, 2007
.....Mr. Libby, Mr. Wells said, complained to Mr. Cheney that he was being set up as the fall guy. The Vice President supported that view, Mr. Wells said, and wrote a note by hand saying: “Not going to protect one staffer + sacrifice the guy who was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others.”
He offered his interpretation of the note, explaining that “incompetence” was a reference to the fact that the C.I.A. had mistakenly allowed the White House to use inaccurate information in Mr. Bush’s State of the Union speech about Iraq’s efforts to obtain uranium in Africa. The staff official, he said, was Mr. Rove. Mr. Libby had been assigned to speak to reporters to straighten out the confusion from Mr. Bush’s speech, a chore Mr. Cheney likened to sticking his head in the meat grinder.
Mr. Wells did not, however, make it clear how the purported efforts to shield Mr. Rove caused Mr. Libby to become embroiled in the issue, but for suggesting that the attention paid to the disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s name obliged Mr. Libby to engage in the perilous task of talking with reporters.....
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From Libby's Plame Leak Investigation, Grand Jury testimony....
Quote:
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/ex.../0306/gx1t.txt
P R O C E E D I N G S
Whereupon,
I. LEWIS LIBBY
was called as a witness and, after first being duly sworn by
the Foreperson of the Grand Jury, was examined and testified
as follows:
<h3>EXAMINATION
BY MR. FITZGERALD:
Q. And Mr. Libby, if you could state your name for the
record and spell your name?
A. I. Lewis, L-e-w-i-s; Libby, L-i-b-b-y.</h3>
Q. And do you have a nickname?
A. I do.
Q. Okay. And that is --
A. "Scooter".
Q. Okay. And can you give us a brief description of
how you got the name "Scooter" so no one spends their time
thinking about that?
A. Are we classified in here? It's -- my family is
from the south and it's less, it's less uncommon than it is up
here.
Q. Okay. Good morning. There's a glass of water in
front of you. That's not from a prior witness, so feel free
to use it.
A. Thank you.
Q. Let me just introduce myself again. My name is Pat
Fitzgerald. I'm a Special Counsel in this matter, joined by
other attorneys with the Special Counsel's Office seated at
the table. And this Grand Jury is investigating possible
offenses of different laws that include Title 50 of the United
States Code, Section 421, which concerns the disclosure of the
identity of a covert agent; Title 18 of the United States
Code, Section 793, which is the illegal transmission of
national defense information; or Title 18, Section 641, theft
of government property; or Title 18 United States Code,
Section 1001, false statements. That means that this Grand
Jury is investigating those offenses. It doesn't mean there's
any determination been made whether or not those offenses have
been committed. I can also tell you that a Grand Jury is
entitled to charge any other offense that they determine has
been committed if they learn about that offense during the
course of this investigation. But generally the investigation
concerns the possible illegal disclosure of classified
information. Do you understand the general nature of the
investigation?
A. I do, sir.
Q. I should tell you that you have a constitutional
right to refuse to answer any question if a truthful answer
would tend to incriminate you. Do you understand that you
have that right?..........
.....Q. -- 59. Does that indicate a meeting between you,
the Vice President and Stephen Hadley?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And then down below, is that an attribution, the
first one, to Stephen Hadley?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And then "SH", and then it has a colon, and it has
"MCL". Is that referring to McLaughlin?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And is that Hadley quoting Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence John McLaughlin?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Colon, quoted GT. Is that McLaughlin quoting George
Tenet?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Okay. So is it fair to say that you're with the
Vice President --
A. Yes.
Q. -- and Stephen Hadley?
A. Yes.
Q. Hadley is reporting back to you guys what McLaughlin
is saying that George Tenet is saying?
A. Full credit, sir.
Q. Okay. And then during this time you guys are trying
to get Tenet to make a good statement that will sort of take
this issue out and restore the President's credibility?
A. Absolutely, sir.
Q. Fairly tense time?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Okay. Now, it says, "Wilson is declassified"?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is that to you an indication that the report on
Wilson was declassified?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And then what does the next sentence say?
A. "We haven't started to declassify NIE." And then
Steve Hadley started to say something which I didn't have time
to write down.
Q. And the next attribution is that Hadley quoting
Condi Rice?
A. Yes, sir.
<h3> Q. Okay. And what does that say?
A. "Spoke to President, he's comfortable."
Q. And does that indicate despite the stress of the
time that the President is okay with -- so far with how things
are going?
A. It's not clear to me what. There's a space missing
there --
Q. Okay.
A. -- and I probably didn't write something down. I
left a space to go back and I probably never got -- I never
got back to it. So -- these things look sort of like a
transcript but they're not really because there could be long
moments when I don't write anything down. So she was saying
the President was comfortable about something, but I don't
know what the antecedent was to --
Q. And the next line?
A. Says -- this is Steve Hadley saying, no question,
it's better if we leak the NIE.
Q. What does that mean?
A. Steve Hadley is saying that it would be better if we
got the NIE out, and "leak" means telling it to -- giving it
to a reporter to say, you know, here's something you can write
about. It's like an exclusive or something like that.
Q. And had the NIE been declassified at that point?
A. It had in the sense that the President had told me
to go out and use it with Judith Miller. I don't, I don't
know that Mr. Hadley knew that at that point.
Q. Okay. And did anyone decide to leak the NIE that
week?
A. Well, the President had told me to use it and
declassified it for me to use with Judith Miller. I don't
think Mr. Hadley was told to go out and talk about it. I
think Ms. Rice had talked about the NIE in general earlier in
the week on television.
Q. And so --
A. Well, some time. I'm not sure when it was.
Q. -- so prior to July 10th you had talked to Judith
Miller about the NIE?
A. Correct, sir.
Q. And your understanding is that even though it was a
classified document the President had authorized you to talk
to her about it?
A. Definitely, sir.
Q. And then -- and do you know if anyone decided to
share the NIE -- did you tell Mr. Hadley at the time that you
had already in effect leaked the NIE by -- with the
President's approval by telling -- Judith Miller?
A. I -- yeah, I don't know if it's leaking once it's
declassified and you're told to do it. I had talked to Judith
Miller about the NIE at the President's, you know, at, at the
President's approval relayed to me through the Vice President,
and I did not tell Mr. Hadley at that time.
Q. And was there any reason why you didn't tell Mr.
Hadley that you had told Ms. Miller about the NIE?
A. I was sitting with the Vice President. The Vice
President knew it and chose not to tell Mr. Hadley and so I
didn't change what he had done.</h3>
Q. Now --
A. And then there's a comment below it from the, from
the Vice President.
Q. Yes?
A. Should I read that for you?
Q. Sure.
A. He says, "anything less than full and complete
disclosure is a serious mistake." And Steve Hadley says, "I
will -- I told that to George Tenet." So the Vice President
is pushing it. He does on a number of these things, get all
of this stuff out. Let's have every -- it's a good story,
tell it all, get all these documents out to the public.
Q. Okay. And I'll deem this marked, and we'll take
back custody of it. Fair to say that you went through the
notes and there's a number of times where the Vice President
during that week has said you need to get everything out?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Tell the whole story. The whole truth has to get
out. Anything less than that is a big mistake?
A. Yes, sir. That's exactly what we wanted to do.
Q. And that was a constant thing that week?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And the Vice President, to be, to be blunt, was
frustrated that it wasn't all getting out there and it wasn't
sort of putting the story to rest, and he was sort of getting
ticked off that we needed to resolve this issue?
A. I'm not sure I would use the word "ticked off", but
he was frustrated. Yes, sir, that's a fair, fair statement.
And this -- the statement from Director Tenet was supposed to
come out -- first it was going to be, I think, Tuesday night,
and then it was going to be Wednesday night. It took a long
time to get this statement out. It was useful when it did
come out, but it took too long to get it out. People were
saying, you know, "get it out".
Q. Now, tell me about the circumstances of your
conversation with Mr. Russert.....
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Link to Libby trial document, his notes from July 10, 2003 ,meetng:
http://static1.firedoglake.com/28/fi...10-meeting.pdf
Libby was convicted on four of five counts of perjury and obstruction and sentenced to serve 30 months in federal prison. On July 2, 2007, president Bush commuted Libby's entire prison sentence, before he served even a day in prison.....
Why isn't it now, simply a matter of the House Judiciary Committee demanding an appearance of Scott McClellan, to testify under oath to what he is videotaped saying on the Today Show, this am, and, along with Scooter Libby's sworn testimony above, determining whether or not to form a house impeachment investigatory committee?
Last edited by host; 05-29-2008 at 09:31 AM..
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