There are a lot of sexy witnesses in the Libby trial but it is a no-name FBI case agent that is providing the most damning testimony. Ms. Deborah S. Bond questioned Scooter Libby in October and November of 2003. Scooter Libby concocted a phony baloney story to cover up the Vice-President’s role in outing Valerie Plame. It went like this:
Scooter Libby learned about Valerie Plame from the Vice-President back in early June 2003. He then promptly forgot about learning this because he was a very busy man. Then Joe Wilson wrote his column and went on Meet the Press. That happened on July 6, 2003. The OVP was upset because Wilson was suggesting that Cheney had sent him on a trip and that they had received a report on the trip. The truth was a little different. The VP wanted to know more about a forged group of documents (possibly drawn up by friends of Michael Ledeen) that purported to show that Iraq had made a deal to buy uranium from Niger. The CIA probably thought it was just another example of Cheney acting like a bloodthirsty idiot, but they decided to send Ambassador Wilson over there because he had some decent contacts. The State Department thought the whole idea was stupid and that their ambassador had already answered the question…there was no deal.
Anyhoo…Wilson got sent over there and he discovered that Iraq had approached Niger about improving trade (and Niger doesn’t trade much other than uranium) but that Niger had blown them off because they didn’t want to violate the sanctions. Wilson also satisfied himself that logistically it would have been nearly impossible for Niger to divert uranium to a third-party without the French knowing about it (they run the mines). Bottom line? Iraq might have sought uranium. Maybe. But they didn’t get any.
So Wilson came home and was debriefed by a couple of CIA officers. They wrote up a report and it was disseminated within the Intelligence Community. The VP certainly had access to the report. Whether they read it is uncertain. They say they did not. And they are so incompetent, it is possible that they are telling the truth about that. Maybe.
In any case, the OVP was pissed off that Wilson was saying they sent him and that they read the report and that they knew the 16 words in the SOTU were false.
The first thing they wanted to know was who this Joe Wilson guy was and why he was talking smack about them. So they started looking into him. And then reporters started asking questions about him. And somehow these reporters figured out that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA and that she might have sent him on the trip. And, well, everyone in Washington kind of knew that the CIA was sick up to their ears of Dick Cheney’s baseless conspiracy theories about al-Qaeda and Iraq and Iraq and nuclear weapons. So, they figured, Valerie Plame just kind of blew off the VP and got her husband a nice junket in the bargain. In other words, Wilson’s trip wasn’t a serious intelligence gathering effort but more of a boondoggle.
This story is pretty good, don’t you think? Anyway, Libby was getting pretty peeved about the coverage and then he saw Chris Matthews on Hardball saying nasty things about his boss. So he got really mad and called up Tim Russert to complain. And then Russert told him that all the reporters in Washington were telling him that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA. And Libby was like, “Oh, snap! That explains it.” So then he went and talked to the VP and they discussed whether to leak this information that they got from the press back to the press so they could report it.
Here’s the part where Libby implicated the VP.
‘Z’ is the prosecutor. ‘DB’ is FBI agent, Deborah Bond. They are talking about a flight aboard Air Force Two.
Z Did you speak as well about trip to Norfolk? More about VP feelings about Wilson matter.
DB They weren’t satisfied with Tenet statement, wanted to get out to press that OVP did not send Wilson to Niger.
Z VP mood?
DB frustrated and upset that press was still claiming that VP sent Wilson. When they [OVP] claim they didn’t send him.
Z Conversation on AF2?
DB Like he told us before, went to VP cabin. Some discussoin about whether they should report to press about Wilson’s wife working for CIA.
Z Conversation about Wilson’s wife on AF2
DB After he spoke with Russert, he discussed with VP, not certain exactly when they discussed it.
Z Did you ask whether they discussed making it public
DB They MAY have talked about it.
Z Tell you about what he said transpired once he landed at Edward AFB, did he tell you about Cooper.
DB Like he had told us previously, along with Mayfield and Martin, when he contacted Cooper, and read the statement, to Cooper. And Libby claimed after Cooper asked about Wilson he went off the record and told him the info being spread might not be true.
Z Who said?
DB I’m sorry, Mr Libby. Mr Libby then told us he told Cooper that reporters were telling admin that Wilson’s wife worked at CIA, but he didn’t know if that was true.
So, Dick Cheney talked about leaking Valerie Plame’s profession and then Scooter went and leaked her profession.
But it was all okay because they got this information from Tim Russert.
Except, Cheney told Libby about Plame all the way back in early June. And Russert denies he told them anything. And Fleischer testified that Libby told him about Plame before Libby talked to Russert. And there is a lot of other evidence too.
Bottom line? This FBI agent just revealed that Libby admitted that Cheney talked about outing Plame and that he then went and outed Plame. Okay. The operative word here is ‘may’ have discussed outing Plame. You be the judge.
Vice-President…guilty.
