Look, I’m as sick as anyone of writing about l’affair Plame. I’d much rather write about how Fred Thompson undermined the Watergate investigation. But the enemies of the truth are so persistent and the stakes so high, that I can’t just sit by and let history be rewritten. The President wants us to forget all about his commutation of Libby’s sentence now that we’re done watching fireworks and digesting our hot dogs. I’ve got to speak up. The worst offenders in this revisionist history are people that are ostensibly on our side…like Michael Kinsley. Kinsley makes an argument that Scooter Libby should not have been questioned at all because he was placed in a perjury trap.

Let’s start with the basics. Here’s Novak:

Two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger…

So, all this mumbo-jumbo about how the FBI knew the leaker was Richard Armitage ignores the fact that the FBI was looking for at least two leakers. For Kinsley, the following is supposed to be somehow significant.

True, Mr. Libby was not the source for Robert Novak, whose column identifying Mr. Wilson’s wife as a C.I.A. operative started the whole business.

Chronologically, Armitage told Novak first, and then Novak got his information confirmed by Karl Rove. Let’s focus on the FBI part of this, because it predates the appointment of Fitzgerald and it is the FBI that made the decision to question Scooter Libby. Take a look at a significant date from 2003.

October 6

  • 6:30 a.m. MT – Scooter Libby meets Dick Cheney at Cheney’s residence in Wyoming. (Libby calendar)
  • Newsweek reports that Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s “Hardball” was the journalist who called Mr. Wilson and said, “I just got off the phone with Karl Rove who said your wife is fair game.” At the very least, those familiar with the conversation said “it was reasonable to discuss who sent Wilson to Niger.” (Newsweek, Oct. 13, 2003 issue)
  • 1:15 p.m. – White House spokesman Scott McClellan says “if anyone in this administration was responsible for the leaking of classified information, they would no longer work in this administration.” (transcript)
  • 2:45 p.m. – Scooter Libby meets with his lawyer to prepare for his first FBI interview. (Libby calendar)

Libby talked to the FBI on October 14. You can read about what he said in his indictment (.pdf). But the FBI had already interviewed Richard Armitage on October 2 and learned that he was one of the two senior officials cited in Novak’s column.

Kinsley’s argument is somewhat convoluted here, as he struggles to make his point. At base, though, he is saying Libby never should have faced a ‘perjury trap’ which is tantamount to saying he should not have been questioned at all.

So when Mr. Libby was questioned by federal investigators pursuing the leaks, he too was caught in a perjury trap. He could either tell the truth, thereby implicating colleagues and very possibly himself, in leaking classified security information (the identity of Mr. Wilson’s wife), or he could lie. In either case he would be breaking the law or admitting to having done so, and in either case he could have gone to prison. Mr. Libby, like Mr. Clinton, made the wrong choice.

There is nothing wrong with a perjury trap, as long as both sides of the pincer are legitimate. The abuse comes when prosecutors induce a crime (lying under oath) by exploiting an action that is not a crime…

…So as much as I dislike the war in Iraq, as much as I dislike President Bush, as much as I expect that I would dislike Mr. Libby if I ever met him, I feel that he should not have had to face a perjury trap: the choice between prison for lying, or prison for his role in a set of transactions that the press regards as not merely O.K. but sacrosanct.

On October 14, the FBI knew that Armitage was one leaker, but they didn’t know that Karl Rove was the other. Plus, let’s look at what we now know.

June 13: First known outing to reporters: Armitage tells Woodward. Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward interviews Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage for his book. Armitage tells Woodward that Wilson’s wife works for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction as a WMD analyst…

June 23: 3:00 p.m. – Second known outing to reporters: Libby tells Miller. New York Times reporter Judith Miller meets with Scooter Libby in Libby’s office. Libby tells Miller that Wilson’s wife might work at a bureau of the CIA.

July 8: 8:30 a.m. – Third known outing to reporters: Libby again tells Miller. Scooter Libby meets with New York Times reporter Judith Miller over a two-hour breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C. They discuss CIA operative Valerie Plame (Libby indictment p. 7). Miller’s notes contain the phrase “Wife works at Winpac”

July 8: Afternoon – Fourth known outing to reporters: Armitage tells Novak. Robert Novak interviews Richard Armitage at Armitage’s office. Armitage tells Novak that Wilson’s wife is a CIA employee. According to Armitage, Novak asked him at the end of the interview why the CIA had sent Wilson to Niger. His recollection is that he replied, “I don’t know, but his wife works out there.” According to Novak at trial, Armitage says that Wilson was suggested by wife Valerie who was employee in CPD at the CIA.

July 9: Fifth known outing to reporters: Rove confirms to Novak. Robert Novak and Karl Rove speak by phone, ostensibly about a story on the promotion of Frances Fragos Townsend. Novak turns to the subject of Valerie Wilson. Novak claims to Rove that he knows that Joseph Wilson had been sent on the trip to Niger at the urging of Ms. Wilson. (Novak testimony; NYT)

In Novak’s telling, Rove responds by saying “Oh, you know about it.”(Townhall)

In Rove’s telling, Rove responds by saying “I heard that, too.” (WaPo)

July 10 or 11: Libby speaks with Karl Rove. Libby is advised of Rove’s earlier-that-week conversation with Robert Novak, that Wilson’s wife was discussed, and that Novak will be writing a column (Libby Indictment, p. 8). Libby has testified he told Rove about Russert.

July 11: around 8:00 a.m. EST – Sixth known outing to reporters: Fleischer tells Gregory and Dickerson. Ari Fleischer tells reporters David Gregory of NBC and John Dickerson of Time, “If you want to know who sent Ambassador Wilson to Niger, it was his wife, she works there.”

July 11: Before 11:07 a.m. – Seventh known outing to reporters: Rove tells Cooper. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has a short conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Rove tells Cooper that Wilson’s wife works for the CIA and had a hand in sending him to Niger, and that the story will be coming out. Rove does not mention her by name. (Cooper’s notes)

July 12: 1:26 p.m. – Eighth known outing to reporters: Fleischer tells Pincus. Fleisher calls Walter Pincus of the Washington Post. Fleisher tells Pincus that the White House had not paid attention to Wilson’s trip to Niger because it was set up as a boondoggle by his wife…

Every one of these leaks was worthy of investigation. The quantity and variety of sources for the leaks suggested a coordinated campaign. The FBI needed to investigate who put the effort in motion. Libby was an early leaker of this information and the official responsible for giving it to Ari Fleischer. Why give information to the press secretary if you don’t want the information passed on to the press?

The FBI had to run down the facts to determine who knew what and who ordered it. Just because they had determined that Armitage was one source didn’t mean they had resolved the issue. The facts strongly indicate that Libby was acting on orders from the president and vice-president.

The fact that the President commuted his sentence is one clue. Remember, the President was supposed to be furious about this leak and determined to get to the bottom of it. If Libby concealed his role from the President for three years, thereby damaging his credibility, do you think Bush would feel charitably towards him? Another clue that Bush ordered the leaks is revealed in the vice-president’s hand-written memo.

For the hard of sight, that says: ‘Not going to protect one staffer + sacrifice the guy the Pres that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others.’

Based on that information, and other clues unearthed in Fitzgerald’s investigation, it is highly likely that Libby was part of a deliberate plot to out Valerie Wilson. But people like Kinsley argue that the FBI should have known everything about this case after interviewing Richard Armitage on October 2, 2003. Didn’t they, at least, have to determine why Karl Rove confirmed Armitage’s information? Who told Karl Rove about Valerie Plame? What did they tell him?

And so, Scooter Libby was questioned on October 14th. And he lied. And then he had to continue to lie to cover up his initial lies. It seems highly likely that Cheney and Libby entered into a conspiracy to mislead the FBI on October 6th in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This commutation is the culmination of that conspiracy.

But the FBI was wrong to question Libby at all.