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kpete Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:27 PM
Original message
Fitzgerald Collecting Cheney's Smoking Guns
Edited on Sat May-13-06 01:42 PM by kpete
Fitzgerald Collecting Cheney's Smoking Guns
by emptywheel
Sat May 13, 2006 at 10:33:57 AM PDT

There has been a lot of speculation this week about whether, and when, Karl Rove will be indicted. While everyone has been distracted with that excitement, Patrick Fitzgerald has laid a few more of his cards on the table, making it increasingly clear that he is closing in on Cheney. In this post, I'm going to pull together some points from three recent posts to show the evidence--and the suggestion of further evidence--including:

A copy of Joe Wilson's op-ed annotated by Dick Cheney with comments constituting the main part of the smear launched against Wilson that week--the claim that Plame had sent Wilson on a boondoggle http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/files/...
................

In short, I think Fitzgerald is clearly communicating to Dick that he has evidence Dick conceived of the terms of the smear, ordered Libby to implement it, and possibly extended it after receiving warning of the repercussions of it.

Dick's Annotated Wilson Op-Ed

As part of a response to Ted Well's request that Fitzgerald reveal which news articles he intends to introduce as evidence at the trial, Fitzgerald released a copy of Joe Wilson's op-ed, which Dick annotated by taking notes and underlining certain passages. The notes say:

Have they done this sort of thing before?

Send an Amb to answer a question?

Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us?

Or did his wife send him on a junket?Text


more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/5/13/133357/265

Update from Firedoglake:

At the time that Cheney is writing these margin notes, he has already been informed of the answers to these questions — so the big question becomes, are these Dick’s talking points — his marching orders to Scooter and others — as to what the Administration’s push-back on Wilson ought to be? And if so, doesn’t it sound awfully familiar in terms of what was said to Judy Miller, Matt Cooper, and Bob Novak, at a minimum?

I don’t need to tell all of you that this is potentially HUGE.
http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/05/13/the-cirque-du-soleil-defense-part-ii/#comments
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Kagemusha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:28 PM
Response to Original message
1. Wait... you mean Dick speculated it was a junket on his own?
And that's the root of this whole thing?...

And Dick would have to be intimately familiar with Valerie's work to think such a thing, wouldn't he.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #1
24. He "thought" of the junket---as in, proffered it as an attack on JW/VP.
Cheney clearly KNEW it was NOT a junket.
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billybob537 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
2. Note to DEAD EYE DICK
DON'T drop the soap.
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spuddonna Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:30 PM
Response to Original message
3. Good gravy I hope so!!
Libby wasn't the freakin mastermind on this one... Orders came from The Dark Lord Himseld and the *...

Sing little KKKarl, sing! :7
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leftyladyfrommo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:32 PM
Response to Original message
4. One can only hope.
We won't need an impeachment if the whole adm. just gets indicted. That might be the cheapest way to handle this. And would be the most embarrassing to the Republican Party.

You know, I don't care. I just want them gone so we can actually start living our lives again.
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Der Blaue Engel Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:39 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. "I just want them gone so we can actually start living our lives again."
Amen to that, leftylady. I feel like I've been holding my breath for five and half years.
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mother earth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:56 PM
Response to Reply #6
11. You took the words right outta my mouth! Amen! Amen!
There's enough dirt and corruption going on for the whole gang, one by one, I hope they all fall. Now what's the penalty for treason? hmmmm....
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DoYouEverWonder Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:48 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. Resignations are so much faster
and simplier.

Once one of the big ones falls, the rest won't be far behind.

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SammyWinstonJack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:01 PM
Response to Reply #4
18. Yes! Me too! I am sick and tired of being sick and tired everyday
over the crap mess ** has made of EVERYTHING! I just want to breathe.
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eppur_se_muova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:34 PM
Response to Original message
5. "annotated by Dick Cheney"(!)...Holy $#!+...thanks kpete...
very reassuring to see that Fiz has long vision. The best is indeed yet to come.
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formercia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-14-06 06:05 AM
Response to Reply #5
42. Rove likes to think 20 moves ahead...
unfortunately for him, Fitz prefers at least 30.
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Nothing Without Hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:42 PM
Response to Original message
7. Wow, Cheney's annotated Wilson op/ed. How smoking can you get?
K & R
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:51 PM
Response to Original message
9. First link isn't working in the OP
Edited on Sat May-13-06 01:51 PM by MelissaB
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kpete Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:56 PM
Response to Reply #9
12. thanks
I am in dial up mode

slow but serene...
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Pastiche423 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 04:48 PM
Response to Reply #9
37. Cheney's comments on PDF file...
Edited on Sat May-13-06 05:30 PM by Pastiche423


On edit: "on", not "of".
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brentspeak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 01:51 PM
Response to Original message
10. Suggestion to the more gullible DUers:
Don't celebrate any kind of "Fitzmas" unless and until one actually takes place. Anything else is useless, pointless rumor.
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speedoo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:03 PM
Response to Reply #10
20. "useless, pointless rumor"..... Really?
That annotated Wilson OpEd is a smoking gun if I ever saw one. If Fitz is not after Cheney, why would he be concerned with that piece of paper?

Do you have an alternative hypothesis, other than that Cheney was directing the campaign aganst Wilson and his wife, that ultimately resulted in her outing and the destruction of that CIA operation, whose name escapes me at the moment?

Explain to me, please, why you assert this is a useless, pointless rumor?
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demobabe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:09 PM
Response to Reply #20
21. I think the poster just has 'indictment fatigue'
With all the hyped BS stories that have been floating around here for weeks, when an ACTUAL news and a piece of evidence comes out, it's hard to get excited - we're just on indictment overload. This is another reason I get pissed at those sites that just hype for traffic: they dillute the real news when it arrives. Big disservice.

This document is REAL though, and very significant, and probably only the tip of the iceburg. I'm excited to see what comes next.
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speedoo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:24 PM
Response to Reply #21
29. Ironic that "indictment fatigue" is actually a result of Fitz' thoroughnes
I have been feeling for several months now that there was a lot going on while we all waited for Rove's indictment. Fitzgerald's work in Illinois, when reviewed in the light of what he is doing in the Plame investigation, is something people need to pay more attention to.
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demobabe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:32 PM
Response to Reply #29
31. You have a point, but the speculative stories don't help
This has been a long time in the making. Symbolman at www.takebackthemedia.com created and entire video chronology/documentary of the whole Plame/CIA Leak back in August (I think), and many of the facts in the film are just now coming to light.
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speedoo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #31
34. Newsweek's Isikoff has picked up on this.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2282434

I believe this is the first we have heard from the MSM. I am certain it will not be the last, and Cheney's head is moving, slowly but surely, toward the block.
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Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 02:20 PM
Response to Original message
13. I wonder how they got this?
Normally you throw newspapers in the wastebasket.
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Garbo 2004 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 05:42 PM
Response to Reply #13
41. Not unless you pass it w. notes to a subordinate (like a chief of
staff, for example) for further action. By July 6 Cheney already had the answers to those questions so the idea of the notes as talking points is perhaps not too far fetched.

Or I might speculate that it might have been part of a proactive potential CYA trail to support a possible cover story just like I think Rove's email to Hadley was regarding his conversation to Cooper. I note that, for example, Libby's various cover stories are all focused on drawing attention to events after Wilson's July 6 op ed to make it look that they simply were responding to Wilson's public statements. But the "get Wilson" activity goes back to at least May and June, long before Wilson's op ed. Libby was leaking NIE talking points and Wilson's CIA wife to Judy Miller on June 23. A meeting Libby did not disclose to the grand jury.

I recall an LA Times article last year I think where they said Libby was "obsessed" with Wilson and kept all sorts of information on him, newspaper articles, transcripts of TV appearances, etc if I remember correctly. Maybe this annotated article was part of Libby's treasure trove.

What we do know is Fitz subpoenaed and received a shitload of stuff from the WH and OVP, including Libby's notes and papers. While Libby was claiming to the Grand Jury that he didn't know about Plame until Timmy Russert told him in July (which Timmy denies),apparently Libby's own notes revealed that around June 12 or so Cheney had told Libby that Wilson's wife worked in the Counterproliferation Division of the CIA's Directorate of Operations. When confronted with that, Libby fell back on the "I forgot that I knew" defense.
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Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-14-06 10:09 AM
Response to Reply #41
45. So maybe this came out of Libby's files on Wilson
although he probably didn't designate that way. Libby thinking strategically.
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NastyDiaper Donating Member (806 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 02:21 PM
Response to Original message
14. Elizabeth
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MelissaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 02:29 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. ROFL
:rofl:

Brings back memories...
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 02:39 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. Did he clutch his chest as he said it ?
:)
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catmandu57 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:15 PM
Response to Reply #16
25. Hey Socaldem
You think those flag pins will get chucklenutz* into heaven? :hi:
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:37 PM
Response to Reply #25
33. I almost hope there IS a heaven & hell so his gang will get
"what they deserve"..:evilgrin:
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demobabe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 02:57 PM
Response to Original message
17. Oh no! Jason Leopold has been SCOOPED!
How could all of Leopold's sources possibly miss this one?

Unless...
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stop the bleeding Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
19. This is great news on top of great news
thank you kpete - we knew this was happening but to see it in action is another. :toast:
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kpete Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:17 PM
Response to Reply #19
26. going to take a bike ride in the mountains today
The cobwebs in my head are beginning to clear...


















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stop the bleeding Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:21 PM
Response to Reply #26
27. did you see these yet?
Edited on Sat May-13-06 03:22 PM by stop the bleeding
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kpete Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:35 PM
Response to Reply #27
32. Thanks
I am having trouble downloading stuff (and there is SO much of it today).

I have decided to slow down and stare into space this weekend - odd behavior for me.

I do think that much of the info we have been getting shows Fitz is finishing off Rove and heading for Cheney...

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WiseButAngrySara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:09 PM
Response to Original message
22. How did Fitz obtain this as evidence? I almost hope Cheney gets
indicted more than Rove, because of his war profiteering and his Oh, so many lies! I despise them both, but I have to say that my hatred of Cheney is more intense.

Are you reading this NSA? If so, Go Cheney yourselves!
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bud E. holly Donating Member (82 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:13 PM
Response to Original message
23. That's what I'm talkin bout! / nt
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Independent_Liberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:24 PM
Response to Original message
28. K&R!
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democrank Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:28 PM
Response to Original message
30. One giant Scandal Central at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
My head hurts just trying to keep all this straight, so thanks for posting this, kpete.
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speedoo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:49 PM
Response to Original message
35. This belongs on top of the Greatest Page.
This is the best evidence we have seen so far that Cheney is going down.

I am buying another bottle of fine champagne!!

K&R.
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caledesi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 03:57 PM
Response to Original message
36. And the REAL reason Cheney et. al were so pissed at Wilson is
because WE, THE US FORGED the documents and Wilson was so smart, he knew they were forged, but not by whom. Picture this scenario: Wilson comes back from Niger and Cheney et al are expecting to hear how Wilson found evidence of Iraq trying to buy yellow cake. But no, Wilson didn't give them the answer they WANTED (kinda like the CIA). So Mr. Control (Cheney) is pissed, is angry with Wilson and angry w/ himself about Wilson being sent there.

Don't have the link as to the American was in Niger for the forgery meeting, but it exists.
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Garbo 2004 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 05:16 PM
Response to Reply #36
38. Wilson never saw documents and he was neither the only or first person
to check out the Niger yellowcake rumors and say they were bunk. Ahead of him were State Dept INR, US Ambassador to Niger and a Marine General who all said the Niger yellowcake story was hooey before Wilson went to Niger in Feb/March 2002.

What PO'ed the cabal was that Wilson was speaking out against war and the administration's "evidence" in Spring 2003 while at the same time he was, through Administration contacts, trying to get the Administration to retract the Niger claim that was in the 2003 State of the Union. And in May 2003 Wilson was the anon former ambassador source for a Kristof article in the NY Times debunking the Niger claim. Until Spring of 2003 Wilson was not really an issue for the Administration. The Kristov article and the following Pincus article in June for which Wilson also was an anon source kicked the cabal into high gear. They were on Wilson's case and Libby was leaking to Judy Miller on June 23, weeks before Wilson went public in his July 6 op ed. (Despite having been recently briefed by the CIA on June 17 that there wasn't credible evidence to support the Niger claims http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0203nj3.htm )

But again, it wasn't Wilson's findings in March 2002 that triggered anything against Wilson. Cheney most likely didn't even know he was being sent. Cheney made an inquiry to the CIA and it was the CIA that decided to send Wilson. And Wilson came to the same conclusions others had before him. It wasn't until a year later that Wilson came on their radar due to his criticism of the Administration.
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caledesi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 05:29 PM
Response to Reply #38
40. Thanks for the clarification. My bad.
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DemReadingDU Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-13-06 05:29 PM
Response to Original message
39. Would Cheney even admit that this is his handwriting?
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leveymg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-14-06 07:11 AM
Response to Reply #39
44. That could be proven by experts. eom
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leveymg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-14-06 07:10 AM
Response to Original message
43. This is legally significant if Dick told Fitz that he wasn't involved in
discussions planning how to smear Wilson and/or how to release Plame's identity.

That would be Obstruction of Justice, and this would be material evidence that Dick lied.
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