Libby's Lawyers Deny 'Greymail' Claims

[Judi Lynn]

Libby's Lawyers Deny 'Greymail' Claims
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, February 22, 2006
(02-22) 02:17 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Lawyers for Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff deny they are trying to scuttle the prosecution of the ex-White House aide with their demands that the government turn over classified material to the defense.

In a court filing late Tuesday night, attorneys for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said their client must be given access to large amounts of classified material.

"Denying Mr. Libby's requests because they pertain to `extraordinarily sensitive' documents would have the effect of penalizing Mr. Libby for serving in a position that required him to address urgent national security matters every day," lawyers for the ex-White House aide wrote.

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has accused Libby of attempting to engage in "greymail," the practice of trying to derail prosecutions by seeking to expose national security secrets.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/22/national/w021746S56.DTL

[obxhead]

1. I wish I were his lawyer.....

So many billable hours....

One island and new beach house coming up... :)

[0007]

2. Libby better hope that junior will pardon him.

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has accused Libby of attempting to engage in "greymail," the practice of trying to derail prosecutions by seeking to expose national security secrets.

"The government's `greymail' accusation is not only false, but insulting," said Libby's lawyers, who assert that they are entitled to the classified material so that their client can get a fair trial.

Libby is under indictment on five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about how he learned of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame and what he told reporters once he learned the information from Cheney, the State Department and the CIA.

One of Libby's defenses is that if he made any incorrect statements to investigators, it was inadvertent.

[HereSince1628]

3. The script is playing out exactly as planned . . .

Coming soon...the Judge agrees with them and forces Fitzgerald to waste his time in litigation with the WH who will claim national security and executive priviledge, which they will argue are far more important than perjury and obstruction of justice

[janx]

4. And the leaks from Libby's lawyer continue...

He might well end up burying Libby and himself with all of this.

[wordpix]

5. Libby doesn't need all these docs to "prove" he's innocent of obstruction

and perjury. He IS greymailing, it's so obvious.

[Mithras61]

6. Why is he demanding that Fitzgerald provide this?

1) Fitz doesn't HAVE this information
2) Fitz CAN'T GET this information
3) Libby's lawyer KNOWS 1) and 2)

Conclusion is forced that this IS greymail tactic. There is no requirement that the prosecution provide anything to the defense other than what it already has. Since Fitz has done this already, this is obviously an attempt at greymail. I don't see any other reasonable conclusion.