Joe Scott 3: The Body Politic

Scooter Takes a Great Fall

28 October 2005 |permalink | email article

It’s a Humpty Dumpty kind of sordid political tale, a violation of the public trust unmatched by a sitting White House official in 130 years. 

The indictment of Vice President Cheneyís chief of staff, I. Lewis ìScooterî Libby on obstruction of justice, false statement and perjury charges for allegedly lying about how and when he learned and subsequently disclosed to reporters then-classified information about the role of CIA agent Valerie Wilson raises many questions with very few answers. A leak has morphed into a cover-up.

Libby, a smart lawyer and one-time anti-war activist, has long been associated with Cheney. A neoconservative convert and his national security adviser, Libby was part of the elite White House Iraq Group (WHIG), including the vice president, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld that made the case for war fiercely resisted by the State Department and CIA which was far from certain about WMD.

As The New York Times reported, Libby first learned about the CIA wife of ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson (who ran afoul of the neocon crowd with his NYT op-ed piece criticizing administration policy), from Cheney, not reporters, as he’d originally suggested. It was a leak designed to undermine anyone who got in the administrationís way.

Why did Libby do it? Was he operating on his own, or was he covering up to protect the shadowy Cheney and Bush to justify a war now opposed by a majority of Americans?

Will Libby now try to make a deal and implicate Cheney or, like a loyal neocon, fight on? A trial, which could put Cheney and other major government figures on the witness stand, is not what a shattered administration wants with nervous Republican incumbents on the 2006 ballot. 

The grand jury did not return an indictment against a relieved Karl Rove, Bushís indispensable mastermind, but he will be twisting in the wind for a period of time. His lawyer, more adroit than Libby’s counsel by having Rove provide last minute new information to clarify his conflicting testimony, said Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald has made no decision about whether to bring charges and that Roveís status had not changed.

The Jesuit-educated Fitzgeraldís hour-long statement was terse, eloquent and minus prosecutorial legal jargon - a subtle suggestion that the nonpartisan prosecutor’s investigation, ironically using journalists to make his case that Libby lied, is not yet a wrap. Who will soon forget his aside that Libbyís actions did ìdamage to all of us?î

The scandal will now escalate in the media. CBSís ì60 Minutesî may weigh in with a must-view on Sunday.

The Miers Meltdown

26 October 2005 |permalink | email article

Harriet Miersís withdrawal of her nomination today for the Supreme Court is yet another blow to President Bush as an already edgy White House awaits a decision by the special counsel in the CIA leak inquiry about whether possible indictments of high ranking officials may already have been obtained from a federal grand jury.

The presidentís stubborn refusal to grasp that his White House counsel failed to satisfy liberal or conservative concerns crumbled in the face of her failure to successfully complete a questionnaire exposing her lack of judicial experience - essentially dooming her confirmation before the hearings even started.

Bushís obsession with promoting from within his tight inner circle of sycophants met its match when such conservative zealots on the right, including the Wall Street editorial board, columnist George Will and Christian evangelists, took a stand against Miers and threatened to topple his own political base.

Whether the president finally realized that he was about to put his acolyte through a period of political cruelty or for once listened to more reasoned advice ñ from embattled Karl Rove or others - was not immediately clear.

I have two observations as a chastened president prepares to go back to the drawing board to find an acceptable conservative nominee, and perhaps a woman, with better qualifications:

George Bush, more than ever, is a political tower of jelly; Harriet Miers has been spared the humiliation of being perceived as a dead-woman walking.

CIA Leak Decision Nears

25 October 2005 |permalink | email article

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the leak of a CIA agentís identity, is expected to decide by Friday, when the term of the federal grand jury expires ñ but possibly as early as today according to The Washington Post - on whether to file criminal charges.

Usually well informed sources believe there will be at least one indictment, and perhaps more.

Both the White House and Washington establishment are in a state of high suspense over the decision, which has major potential consequences for President Bushís second term.

For The New York Times, whose journalistic reputation has been sullied most recently by the scandal involving reporter Judy Millerís W.M.D. reporting and her jail time for refusing to testify before the grand jury about her White House source, yesterdayís lede was a stunning triumph over the competition:

ìI. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheneyís chief of staff, first learned about the CIA officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.î

Focusing on perhaps the biggest scandal story since Watergate, early online editions today of the Times and The Los Angeles Times were reporting late breaking developments concerning Fitzgeraldís meetings with his team, including his chief FBI investigator, involving the presidentís consigliere.

NYT: ìWith the clock running out on his investigation, the special counsel in the leak case continued to seek information Tuesday about Karl Roveís discussions with reporters in the days before the CIA officerís identity was made public, lawyers and others involved in the investigation said.î

LAT:  “Prosecutors investigating the leak of the CIA agentís identity returned their attention to the powerful White House adviser Karl Rove, questioning a former West Wing colleague about contacts Rove had with reporters in the days leading up to the outing of a covert CIA officer.î

Fitzgerald, who is the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, has the distinction of being perceived as fair and impartial ñ leak proof ñ in contrast to former Special Counsel Kenneth Starrís investigation of former President Bill Clinton.