Bob Novak Retires
Robert Novak, who has been a leading political columnist longer than I've been alive, has announced his immediate retirement in the wake of his diagnosis with a brain tumor. Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times' political columnist describes as "dire." "The details are being worked out with the doctors this ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 4, 2008 14:40
Valerie Plame Can’t Publish Dates of CIA Service
A federal judge has backed the CIA's bid to keep Valerie Plame Wilson from disclosing the length of her CIA service, despite it being publicly available information. Valerie Wilson may be the best known former intelligence operative in recent history, but a federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that she was not allowed to say how long she worked for ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 3, 2007 09:09
Valerie Plame’s Lawsuit Dismissed
Valerie Plame's civil suit against Dick Cheney and others has been thrown out. AP's Matt Apuzzo: A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal. Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to leak her ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 19, 2007 15:42
Joe Wilson Endorses Hillary Clinton
Valerie Plame's husband, Joe Wilson, has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on a conference call with liberal bloggers. Taylor Marsh, for one, is quite excited: "This is a huge deal for Candidate Clinton and a big endorsement for her candidacy. That it was broken on the blogs sends a powerful signal." My guess is the signal is that it ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 16, 2007 15:48
Novak on Plame Leak
Bob Novak recounts the details of his meeting with Richard Armitage wherein he learned of Valerie Plame's CIA identity in his new autobiography, The Prince of Darkness. His newspaper, The Chicago Sun-Times, has an excerpt: It is important to note that Armitage reached out to me before Joe Wilson went public on the New York Times op-ed page and on ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 9, 2007 10:06
Libby Commutation Reactions
As one would expect, last evening's news that President Bush has commuted Scooter Libby's jail sentence has spawned a huge amount of controversy in the blogosphere, with some decrying it as the greatest outrage since Watergate and others complaining it didn't go far enough. From the Left: Nancy Pelosi: "The President’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence does not serve justice, condones ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 3, 2007 09:01
Scooter Libby Granted Clemency
President Bush has granted clemency to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. WHEREAS Lewis Libby was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case United States v. Libby, Crim. No. 05-394 (RBW), for which a sentence of 30 months' imprisonment, 2 years' supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and a special assessment of $400 was imposed ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 2, 2007 19:30
Scooter Libby Denied Bail During Appeals
Barring a presidential pardon, it appears that Scooter Libby is headed to jail soon. A federal appeals court Monday rejected former White House aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s request to remain free on appeal after his March conviction on federal charges stemming from the leak of a CIA agent’s identity. Libby, once Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, faces a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 2, 2007 15:13
5 Myths About Scooter Libby
Carol Leonnig, who covers the federal courts for WaPo and with whom I had the pleasure of sitting during my brief stint covering the Libby trail, shoots down "5 Myths About Scooter and the Slammer." Her column will irritate both Libby's strongest supporters and most vehement critics. It's now rather clear that Libby lied to the grand jury about ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 10, 2007 08:26
Plame Sheds Little Light in Leak Case
Valerie Plame Wilson testified before Congress today, claiming that she was a covert operative at the time Richard Armitage leaked information to Robert Novak and that the content of that leak--that she had been behind sending her husband, Joe Wilson, to Niger, was false. Her opening statement is transcribed here. AP's Matt Apuzzo, who has been reporting the ins-and-outs of this case ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 16, 2007 18:29
Democrats Invite Valerie Plame to Testify
Valerie Plame has been invited to testify before Congress. About nothing in particular. Democratic lawmakers are eager to hear from outed CIA operative Valerie Plame as they try to make political fodder out of the 2003 leak scandal. Plame was scheduled to testify before a congressional committee Friday, but it was unlikely the hearing would offer any new information about the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 16, 2007 07:46
Blogging the Scooter Libby Trial
Jay Rosen has a long homage to those who blogged the Scooter Libby trial, most notably the Firedoglake gang. As a critic who follows the fortunes of the American press, and writes about its collapse under Bush, I found it extremely painful to sit on the sidelines for this event. But as compensation I had the pleasure of watching Firedoglake, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 10, 2007 10:04
Libby Juror: Scooter Guilty but the Fall Guy
Scooter Libby juror Denis Collins explains the thought process of the jury. It confirms and expands on some quotes highlighted yesterday at the Drudge Report. Jurors in I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's perjury trial were certain of the former vice presidential aide's guilt, but they also harbored sympathy for him as a "fall guy," one of them said Tuesday after the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 7, 2007 08:01
Plame vs. Wilson
Kevin Drum finds it interesting that Ari Fleischer today testified that Scooter Libby told him, four days before Bob Novak's story was filed, about Valerie Plame's role in sending her husband, Joe Wilson, to Niger. Not "Valerie Wilson," the name she used socially, but "Valerie Plame," her maiden name and one that she used only on agency business. . . . ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 29, 2007 16:40
Libby Prosecution Witness Grossman Makes Defense Case
In cross-examination by Ted Wells, Marc Grossman, the first prosecution witness, explained the reason that neither he nor his boss Richard Armitage had read a high critical article by Nicholas Kristoff that sparked the chain of events of the Valerie Plame affair this way: "I had about a billion things to do" and "couldn't be troubled" to find out what ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 23, 2007 16:45
