TPM - Fleischer read State Dept memo on AF1

[Starfury]

Dang, there's so much flying around, I missed this one. According to bloomberg, a senior ex-administration official saw Fleischer read the memo onboard Air Force 1. This just keeps growing....

Talking Points Memo, siting Bloomberg article in passing:

(July 21, 2005 -- 11:34 PM EDT // link // print)

(...)

Now, I know we've got a few balls in the air already. But let me note one other point.

A few days ago a former high-level administration official who was on Air Force One going to Africa with the president (and think for a moment how many now-former administration officials were on that flight in a position to vouch for this fact) told Bloomberg News that he saw Ari Fleischer "perusing the State Department memo on Wilson and his wife."

So Perhaps Libby and Rove found out about Plame from Fleischer, who would have been calling back to the White House. Or perhaps they got it from their research and authorship of the Tenet mea culpa. It seems quite conceiveable that they got it from both directions. Remember, Libby would have had no shortage of access to former CIA officers and CIA personnel on loan to the administration who could have given him more backstory on Plame. The two channels might even help explain the two versions of her name that were in circulation.

In any case, there was no shortage of channels through which they might have gotten the information. But each, it seems, in his grand jury testimony, has claimed he learned the information from journalists -- even though the journalists disagree.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_07_17.php#006149


The sited Bloomberg story from above dated 7/18/05 gives us this additional tidbit:

(...)

Fleischer, who saw the July 7 memo, wasn't part of Bush's inner circle during his tenure as press secretary, while Rove was at the heart of it. Given those facts, it seems highly doubtful that Fleischer would have acted on the information in the memo without the knowledge or approval of Rove and other top-level White House officials.

(...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=awksAN7mYRZY&refer=us#

I recommend reading both links, if you haven't done so already.

[GOPGoindown]

1. Perjury if true

According to today's NY Times story:

Among those asked if he had seen the memo was Ari Fleischer, then the White House press secretary, who was on Air Force One with Mr. Bush and Mr. Powell during the Africa trip. Mr. Fleischer told the grand jury that he never saw the document, a person familiar with the testimony said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the prosecutor's admonitions about not disclosing what is said to the grand jury.

Mr. Fleischer's role has been scrutinized by investigators, in part because his telephone log showed a call on the day after Mr. Wilson's article appeared from Mr. Novak, the columnist who, on July 14, 2003, was the first to report Ms. Wilson's identity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/politics/22leak.html?hp&ex=1122004800&en=da4770e9392bb1c6&ei=5094&partner=homepage