Why was the FBI interviewing Valerie Plame's neighbors yesterday?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://wonkette.com

snip
the FBI conducted interviews yesterday with Valerie Plame's neighbors, who had no knowledge of her CIA job. snip

I know the purpose of these questions but I am wondering has the FBI been at Fitzgerald's disposal? Will the investigation continue after indictments are handed out? Why the interviews at this late date?

[kikiek]

1. To find out if they had any idea she worked for the CIA. See how well

she hid that. They didn't know.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Well, I am talking about the timing of it and the involvement of the

FBI. It seems late in the game and I was curious about the FBI's role as it pertains to Fitz

[kikiek]

9. I agree with the tying up loose ends theory. They knew the answer just

had to have it formalized. The other pieces were put in place first.

[liberal N proud]

14. I would tend to think that

Closes any loopholes just to make sure the neighbor can't be blamed for the outing.

[skids]

2. To scare the bejezzus out of the WH n/t

[Ioo]

3. It is here,,,

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20051026/D8DFO4TO7.html

One set of interviews occurred in the neighborhood of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, whose wife Valerie Plame was outed as an undercover CIA officer. Agents asked neighbors whether they had any inkling that Plame works for the CIA.

"They wanted to know how well we knew her, which is very well," said neighbor David Tillotson. "Did we know anything about her position before the story broke? Absolutely not."

[C_U_L8R]

4. They may not be there on Fitz's order

The FBI could be up to some hanky panky for the admin.

The question should be.. Who sent em?

[Oreo]

8. It says he sent them

Fitzgerald has been in Washington since Monday and over the last two days dispatched FBI agents to conduct some 11th-hour interviews, according to lawyers close to the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. FBI has been interviewing all along I guess...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/9/191334/0754


This is an old quote from Jeff Gannon:

<snip>
The first clue came when the agents from the FBI came to my home in March 2003 to question me in connection to the leak probe. <snip>

[Birthmark]

5. Tying up loose ends.

That's my guess anyway. I'm thinking that Fitz wasn't sure if he was going to charge for violations of the Identities Act. He knew Plame's name had been leaked. He had to establish that the law was actually violated (which I think he has surmised that it was); and yesterday removed Rove, et al's, last defense - that everyone knew. ;)

[kurth]

12. It's to establish probable cause

to believe the law was violated. Probable cause was the only standard Fitzgerald had to meet.

[cynatnite]

7. Possibly for a bigger charge such as conspiracy...

That's what someone on MSNBC said a little while ago. I think Fitz is covering his bases, too.

[WonderGrunion]

16. Exactly... conspiracy

My guess is he found that some of the players being targeted for indictment were also behind the White House talking points that "everyone" already knew who Valerie Plame was including her neighbors. Remember that Starr made the case that public false statements by Clinton were an obstruction of justice and an attempt to coerce witnesses.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. WT reported that all her friends and neighbors knew she was CIA

A former CIA covert agent who supervised Mrs. Plame early in her career yesterday took issue with her identification as an "undercover agent," saying that she worked for more than five years at the agency's headquarters in Langley and that most of her neighbors and friends knew that she was a CIA employee.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050715-121257-9887r.htm

[crispini]

23. Ha. Ha. Boy, Fitz is gonna make the WT look dumb, eh? nt

[KharmaTrain]

10. A Central Question: Was Plame Really A NOC

Olbermann had this very nicely framed last night. This regime wanted to get Wilson by sliming him...saying it was his wife, a CIA agent, who sent him...but they forgot to check her status. Ooops. By the time they did, the slime machine was already in motion...thus the cover-up to say no one knew.

Fitzgerald appears to focused on the meme that Plame wasn't really a NOC and her status was "widely known". I'm sure this was a Rovian talking point all the "Aspens" were given as to why Plame was "fair game". Fitz is covering the bases on all the talking points...tightening the noose.

[Horse with no Name]

13. For me

All the theories sound good.
However, the way Olbermann laid it out last night...that seems the most plausible knowing these guys and knowing how good they are with details.
It's always the coverup that trips them up.

[KharmaTrain]

15. Sloppy...That Sums It Up

This is what happened in Watergate and other scandals as well. They don't get to be such big enterprises without a lot of political genius involved. These guys have learned how to dot the i and cross the t's. But somewhere along the way, they do something stupid and it comes back to bite them. Call it Kharma. I do...LOL.

If indictments are passed out, there will be many based on conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice. These charges will be based solely on the mistake...the cover-up. As Kay calls it..."a technicality" :puke:.

My concern is people here are expecting Fitzgerald to try the entire Iraq war. That's not his mandate. He'll discover a lot of juicy material in this realm, but it's not germaine to his mission. This will have to be left to the Congress...and the push to get Democrats elected next year so those investigations can be followed through.

Cheers...

[kikiek]

17. If Plame does sue the WH, as reported recently, even more juicy details

might flow. That is when I expect to learn more about the push to war.

[KharmaTrain]

19. Civil Case = Booosh's Paula Jones

I've long called for someone to use this avenue to make this regime accountable. Thanks to Big Tony Scalia and others, it's now possible to launch a civil suit at a sitting President or Vice President. Larry Klayman made his name launching a ton of these suits. He came up with dry wells. I'm sure our side won't.

The problem with a Wilson suit is it skirts on a lot of secret and classified material that could be withheld from a civil case, thus those juicy bits you'd hope to see in a trial may never be allowed. Instead, just like the OJ II trial was a replay of the criminal one, we'd see a replay of one of the Plame criminal trials and that would be used to decide if there was financial or other harm inflicted on the Wilsons and how they should be compenstated.

We will learn more about the push for war...we're front row center to where the truth rolls first and our power is growing.

[cascadiance]

21. That's why Sibel Edmonds' case is so critical now!

We need to get rid of the "states secret" privilege coverup methodology. The silence about her Supreme Court appeal this week is deafening. Hope that's a good sign and not a bad one.

[KharmaTrain]

24. Sibel's Day Is Coming

There are a lot of people whose voices and stories must be heard about the abuses and crimes of this regime. The problem is having the proper forums to have these hearings.

Too many are expecting the Fitzgerald investigation to be a trial about the Iraq invasion. It won't. It was only mandated to find out if someone leaked the name of a CIA operative and the subsequent cover-up. While Fitzgerald will have to touch on many things we know will lead to even bigger lies and crimes, he has no authority to go there.

This will be the responsibility of a Democratic congress and the reason we need to start working on getting enough Democrats elected to control the committees and the subpoena power that can crack this regime's many lies wide open.

Consider this the start of a long way back...and we're still very much in the darkness.

[kikiek]

27. It really feels like kharma doesn't it. Just desserts.

Oops. Spell Kharma wrong in a reply to you!

[peacetalksforall]

18. I'll be so disappointed if the indictments only involve Plame/Wilson. I

want the world to know about the fraud of going to war - I want them to know about Ledeen, AIPAC, JINSA, Israel, the plan for Syria and Iran, the partners in Britain and Italy,and all the other rat traitors and war mongerin0g profiteers and their stockholders and facilitators. HUMANS AND COUNTRY DESTROYERS.

The poor Iraqi people. Why do countries have to suffer so much as a result of a diabolical few?

People want to live in peace and enjoy all generations of their relatives and rise to their full potential. Their full potential is not dying or living without their eyes, feet, immune systems, mental health and living without basics as exists all across this nation and theirs.

EVIL LIVING AND BREATHING AND TAKING US DOWN. EXPOSE THEM TO THE FULL.

[Igel]

22. Everybody's going off of un-sourced leaks.

"Anonymous source" isn't always the most reliable--how many leaks have we heard that didn't quite pan out the way we thought?

It may be that some reporter specifically said that a neighbor gave some bit of evidence that, however improbably, led to the connection Plame = CIA. They may be looking for that neighbor, or a set of neighbors, that allowed the reporter to piece it together.

It may be that it's important that her identity not be known by people without a clearance, and the claim is that some knew. The 'if lots of neighbors knew ... it was common knowledge ... so how can be it classified?' defense.

Or there may be a different reason. Be creative in your speculation, but come up with as many possibilities as possible, not the most desirable.

It's certainly likely that Fitzergerald is checking out some lead. If it weren't important, he wouldn't be doing it, but it may not be important for an indictment per se, but to wrap up some bit of trivia or close off some possible defense argument.

The prosecutor will continue the investigation after any indictments. But I'm not sure it'll be Fitzgerald.

[Norquist Nemesis]

25. Fitzgerald is a U.S. Attorney

so...to answer your original question of whether he's had the FBI at his disposal all along, my guess would be yes.

[jbonkowski]

26. He's always had FBI at his disposal

Which is really a great thing. Lying to an FBI agent in an interview is a crime, even though you are not under oath. It's called "false witness" rather than perjury.

It's what Martha Stewart went to jail for, not for the insider trading (which they couldn't prove).

There are theories that some at the White House (esp. Rove) lied to FBI agents early on in the investigation, when it was being handled by Ashcroft, because they thought the whole thing would fade away without much scrutiny. Then when Fitz came on board, he dug deeper, and kept finding inconsistencies. Hence so many offers to testify at the GJ to clarify/revise previous statements.

[AZBlue]

28. To shut up the whining Republicans before they even start

They did it to disprove the Rep talking point that everyone knew she was CIA. It did seem a little late in the game to me until I thought about it: this wasn't really ever a question, it's just a Republican talking point. I bet Fitzgerald et. al. never even considered the need for proof that she was a NOC since, well, she was a NOC. It's kind of like thinking you'll need proof that the sky is blue. But, to get a jump start on the whining and lying that the Republican machine will do once the indictments are announced, they are covering their bases and getting on paper proof that even her friends didn't know she was CIA and that her job was indeed covert.

If this is indeed the case, then I applaud Fitzgerald for knowing and considering the enemy. I wish a lot of the Dem leaders would realize the need for the same type of proactive thinking.

[alcuno]

29. Remember this line? "Everyone knew she worked for the CIA...

it was an open secret in Washington" Remember that bit of spin from two years ago? My guess is that they are reinterviewing neighbors because of that attempted defense.