Are you fucking ready for this?#! I need your opinions on this DUers!!!!!

[BigBearJohn]

Besides my co-founding Air America Radio, I have another day job. I have helped prosecute and defend white collar crime offenses for 38 years including experience with Mr. Fitzgerald's office in my home town Chicago on current political prosecutions. Those of us locally in the know here do not agree that Mr. Fitzgerald is as independent as the press has made him out to be. Let me explain.

Fitzgerald had to indict Libby. Libby's lies were so blatant that Fitzgerald had no choice. But Fitzgerald had a golden opportunity to do enough work to prove the underlying crimes that he was originally investigating. Those crimes involve two offenses in the U.S. Criminal Code; Conspiracy and Outing a CIA agent. Essentially Fitzgerald indicted Libby for preventing his prosecutors from proving the underlying crimes he was investigating by using a baseball metaphor in that Libby "threw sand in the umpires eyes." That part is patently absurd.

In most conspiracy cases, one or more of the co-conspirators invariably lie to the FBI or the Grand Jury. That is something that prosecutors face all the time. The idea that Libby alone prevented Fitzgerald from proving the underlying crime is absurd. If Cheney told Libby about Valerie Plame, there was obviously a reason. The idea that Cheney, Libby, Rove and Bush did not talk to each other about the purpose of passing on this information to the press is simply not believable. And there were many ways that Fitzgerald could have proven the conspiracy in spite of Libby's lies. The fact that Libby lied would normally embolden a prosecutor to prove the underlying crime. This was not the case for Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald stated in his press conference that most of his work has been completed. While there is always a Grand Jury available to indict others in the event of an unlikely plea bargain for Libby, the investigative phase is really over for this prosecutor. His office will now focus on the trial of Libby. Those of us who know about prosecutors and Grand Jury investigations would tell you that Fitzgerald, using a baseball metaphor, threw the Bush cabal a softball. And using a football metaphor, he just plain fumbled.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-drobny/fitzgerald-threw-a-softba_b_9795.html

[Eric J in MN]

1. Is Drobny an attorney? (nt)

nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. More importantly, does he know what that grand jury knows?

I didn't think so.

Opinions are like assholes; everybody's got one. But unless this dude has heard the same evidence that grand jury heard, this guy's opinion means no more or less than yours or mine.

[EVDebs]

28. If lying to get a war started isn't against the law War Powers Act '73

then I don't know what Fitz is going to do.

The War Powers Act of '73 requires truthful 'circumstances' and 'situations' be presented to Congress in order for the resolution approving combat committment.

If he hasn't told the GJ about this then we have to wonder why he made such a point about saying nothing would be done about going into the lies that brought us into the war in Iraq.

The meat of the matter ! Fitzgerald threw dust into the public's eyes at the press conference yesterday. Also, if no investigation into the CIA's Operation Mockingbird, an illegal domestic CIA operation of media manipulation...did Fitz tell the GJ anything about that when he cut the Miller testimony deal ?

[pacalo]

30. Same here.

I've seen interviews of those who knew Fitzgerald; it's hard to fake the sincerity they exuded when describing his character.

[deadparrot]

13. I don't think so.

I'm pretty sure Malloy said he wasn't last night after their call.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

22. Pardon me, what does "nt" mean?

[OhNoTheyDidNot]

23. It means no text (so people will know not to click on the post because

there is no text in it.

[Tuesday_Morning]

24. no text

in the body of the reply.

Welcome to DU!

[Straight Shooter]

25. Drobny worked for the IRS.

He is in no position to judge or criticize Fitzgerald.

They're really coming out of the woodwork now.

[justiceischeap]

2. I'd be wary of any "swiftboating" of Fitz (eom)

[rfranklin]

5. Personally, I would be "wary" but inclined to believe that Fitzgerald...

could have indicted a few more people without breaking a sweat.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. So does he think Fitzgerald is done?

I also wonder what Fitzgerald's motive would be for "throwing the Bush cabal a softball"?

[Spazito]

4. LOL, bet he lost to Fitz and is still miffed about it

Edited to add: I hear him on Mike Malloy last night and he was trying to say the investigative process during Whitewater was, in essence, the same as in the leak case. Not true. Whitewater was never under the auspices of a grand jury, it was via a FBI investigation and then via a Senate hearing. Very different processes in terms of secrecy, etc. To be honest, he didn't seem that well informed to me.

[mopinko]

14. i think it is personal

i got the feeling listening to him last night on malloy that he might have a teenie, weenie axe to grind. he was talking about a case of a high dem official that was convicted in a check kiting scheme. i suspect that this was jan schakowsky's hubby, bob creamer.
http://www.ipsn.org/indictments/congresswoman_%20schakowskys_husband_indicted.htm

[Spazito]

19. Yep, I had the same feeling listening to him as well

and after reading what he has written, it reads like someone who doesn't like Fitzgerald as opposed to actually commenting on the case.

[Walt Starr]

6. I think he's pissed that Fitzgerald has been taking down Daley cronies

Daley is probably going down, too.

Fitzgerald is as independent as they come.

[madrchsod]

16. shit i didn`t think about that

is this guy a big time player in chicago? i`d say daley is going to just hang on by his fingernails. i`d be really impressed if he took both daley and bush down in the same year...remember bush and daley are such good friends...

[mr_hat]

7. I don't get how Libby's lies could prevent further

investigation of the underlying crime, either. Nothing falls into place until/if Libby tells the truth? Can't see it.

[IndyOp]

9. Drobny spoke out *loud and clear* about the theft of the 2004

Presidential election - other than Congressman Conyers & Company - he was alone in so doing.

I was impressed with him then - honesty and courage.

I have no idea about this one. I hope he is wrong, but...

[savemefromdumbya]

10. It's a bit more complicated

[bleever]

11. After watching his 75 minute presser, hardly glancing at notes, my money

stays on Fitzgerald.

[madrchsod]

12. i really don`t give a shit what this guy says

his opinion is just as good or bad as anyone else`s.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

15. Are you ready for a dupe?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5219570&mesg_id=5219570

[shireen]

17. what's truth?

i don't know the truth about anything anymore. Everything we see is spun, or presented through the filter (sincerely) of someone's life experiences. What is ground truth, especially for anything that comes from inside the beltway-from-hell?

All I can do is watch this sorry story unfold and hope some good comes out of it.

I heard part of the Drobny interview on Malloy's show on Friday. It was interesting to hear Mike being optimistic, and Sheldon the pessimist. Wow! Did the magnetic poles just flip?

[Kralizec]

18. Malloy had this guy on his Friday show.

He seemed full of shit, to me at least.

I think he read into the baseball analogy wrong.

Peace.

[Garbo 2004]

20. Another thread on this. Drobny's jumping the gun. n/t

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

21. This guy needs to calm himself.

I think Fitzgerald made it clear that there's still more work to do, and he won't jeopardize things by revealing names improperly, and things of that nature. Be patient. If there's more, let it be known. If not, then so be it.

[Princess Turandot]

26. Curiously, he says in his first paragraph that Fitzgerald is not ..

considered to be "independent" by people who actually know him in Chicago. He then proceeds to present no support at all for that statement, unless you are supposed to infer it because he didn't indict 17 people for conspiracy.

When Fitz was talking about Libby's charges, I didn't have the impression that he was using Libby's testimony as an excuse for why he had not indicted anyone for violation of the intelligence laws. I thought he was primarily explaining why obstruction of justice & perjury were serious offenses. Sort of to head off the immediate ill-made comparisons to Mr. Clinton's actions.

I wonder how independent the blogger is if he defends people that Fitzgerald is pursuing.

[Inland]

27. Notice he has no idea how to prove anything without Libby as he suggests.

All we know is what Libby said to the GJ is false, not what actually happened. How do you get a conviction out of that?

He simply asserts that in other cases, conspiracy is proven with everyone or most lying, without any idea what the evidence here is or is not, or what Libby could add.

EG, "The idea that Cheney, Libby, Rove and Bush did not talk to each other about the purpose of passing on this information to the press is simply not believable". Sure it is, if Fitzgerald doesn't know how or when or for what purpose the info came into their hands.

Thanks, but if that dude really practices white collar criminal defense work in Chicago, he's seen Fitzgerald take two years to break a criminal consipracy. I suggest he go school himself.

[jilln]

29. I thought I read Fitz had already announced a new GJ

because this one can't be extended. That would tend to mean that he was going to continue the investigation.

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest proof that Fitz might not be independent and going easy on the WH is the fact that he's still alive.

[AntiFascist]

31. I've also heard that Air America is part of the Shadow Government....

and I'm not talking about the airline.....hmmmmm!!!!