Novak BUSTED!

[Elidor]

In a strange twist in the investigation, the grand jury -- acting on a tip from Wilson -- has questioned a person who approached Novak on Pennsylvania Avenue on July 8, 2003, six days before his column appeared in The Post and other publications, Wilson said in an interview. The person, whom Wilson declined to identify to The Post, asked Novak about the "yellow cake" uranium matter and then about Wilson, Wilson said. He first revealed that conversation in a book he wrote last year. In the book, he said that he tried to reach Novak on July 8, and that they finally connected on July 10. In that conversation, Wilson said that he did not confirm his wife worked for the CIA but that Novak told him he had obtained the information from a "CIA source."

Novak told the person that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA as a specialist in weapons of mass destruction and had arranged her husband's trip to Niger, Wilson said. Unknown to Novak, the person was a friend of Wilson and reported the conversation to him, Wilson said.

Novak and his attorney, James Hamilton, have declined to discuss the investigation, as has Fitzgerald.

Harlow, the former CIA spokesman, said in an interview yesterday that he testified last year before a grand jury about conversations he had with Novak at least three days before the column was published. He said he warned Novak, in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson's wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602069.html

All the public lies can't undo what's already been said behind the scenes. Novak is revealed as the "douchebag of liberty" in all his glory.

[imenja]

1. I remember this story from a couple of years ago

It circulated back then. I'm not sure what you mean about Novak being busted, unless he lied to the grand jury.

[Elidor]

9. I suspect he did

I think he's in a world of trouble.

[burrowowl]

2. Does Novak look good in Orange

with manecle and shackle jewelery?

[DELUSIONAL]

5. Does he get to keep his false teeth in jail??

They could be used as a weapon - couldn't they?

bushie could pardon is buddies -- Rove, Scooter -- etc. but Novak is probably one of the disposable ones.

[Kurovski]

14. I'm concerned that without conjugal visits

with his Corvette, Robert may go insane.

[goclark]

27. His teeth are a set of WMD's

[Fridays Child]

10. Hmm. Let's see...

[Kagemusha]

3. imenja is right, this is old news, though not unimportant news

However wrong what Novak did, it is not a crime in and of itself. Now if he's done other stuff, we'll see.

Funny we don't know his other source either and that he hasn't been asked to say so under oath

[Zen Democrat]

13. I disagree. The article says the CIA twice told Novak not to mention

Plame in his story. And ... the CIA official told Novak that there was no truth to the story that Plame had sent Wilson to Niger.

Novak goes to print after that and he's not guilty of outing a CIA agent?

I don't think so.

[imenja]

15. the statute only covers government employees

with national security status. Novak cannot be convicted under that statute. If he lied to the grand jury, however, he could face a perjury charge.

[tsuki]

16. If Novak was a member of Operation Mockingbird, or whatever,

he was a CIA operative. That would make it illegal for him to reveal CIA information no matter how he obtained it.

[imenja]

24. that's a stretch

I guess you'll find out once Fitzgerald completes the investigation.

[tsuki]

26. It is only a stretch today. When I worked for the DOD as a teacher,

I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. As a military brat, my father could have been disciplined for any acknowledgements that I made (from 7 on.) Stretch is what they would have you believe, but them they would have you believe that it is no big deal.

[imenja]

29. and what's the non disclosure agreement at CNN?

and the newspapers that Novak runs his column in? Just because you hate someone doesn't mean he is subject to prosecution under a very narrowly constructed federal statute. But by now you must be aware of terms of the statute and have decided that you simply don't care.

[tsuki]

32. You missed my point. If I, as an employee of the DOD in the '70's,

had to sign an agreement that I was not a homosexual (for which I could be fired and proscuted,) and that I could not disclose classified information however it came my way, then, if and only if, Robert Novak worked for the CIA, he would have had to sign an agreement.

The newspapers, not CIA, would have no agreement.

[jaysunb]

4. It aint just Novak that's busted !

This kind of report in the WP has very strong legs. Once the speculation starts, there will be no end until the end.

Bye bye Bush !

[applegrove]

6. Okay - this is confusing. This isn't the same person who said

"Rove says your wife is fair game?. I guess I should read the book.

[Fridays Child]

11. Rove said that to Chris Matthews.

[applegrove]

7. There are good eggs in Washington. Somewhere there are good

& smart & honorable eggs. We see glimpses of these quiet little eggs.

Here is to the good eggs in Washington!

[Why Syzygy]

8. At that time

I recall reading that Wilson got a call from a "journalist" who told him "officials" had said his wife was fair game.

Wilson is no schoolboy. He laid the trap for Novak and Novak fell into it. Verified.

[applegrove]

12. The good guys always come out on top. I know it! I just know it!

Can't quite figure it all out at this point. Too many unnamed sources. Not enough first person. We will just have to wait for it all to unfold.

[suziedemocrat]

17. Question about Republican Spin I keep hearing.

Last Sunday - Ben Stein (who I absolutely HATE!) did an editorial on CBS or something on how Bush should stand by Rove because Nixon threw his aides to the wolves and look what happened to him.

Anyway the first thing he said was that Valerie Plame was not a secret foreign agent, but had a desk job at the CIA in Virginia - so she is not an undercover agent on foreign soil, so no crime. I know this is wrong - but I want to know the details of HOW wrong it is.

I know she works in a desk job now, but I thought she was part of a "front" company, and that the company's cover was blown and the lives of her informants were put at risk.

Could someone give me the no spin - no B.S. version of her job at the time she was uncovered by Novak. I just got a new job in another city and I've been so busy I haven't been able to follow this story enough to know this.

BTW - I don't know how these people can get away with spewing these lies on TV and no one ever corrects them????

[magnolia]

18. Their was a hearing with CIA members...

...that explained this a lot clearer than I can...but, here goes.

A covert person works on assignments. When their assignment is over, they take a desk job until the next assignment comes along. This does not change their status. The comparison they made was like someone who works in the police station by day, then goes out at night, under-cover, to do drug busts.

The main point they were making was that it's not just the covert person who is in danger if outed. All their contacts are in danger. If these people, all over the world, see that we can't keep our coverts a secret, they won't be willing to work with us. So our very national security is in danger when a covert person is outed. The fact that that person works at a desk occasionally and drives back and forth to work everyday has nothing to do with. People do work at the CIA at regular jobs. With the coverts, not even their co-workers know they are covert.

[suziedemocrat]

25. Thanks All of you for the information!!

[lfairban]

19. Try this:

CORRECTING THE RECORD ON VALERIE PLAME

by

Larry C. Johnson

. . .

As noted in the joint letter submitted to Congressional leaders earlier this week, the RNC is repeating the lie that Valerie was nothing more than a glorified desk jockey and could not possibly have any cover worth protecting. To those such as Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, P. J. O'Rourke, and Representative Roy Blunt I can only say one thing—you are wrong. I am stunned that some political leaders have such ignorance about a matter so basic to the national security structure of this nation.

. . .

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/07/correcting_the_.html

. . . and this:

CORRECTING THE RECORD ON VALERIE PLAME
Harlow said that after Novak's call, he checked Plame's status and confirmed that she was an undercover operative. He said he called Novak back to repeat that the story Novak had related to him was wrong and that Plame's name should not be used. But he did not tell Novak directly that she was undercover because that was classified.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072602069_2.html

[oge]

21. sorry to come in late on this but

...no one can give you the real deal on her job because her work is/was classified. i think you are caught in the spin that says she wasn't a real covert operative because she worked at a desk. well, that's bull. for every covert in the field, there's a bunch at desks, just as for every soldier in the trench there's support personnel behind him/her. these distinctions are false and nothing more than talking points put out by repuke strategists trying to do damage control.

the best documentary evidence on this as far as i can find is the 6.10.03 State Dept one that indicated her status and id were SECRET:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5517901.html

and that should answer that.

[Kurovski]

22. Suziedemocrat, you ask

" I don't know how these people can get away with spewing these lies on TV and no one ever corrects them????"

Maybe if we had the Fairness Doctrine reinstated we would then be given, by law, the ability to correct them.

Is my assumption correct?

[Supersedeas]

20. So, will Harlow take the fall for all of this?

[Reciprocity]

23. Coincidence or on purpose?

Capital Gang is gone, so is Crossfire. Two shows on CNN, that Douche-Bag was on both canceled.

[ChiciB1]

28. Not Really...

Everyone knows what happened, he didn't break any law... he's just an ass-hole!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. Novakula should only be picking up the soap in a shower at Leavenworth...

... just on general principles. It should be illegal to be that much of an asshole.

[Justice]

31. Harlow detail was new to me - very interesting

[MadisonProgressive]

33. He's a traitor. Why is he not behind bars?