Firedoglake: "The Miller's Tale and Other Legal Ramblings..."

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/05/03/the-millers-tale-and-other-legal-wranglings-part-i/

Well, well, well. Team Libby has opened up a whole new front in the war on incarceration, and I have to say their response brief is going to engender some serious wrangling over the next few weeks. The media motions hearing on May 16th is gonna be a doozy.

And the intrigue we’ve all been wondering about — the quaking aspens, the St. Regis tete a tete, the Valerie Flame Victoria Plame Valerie Wilson bits and pieces — maybe, just maybe, we’ll get an answer or two out of this.

But if I were Scooter, I’d be worried about Judy Miller. Nothing spells trouble like a diva scorned. (Especially a diva who is familiar with how the news biz works and knows how to get the word out.) And the way this brief reads, she’s not only yesterday’s pal, but she’s been used, abused and flushed like ratty old TP from the bottom of Scooter’s wingtip. Yowch. And after all that obfuscation and parting of the waters that she gave to Scooter, this is the thanks she gets? Methinks her Judyship is not going quietly into that dark night.

Central to the entire Team Libby argument is a series of cases that interpret the requirements for "discovery" and "subpoenas" under Rule 17 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, regarding subpoenas for evidentiary matters (things like documents, notebooks, diaries, bar napkins, that sort of thing).

snop

[H2O Man]

1. There appear to be

two possibilities with Ms. Miller: the first is that she would play the confused routine, and try to help Scooter by convincing the jury that she really doesn't know what they talked about. I think that is possible, but significantly less likely after reading the Team Libby document yesterday (and the exhibits today). The second possibility is what this OP suggests -- that Judith is likely to separate herself from Scooter. This might be viewed in the context of the growing concern among neocons that Libby play Liddy, and take the fall to protect VP Cheney.

Team Libby has two poor choices: trust Miller, or attack her.