M Waas: "Fitzgerald Court Papers: Bush Was Briefed on Joe Wilson"

[understandinglife]

The special prosecutor in the CIA leak case, Patrick Fitzgerald, has indicated in correspondence unsealed in federal court in recent days that President Bush might have been briefed regarding former ambassador Joseph Wilson's February 2002 CIA-sponsored mission to Niger during a regular morning intelligence briefing.

The information provided to Bush occurred in the form of one of the "President's Daily Briefs," a typically 30- to 45-minute early-morning national security briefing.

They are a compilation of that day's most closely held and highly classified intelligence -- and written specifically for the "First Customer," meaning the President of the United States. Information for PDBs has routinely been derived from electronic intercepts, human agents, and reports from foreign intelligence services.

The information about Bush having been briefed about Wilson's mission to Niger is contained in court papers filed in federal court. Attorneys for I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, President Bush's former chief of staff and national security advisors were seeking information about PDBs from the special prosecutor, as part of a discovery effort to defend their client.

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Two senior government officials suggested that it was likely that Bush would have also been similarly briefed, because Cheney, Libby, Tenet, and the Senate and House Senate committees had been at the time, and also because the issue of Wilson's trip to Niger was being discussed in the media and Capitol Hill. Said one official: "It would have just made sense, that this was have recycled to the President too... There is a lot of similarity as to what the President and Vice President are briefed about."

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Much more at the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/murray-waas/fitzgerald-court-papers-_b_15078.html

Interesting.


Peace.

[fooj]

1. This goes ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP, IMO.

Thank goodness for the honor and integrity of Fitz and Comey. I think they are going after a lot more than the CIA outing.

Peace.

[SpiralHawk]

2. The fish rots from the head on down

and that goes for the ugly stain on America's soul known as Torturegate. Release the photos. Tell the truth. Purge. Purify. Examine. Resolve. We'll feel a whole lot better when its done.

[emulatorloo]

3. See this DU thread too re Fitz letter to libby's lawyer

It is a real doozy. . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x315885

[understandinglife]

7. Yes. Excellent. And be sure to read these two:

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2006_01_29_firedoglake_archive.html#113899363725208534

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/006755.php

Bottom line is "We the People ..." and our representatives in the 108th US Congress were led to war on a lie. When Bush and Cheney had no way to avoid the fact that everyone knew they lied, they outed a CIA NOC just to get even with her husband for telling all of us the truth. And, they've kept on lying ever since.


Peace.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Didn't both Bush and Cheney deny

ever being briefed about this mission?

[laylah]

5. Don't they deny everything? n/t

[BuyingThyme]

6. kcik

[bonito]

8. I second that !

:-)

[stevedeshazer]

9. Note the delay in the trial date from September 2006 to January 2007

The nation's future hangs in the balance while Libby's defense team is allowed to delay the proceedings until after the 2006 elections.

My son, who just turned eighteen, asked to delay his first jury duty service until he graduated from high school. No dice. Yet, Libby's defense is allowed to stall for over a year.

I really hate these people.

[Ilsa]

13. Will the truant officer pick him up out of the jury to return him to

school? They don't make an exception for students? That's outrageous!

[stevedeshazer]

30. Truant officers?

The Republicans cut those from the budget years ago.

Seriously, I should have pointed out that he already was granted one deferral (he had semester finals) but he's good to go this time because the school excuses kids for this, as they should.

[Ilsa]

32. Actually, I think I read where our town has one! Glad the school

excuses the teens, though. I hope he won't have too much work to make up.

[Peace Patriot]

10. Also see Rawstory...

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Court_filings_shed_more_light_on_0202.html

I've got some questions about this OP. When was this PDB? Be back in a minute. Going to check of Huffington Post.

[Peace Patriot]

15. Well, it looks like Fitzgerald did not specify dates, but Murray Waas at

HuffPo says Bush, Cheney and Libby likely got a CIA memo or PDB/CIA item saying Niger claim was bunk in late June 2003, a couple of weeks before Wilson published his article (July 6). They outed Plame a week later (July 14) supposedly to punish Wilson for saying what they all knew to be true (Niger was bunk). Four days after that (July 18) the Brits chief WMD expert David Kelly, who had been whistleblowing, too, was found dead, under highly suspicious circumstances, and four days after that, Plame's Brewster-Jennings entire counter-proliferation network was outed (also by Novak) likely putting covert agents/contacts at risk of getting killed. Cheney continued to defend Niger claim publicly. And I don't think we're looking at a straight story here. Very crooked story. See my comment at this DU thread, for my theory of what the crooks were up to:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2432282

If I'm right, they were looking at the collapse of their whole plan to PLANT nukes in Iraq, and that's why they outed Plame--AND her entire network. The Bushites got caught.

[SillyGoose]

20. Holy cow!

I've read some of the posts you've made on this subject, Peace Patriot, and think you really nailed it squarely on the head with your theory. Its the only motive that made sense about the whole case. I hope this all comes out publicly and they are charged appropriately.

[kerrygoddess]

39. I read Wilson's book recently

I'm almost certain he says all this in this book.

[Gregorian]

11. He wanted to spy on us. But he wanted to out an agent.

Spot the contradiction and win a prize.

It's like Limbaugh being caught red handed; Pat Robertson inciting assassination. And comparing it to Cindy Sheehan's t-shirt.

Something is wrong enough to cause the whole house of cards to blow away into the wind.

Tommy Chong was in jail moments after the new law passed. Nine months and a hundred grand fine. For what?

There is hypocrisy and there is hypocrisy. This is crazy. Americans must be crazy to tolerate this.

[robbedvoter]

12. NY Daily News had the story about "W angry at Rove for doing it"

and I knew then that this was the tame version of the truth, because , heh....


http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/16/tsurumi/in...

Students who challenged and embarrassed Bush in class would then become the subject of a whispering campaign by him, Tsurumi said. "In class, he couldn't challenge them. But after class, he sometimes came up to me in the hallway and started bad-mouthing those students who had challenged him. He would complain that someone was drinking too much. It was innuendo and lies. So that's how I knew, behind his smile and his smirk, that he was a very insecure, cunning and vengeful guy."

[cureautismnow]

14. The Only Problem is ...

... the judge set Libby's trial date for January 2007. IMHO, these bastards will try to drag this thing out beyond 2008. Look how long it's taking to get Kenny-boy to stand trial. :-(

[bleever]

16. Woodward claimed that he had inside knowledge of the damage report

about Brewster-Jennings, and that the actual harm was minimal.

At least, I think it was him, cited as part of his defense for pooh-poohing the whole Plame case as a TV commentator, when he had hidden his won knowledge of the story from his own editors.

I may be wrong here, but somebody is definitely in the public record claiming that there was no real damage from blowing Brewster-Jennings' cover.

[H2O Man]

18. You are right.

Woodward claimed this during one of his discussions of the case on tv. It flies in the face of what others who are in a position to know have said. Common sense would indicate that Brewster-Jennings provided cover for more than one person, and that an entire network was damaged. Woodward is not an honest person. He is a snake.

[BuyingThyme]

19. Yes, that was Bob. He's blown his cover bigtime.

[bleever]

17. Oh, and BY THE WAY: why is there no damage report???

Isn't this SOP for a blown operation, critical to national defense?

Who made sure this wasn't done?

I think this goes to the heart of the plan to plant the WMDs in Iraq.



???????

[BuyingThyme]

21. If the op is secret, the damage report must be secret.

NOCs don't die.

[H2O Man]

22. If you mean

a "damage report" on B-J, there was one. It is classified. This is why a snake like Woodward can say he has seen it, and that there was no damage, without being concerned that someone will call him on it with evidence.

[bleever]

24. And yet, Fitz states "“A formal assessment has not been done of the damage

caused by the disclosure of Valerie Wilson’s status as a CIA employee, and thus we possess no such document,” Fitzgerald writes.

If it was classified and unavailable, Fitz would say so. Instead, he says it was not done. Which suggests that either someone has concealed the existence of it from him (perjury and/or obstruction of justice), or that the "report" was an informal, hand-washing kind of pro forma exercise to stymie further inquiry or discussion.

Something's not right.

[H2O Man]

25. On the other hand,

no document exists to show Ambassador Wilson's assessment of the Niger trip. Wilson's report was not "formal." That should not be taken to mean that it was a pro forma exercise.

Things are good.

[bleever]

27. You play a good defense, sir.

One of my great appreciations of Fitz's work to date is that for all the blocks and feints that he's faced, he stays grounded in the facts and the law, and is not pulled off balance or distracted from his focus. E.g., his statement that the degree of harm is irrelevant to whether or not Mr. Libby was truthful to the grand jury.

But I do enjoy the notion that in the end, their masterful deceit and control of information will leave the very tracks that prove their criminality.

[Oilwellian]

34. But he does say this in his letter:

Page 3:

(3):As set forth in our prior correspondence, we will not produce every document related in any way to Ms. Wilson's employment, nor is Mr. Libby entitled to every document that might reflect on the damage to national security from disclosure of her employment.

http://rawstory.com/other/pdfs/RawStoryFitzLetter.pdf

[Disturbed]

23. I strongly suspect that Fitz knows that...

Shrub and Cheney are guilty of Obstruction of Justice, at the very least. but cannot prove that..yet. I feel that both are guilty of Treason!

[bleever]

29. I agree.

And really, time has been kind to those of us who felt that the crimes would surface. And Treason still seems a long, long way away as a judgment on Shrub and Cheney, but I can't help feeling it will continuing to draw nearer and nearer, as the Earth insists on continuing around the Sun.

[understandinglife]

26. "Traitorgate: When It Rains, It Pours"

Latest from ReddHedd at firedoglake:

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2006_01_29_firedoglake_archive.html#113900580669280614

And, one quote I am fully empathetic:

If you think for a moment that a man like Patrick Fitzgerald will allow a person who he believes to be guilty to walk free if there is anything that he can do to bring about justice against that individual, then you know nothing at all about what it means to be a true prosecutor. The bile that rises up in my throat at the thought of Rove's machinations -- through the years, but especially in outing a CIA NOC purely for political payback purposes (and potentially for the broader purpose of bringing the CIA to heel) -- I can't even describe it.

For Fitz and his team, having immersed themselves in this world for the last months and having seen how these people operate, the fiduciary obligation to the citizens of this nation taking a seat far behind the needs of political expediency for this President and his corrupt band of Machiavellian cronies, their ends justifies the means no matter what the damn cost methodology -- if you think for one moment that a man like Pat Fitzgerald and his staff aren't completely disgusted...well, you are just hopeless.

And, I agree "bleever" and "H20 Man" -- Woodward is a snake and a liar.


Peace.

[bleever]

28. It warms my heart to think that my outrage at Rove's machinations

to circumvent and undermine the integrity of the judicial system burns even brighter in the hearts of people like Patrick Fitzgerald and his staff, and that there are others who will be coming to the fore in the near future.


Thanks for this thread, UL! Peace to you, my friend.

[proud patriot]

31. badda bing badda boom

:think:

[Dunvegan]

33. It has ALWAYS been about Brewster Jennings blowing the planting of WMDs

...in Iraq.

Always. Always. Always.

Brewster Jennings stopped the movement of WMDs into Iraq. Probably twice.

Can you imagine how pig-squealing, blood-spitting, white-hot Rummy, Cheney and Co. blew when their attempts to plant WMDs in Iraq were blown?

Since zero WMD were found in Iraq, each and every hospital-grade gauze flimsy excuse the WH has touted and twittered as an rationale for being in Iraq has been drummed and tooted with doped-up psycho vigor...and yet the Executive Gang of Thieves know down to their gouty rotting ankles that they and their disastrous war sinks on a slurry of thin and shifting sand (figuratively and literally.)

By doing their deep-cover job without fail, and intercepting any (and probably all) attempts of the US Shadow Government to move WMD on the sub-continent, Brewster Jennings blew the murderous traitors of the Executive totally away.

They'd promised WMD. That was the reason for the war. The lie was never realized.

They'd pressed their war, and found it was shoved out into the thinest of air...without reason...against great and growing resistance, domestic and world-wide.

Brewster Jennings was that effective and that devastating to "Big Evil Plan A." They did their job and stopped the movement of death on a grand scale.

That's why the Cabal Pointsmen scurried out on a limb and sawed if off behind them. It was penultimately necessary to END Brewster Jennings. And perhaps even Dr. Kelly. Immediately. At all cost.

And...it will be for naught, and indeed, because of all that...by Fitz they shall be caught.

Ironic.

That what brings down this criminal empire enterprise in the end will be, after all is done and said...Patrick Fitzgerald and Brewster Jennings, i.e., the legal airing of the Executive's dirty affair regarding a BJ.

[librechik]

35. of course Poppy's enforcer (W) was briefed about Wilson--W ordered the hit

we've all known this for years--why didn't the press spill it? cuz they know which side of the bread the peanut butter is on, that's why.

Thank you, murray, for saying aloud what has been silent for way too long.

[understandinglife]

37. I often suspected that W was shouting "get the guy" on AF1 as they ...

... flew to Africa! Think I even wrote something about that last summer - speculative, of course.

I agree with you - Mrs. Wilson would not have been outed by Rove and Libby if Bush hadn't given the order. I don't think even Cheney would have had the guts to out a CIA NOC.


Peace.

[Wilms]

36. kick

[emulatorloo]

38. kicking - EOM