Libby's Lawyers Deny 'Greymail' Claims

[kpete]

Libby's Lawyers Deny 'Greymail' Claims

According to Pete Yost of the AP, Team Libby says:

``Denying Mr. Libby's requests because they pertain to `extraordinarily sensitive' documents would have the effect of penalizing Mr. Libby for serving in a position that required him to address urgent national security matters every day,'' lawyers for the ex-White House aide wrote.

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has accused Libby of attempting to engage in ``greymail,'' the practice of trying to derail prosecutions by seeking to expose national security secrets.

``The government's `greymail' accusation is not only false, but insulting,'' said Libby's lawyers, who assert that they are entitled to the classified material so that their client can get a fair trial

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5638406,00.html

[gratuitous]

1. Gee Scooter . . .

If you're innocent, why do you need classified documents to prove it? Haven't all your dealings as a public servant been aboveboard, open and honest? Surely the only stuff that's classified by the government in which you served are sensitive materials that help the nation in its struggle against international terrorism. Or are you now saying that this administration's obsession with secrecy and subterfuge is so all-pervasive that even routine interoffice communications have been shielded from public scrutiny and review?

I wonder if the judge on the case will knuckle under and let Libby go free to avoid compromising national security? An interesting little puzzle box the administration has constructed: You can't convict their malefactors of endangering national security by leaking classified information because in order to do so, you'd have to reveal more classified information, which would endanger national security. So whatever this administration does, even if it's prima facie detrimental to national security, it can't be reviewed or prosecuted because doing so might harm national security even more.

Will the mere words "national security" be sufficient for a federal judge to shut down a prosecution?

[Me.]

2. 3 Card Monte

a favorite game of the admin. It must be frustrating for poor Scooter to find out that FitzG. won't play.