Five Counts for Scooter

Matt Welch | October 28, 2005

One Perjury, two Making False Statements, and two Obstructions of Justice. Story here.

UPDATE: Libby has resigned, and you can read the whole indictment here.

Comments

greg wirth|10.28.05 @ 1:03PM|#

Where does Cheney fall into this equation? My feeling is he will be given a conspiracy charge. This is going to be an indictment of this war.

|10.28.05 @ 1:03PM|#

Free Scooter!! FREEEE SCOOOOOOOOOTER!!
(Hey, I said it for Martha and I'll say it for Scooter.)

|10.28.05 @ 1:11PM|#

If anybody finds a link to the indictment, please share - no luck so far, nothing at the PFitz site yet, but Napolitano's got a copy in hand. God I love that guy. Napolitano for Supreme Court!

|10.28.05 @ 1:12PM|#

What the hell kind of a name is Scooter, anyway?

|10.28.05 @ 1:19PM|#

Muppet.

|10.28.05 @ 1:24PM|#

Outside of the press and political junkies like me I wonder who really knows who Scooter is and who cares about what he did and what it means,if anything.

Jeff P.|10.28.05 @ 1:27PM|#

Eric: Correction: Muppet-American.
The ethnic pejorative "sock" is frowned upon.

|10.28.05 @ 1:28PM|#

*shrugs*

|10.28.05 @ 1:44PM|#

What the hell kind of a name is Scooter, anyway?

Certainly not the kind of nickname you'd want to have in the slammer. Ice Pick, meet your new cellmate Scooter...

PapayaSF|10.28.05 @ 1:49PM|#

Shrug, indeed. This seems to mean that there was no actual crime committed re the "outing" of Valerie Plame, but the investigation of said non-crime managed to create a few.

|10.28.05 @ 1:51PM|#

"Shrug, indeed. This seems to mean that there was no actual crime committed re the "outing" of Valerie Plame, but the investigation of said non-crime managed to create a few."

Kinda like that "high crime or misdemeanor" that was such a central focus of the HoR in the late 90s...

|10.28.05 @ 1:53PM|#

Come on republican dudes, you impeached a president because he lied about a blowjob, don't give me the "this isn't a real crime" bit.

(Even if I agree with you. . .)

|10.28.05 @ 1:58PM|#

I find it curious that he wasn't indicted for violation(s) of the Espionage Act. Does this point to Rove being the actual leaker and Scooter only knowing (and lying about) it? Or does Fitzgerald think his case isn't suitable for prosecution under the Espionage Act? I would think if he's got a strong enough perjury case, he would have a case for EA violations.

|10.28.05 @ 2:06PM|#

I'll take one for the team here and just remind everyone that yes, indeed, all of these idictments (and I pray future indictments/convictions) make me absolutely happy as a pig in shit.

Indict me on charges of immaturity and pettiness, etc. I don't really give a fuck. I'd like to see the whole lot thrown behind bars.

So, yes: I AM HAPPY TO WATCH OTHER PEOPLE'S MISERY, ESPECIALLY THE MISERY OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. LET SCHADENFREUDE REIGN.

I'll be tossing back a few at happy hour over this news and news to come.

|10.28.05 @ 2:11PM|#

It's never the crime, it's always the cover up.

Just look at David Palmer: He never told his ex-wife to kill that guy. But he covered it up. And then he covered up the cover-up. And then she died, and he resigned.

Even our finest President was brought down by a cover up.

Where have you gone, David Palmer?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you,
Whoo hoo hoo.

|10.28.05 @ 2:36PM|#

As I said on the other threat, this is serious. The Democrats shot themselves in the foot through wishful thinking and hyping to the story to such an extent that anything short of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney being tried for treason is now considered a let down. The liberal groupthink of the MSM hurts the Dems more than it helps them sometimes.

I agree about one thing, how in the world can anyone over the age of 10 allow themselves to be known as "scooter"?

|10.28.05 @ 3:23PM|#

John:

Good question.

|10.28.05 @ 3:35PM|#

Krybo - that would be my guess; thus the "continuing investigation" of Rove. Of course, my personal conviction is that Fitzgerald has known who was going to get nailed for what for months, and is just dragging this out to screw with the Bushies.

|10.28.05 @ 3:36PM|#

Just look at David Palmer: He never told his ex-wife to kill that guy. But he covered it up. And then he covered up the cover-up. And then she died, and he resigned.
ok, i realize i'm way behind on my 24, but it sucks having this spoiled. oh well...

gaius marius|10.28.05 @ 6:55PM|#

this is serious.

yes it is -- and it will get worse. underreported so far seems to be the fact that fitzgerald expanded his probe with an eye toward crucifying karl rove with bigger charges than libby got.

it's recently seemed to some that libby had turned state's evidence in return for lighter charges. the lack of an espionage act charge may reflect that.

|10.28.05 @ 7:51PM|#

There's no "there" there. PapayaSF nails it in his post above.

|10.28.05 @ 9:01PM|#

It's ok to perjure if the subject of the investigation is unimportant, and it's up to the perjurers discretion to decide which subjects of investigation are important.

However, what this Libby guy did was scandalous!

James Anderson Merritt|10.28.05 @ 9:18PM|#

Two comments. First, any viewer of "The West Wing" will understand Scooter's place in the hierarchy by saying, "it's what Will Bailey (Joshua Malina's character) does" (Chief of Staff, VPOTUS). Not all such viewers are DC geeks or policy wonks, though many of us are.

Second, I can't decide whether to laugh or cry at the headlines, in which Mr. Bush is quoted as saying that Scooter is "presumed innocent in our system." That is, of course, unless the President deems him an enemy combatant, in which case he can be held incommunicado indefinitely, and treated as if he were "guilty of something." Mr. Bush himself pushed for those changes in "our system," so he should certainly be aware of them.

[Comment 2.5: It takes a certain special talent to shoot yourself in the foot as artfully as Mr. Bush does so often. He seems to be a true genius in that regard.]

James Anderson Merritt|10.28.05 @ 9:21PM|#

And yes, I know Will changed jobs in the last episode. Nyah Nyah.

|10.29.05 @ 1:27AM|#

Deam on Gaius. But see my post above about Democrats and expectations. I think you might be a Karl Rove plant. Evil genius that he is.

|10.29.05 @ 9:15AM|#

Fitzgerald's first obligation was to determine if Plame was a covert agent. The fact that after two years FBI agents were finally getting around to interviewing neighbors shows me that the whole mess was an attempt to entrap white house officials. The reason it's always the coverup is prosecutors suck. This case should have been closed after one month, but how would that benefit Fitzgerald's career?

gaius marius|10.29.05 @ 10:19AM|#

expectations

i have to admit, i expected more -- but also less. i thought fitzgerald would complete the indictments and be done with it. not what he did -- he left the gate wide, wide open to go and get anyone else he wants. from wapo:

More engaging was Fitzgerald's self-awareness at the need to dodge the main question about the fate of Karl Rove, identified in the indictment only as "Official A."

"For all the sand thrown in your eyes, it sounds like you do know the identity of the leaker," Newsweek's Michael Isikoff ventured. "Can you explain why that official was not charged in this indictment?"

Fitzgerald would not. "I can't give you answers," he said.

When somebody tried again, Fitzgerald replied: "I'm afraid I'm going to have find a polite way of repeating my answer to Mr. Isikoff's question." When a third questioner tried, the prosecutor joked: "I would refer you to Mr. Isikoff, who took great notes on his question about people not charged, which I cannot answer."

fitzgerald knows rove is indictable. his redacted name ('official a') is all over the libby indictment. he's been the most heavily interviewed man in the probe. i think it's a safe bet that fitzgerald is setting up an indictment for rove based on espionage act.

|10.30.05 @ 12:12AM|#

it's recently seemed to some that libby had turned state's evidence in return for lighter charges. the lack of an espionage act charge may reflect that.

I dunno, GM. Libby's still getting some hefty charges.

|10.30.05 @ 3:23PM|#

"What the hell kind of a name is Scooter, anyway?"

Maybe he rides around on a Vespa and listens to two-tone ska. That would be pretty cool.

"This seems to mean that there was no actual crime committed re the "outing" of Valerie Plame, but the investigation of said non-crime managed to create a few."

Hey, PapayaSF, can I have my "Free Alger Hiss" tee shirt back?

"The Democrats shot themselves in the foot through wishful thinking and hyping to the story to such an extent that anything short of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney being tried for treason is now considered a let down. The liberal groupthink of the MSM hurts the Dems more than it helps them sometimes." Oh, yeah, look at all the sorrowful Democrats who had to defend themselves on the Sunday shows, and all the Republicans with the cool, collected body language. Spin faster, John, it's not working!

|10.31.05 @ 12:13AM|#

Joe: Poor analogy. As we now know, Hiss really was a spy. Getting him on perjury was like getting Capone for tax evasion: nailing a baddie on a minor charge, when they couldn't get him on a more serious one.

In Libby's case, though, for all the jabber about the "crime" of outing Valerie Plame, no one has been charged with that crime. Maybe someone will, who knows? And lying to grand juries and the FBI is a bad thing to do, no question. But so far, this hasn't turned out to be anything like the fevered conspiratorial fantasies of the Kosites et al.