Hi folks. I have come down to DC to do business, and I thought I'd briefly stop by and liveblog the Libby trial. I ended up being late due to travel issues. I missed a motion but am in time for the fun tape session. I had to wrangle a spot in the press room, but the court's press secretary was very nice. But for a few hours, depending on other things, I am going to be Canada's Libby liveblogger. Below the fold (not, obviously, a transcript, and just my understanding of things)...
9:56 -- they are starting the tape.
10:00 -- Tape: Libby is testifying about some documents (no duh) and claiming that Wilson hadn't seen them. He is being asked about an op-ed by Wilson.
10:02 -- "he had thought that he had sort of definitively proven" -- Libby in reference to Wilson's op-ed.
10:03 -- Libby on what was wrong about the report: the VP had gotten a report from the CIA that Niger had dealt with the Iraqis. He didn't get any report related to Wilson's work.
It's actually really hard to follow Libby. He...slowly waffles, is the right way to put it. The interrogator, whom I suppose is Fitz is definitely a lot clearer, but the questions are very involved and complicated.
10:07 -- Again, a denial that the VP had gotten any of the facts from Wilson's report. He hadn't asked for CIA to make use of Wilson. Libby talks about how disturbed he was about the article. Now he's talking about when he told the VP about it. Certainly not the same day, and certainly not by phone. But after reading the op-ed, that was the first time either Libby or Cheney knew that Wilson was the originator of the accusation against the administration.
10:10 -- Again we are going about various ways in which the VP might have been upset about Cheney.
10:14 -- Oooh, they're talking about an annotated copy of the op-ed, I think. Annotated by the VP. "Did his wife send him on a junket?" And wondering whether this was normal to send someone "uncompensated" on an investigative trip. He only recalls talking about this after the Novak piece, however.
10:17 -- Fitz is trying to pin Libby down to dates (July 10th) under oath as to when he talked to Cheney about Plame. Libby does not recall talking about it. Recall. Not before meeting with Russert. He was "surprised when he heard it from Russert.
10:22 -- Fitz has brought out some talking points on July 7th specifying that the VP didn't know about it. Seems like Fleischer as press secretary had these. Apparently Libby didn't discuss this at lunch with Fleischer on the 7th. Fitz sounds skeptical
Do note that these are the tapes, as a reminder. They are also showing the transcript of the tapes in the media room here, and I'm seeing the text before it plays for the jury.
10:26 -- Lots of stuff about Miami Dolphins. He does not recall telling Fleischer about Wilson's wife. Doesn't recall that in the conversation. He recalls being surprised by Russert---that is his story. That's all he recalls. Convenient: Fitz is grilling him on this point, various combinations and permutations of what he might have known and told to Ari Fleischer. Libby does not recall.
10:30 -- We are indulging on a complicated peregrination about Cathie Martin. It practically the same peregrination as we went through over Ari Fleischer. Oh...we've moved onto Andrea Mitchell---he had a conversation before Russert and after Russert (BR and AR?). Libby does say that he recalls that Andrea Mitchell talked some incorrect stuff about Halliburton and Wilson.
10:33 -- Apparently the judge likes to go on break at 10:30, but not this time, probably due to the motion I missed. We do have a slight pause so that we can bring up a transcript of Andrea Mitchell on July 8. Libby reads it and says that it's wrong: it claims that the CIA ignored the Wilson report. No: the CIA had good grounds to believe that Niger had uranium.
10:38 -- Again the same peregrination about Andrea Mitchell. It's a formula. He doesn't recall---recall!---talking about Mitchell about Plame before the meeting with Russert. Oooh, we're onto Novakula! Novakula had all of the same information about Wilson's trip that Cathie Martin gave the Fleischer---innocent stuff that leaves the VP without any knowledge of Wilson, conveniently.
10:43 -- We're hearing about a Novak column on July 14th, it seems. Same formula, only WRT the column. What did Libby tell Novak before the 14th. Doesn't recall saying anything that isn't innocuous. He might have written email about it 10 days later. The tapes are moving to a break.
10:48 -- Fitz is going after his conversations with Novakula. Not just whether he talked about Plame...but does he ever leak anything to Novak for his columns. Libby talks to Novak socially and off the record, but doesn't "recall" ever deliberately feeding Novak any information. Fitz is now talking about the phone bill on July 8. He seems to have called Novak a couple of times for a couple of minutes. We have Libby's phone number at that time, even. Fitz wants to know if Libby told Novak about how the State of the Union address is produced. In general.
This is much more focused on Novak with more combinations of things that Libby could have said.
10:53 -- We're now on Cathy Martin's notes. There are some annotations on it: Libby denies that it's his handwriting. It refers to someone who was "chargé in Baghdad" who has a CIA wife. Libby doesn't know who this refers to. Fitz reminds him of Wilson---and Libby does know that Wilson was in Baghdad with the State dept at the time.
10:57 -- break time. I know what people mean by "white yarmulke". It's what Fitz' bald spot looks like on the closed circuit TV. I'm not in the courtroom, by the way. You can't blog there. I'm seeing it on a screen in a room with reporters and photocopiers and stuff.
Look at the next post for the post-break Miller stuff.
Posted by: Mandos | February 06, 2007 at 11:17 AM