We are still on the first break for the day. People are milling about and chatting the court, but the judge himself is out. They've stopped the tapes right at the beginning of a juicy part that starts Libby's testimony about Judith Miller.
I was a little bit worried about getting inside the courthouse, but it wasn't a problem. Airport-style security. The people-scanner is a little different, interestingly so. A circular chamber with an arm that rotates around the scannee. The media room is on the first floor, right next to the entrance. Seeing as I didn't have a press pass, the lady in charge of the media room sent me to the real courtroom, which was full, but there was an overflow courtroom. Turns out that blogging wasn't allowed there. So I went back down to the media room. The lady told me that if I hadn't registered, I couldn't get in.
I gave her a sad puppy face, and she sent me back up to talk to the much younger press lady who was actually sitting in the trial. There was a brief break because the main courtroom wasn't full, so they moved the overflow there. The press lady, seeing I was just a random person who didn't get the rules, said that there was space today in the media room, and she took me down there and let me in for the day.
Anyway, the judge is back. The judge seems to have his laptop at the desk, the only laptop allowed in the courtroom. And now I'm going to restart liveblogging after the fold.
It's 1:09, but watch out for the next post, as I'll be continuing there.
11:11 -- We establish that Libby knows who Miller is. He saw Miller before July 8 once. He considers her a very responsible reporter who takes threats to America seriously, which I take as a neocon jab.
On July 7th, the VP decided it was necessary to release the info in the National Intelligence Estimate. I'm not quite sure why he digressed to this, but we'll see where it goes. The NIE concluded that Iraq had vigorously pursued WMD. This was written in Oct 2002 and reiterated in Jan 2003. So the CIA had definitely contradicted Wilson, and the VP thought it was important that "Judy Miller or somebody" report this.
11:17 -- They had to declassify the NIE. Does the president have that power? Addington said he did. It was declassified in late July, apparently, and then Libby phoned up Miller.
11:19 -- Now we've moved to David Addington and when he gave an opinion as to whether the president could declassify documents by fiat. There's a case "Navy vs. Egan" about this. He talked to Addington about Wilson: is it normal for a CIA agent (in which capacity Wilson was acting) to just talk about his mission? Well, Addington says that the agreements about this take different forms.
Libby reiterates that Addington said that the president can declassify "no matter what".
11:24 -- We went onto a digression as to how cloak-and-dagger these
conversations with Addington were. Hushed or not hushed. How
private. What office.
But now we're back onto Miller. Did he discuss Wilson's wife with
Miller? Libby Does Not Recall. He was surprised by Russert. He is
sticking to his story.
Now we've moved off Miller again. A meeting with Steven Hadley
after the Novak article in the White House. Libby does recall
something for once. He does recall Hadley being upset about something,
I think the conversation with Andrea Mitchell. But Libby doesn't
recall telling Hadley about talking to Mitchell.
He does recall that Hadley was upset about Cathie Martin or Claire Buchan.
Fitz wants to know whether Libby recalls anything about Hadley
talking about discrediting Wilson on that meeting, July 9. Libby, of
course, does not recall. That particular phrase. Fitz says: but did
he use that *concept*? Libby says that yes, they wanted to discredit
Wilson's words, not Wilson's person. Yes, they wanted to counter
Wilson with their own facts. Of course they did.
11:31 -- Now we are on an exhibit. Some annotated article with
Libby's handwriting. Libby reads out the notes. It has to do with
Rove and countering Wilson. Rove is worried that Wilson is being taken
as a credible expert. Hence, Fitz wants to know whether this
indicates an effort to discredit Wilson's expertise. Libby equivocates
and insists that, yes, they wanted to discredit Wilson's claims that
threatened the president's story. He "doesn't know" whether they
wanted to do it personally.
Myself, I think this is a very typical equivocation on the same level as the "recall" business. But Libby wants to cast this as "setting the record straight", not attempting to discredit.
11:36 -- So we went through this circumlocution where Libby talks about the ways in which Wilson was incorrect and how they had the facts to disprove his accusations. Fitz asked about whether people involved in this known to Libby had decided that the Wilson was appointed via nepotism and whether they could get him that way. Libby won't vouch for what other people thought: however he was appointed, Wilson was definitely competent and qualified for what he did.
Again, back to Fleischer. Does Not Recall. Russert was a surprise.
11:42 -- Here's a long segment about the NIE and who leaked that. Well, Libby was told to talk to Miller about it, and was told by the prez to do it, so it wasn't a leak. And then he happily relates to that the VP wrote that the whole truth has to be released, anything less is a "serious mistake." The whole neocon truth, of course.
11:47 -- Libby discusses the annoyance of the White House at Chris Matthews. Matthews kept on asserting that the VP sent Wilson. But the VP had no idea about Wilson until it was too late. They consult with Mary Matalin. (Who is on Libby's legal defence trust board, as an aside.)
A note to Matalin on the 10th. It must be understood that we're dealing with a very very short period of time and furious, furious activity.
11:51 -- We're onto the Russert interview. He was blindsided by Russert's assertion that Wilson's wife is a CIA agent. So he denied knowledge of it to Russert. He definitely Recalls this.
Personally, I think that this transcript should be subtitled, "Incomplete Recall."
11:54 -- He wanted Russert to correct Matthews or set Matthews straight on the record that the VP did not send Wilson, and the White House had been saying for some time. Falling on Matthews' deaf ears. Russert refused and told Libby to talk to Matthews producer.
These Grand Jury proceedings are interesting in that they seem to be directed by the Grand Jurors themselves. Because the Grand Jurors want a five-minute break from all of this.
But of course the break is only an instant on the tape.
11:57 -- Mary Matalin notes now. It's her advice on when to call whom, including Russert. Her advice: "Go broad", talk about other countries, and focus on Saddam's evilitude. She suggests being "Tenet-like". Libby suggests that she didn't know that they were already working on Tenet's statements.
Oooh, the note says, "Need to address Wilson's motivation." And they call Russert because Russert hates Matthews. They need someone on their side to discredit Matthews. That's why Libby talks to Russert, it seems.
Coooool. We have REDACTED segments on the transcript. Matalin writes things in her notes that are sensitive!
12:06 -- We've been listening to Libby being grilled by Fitz about what he said to Russert. Again, same story. Fitz asks various permutations and combinations of who spoke to whom about what when.
Now were talking about what happened AFTER the Russert conversation. Libby is denying that he told Cheney about Plame after Russert told Libby. Fitz asks, who did you tell then? Turns out that later that day, he talked to Darth Rove. And Rove tells him that he had talked to Novakula. Novak told Rove that he was going to write about Wilson. Novak had met Wilson in a Green Room at a television studio. He apparently had a "bad taste in his mouth" after meeting Wilson, that Wilson had "turned [Novak] off." Novak had concerns, he tells Rove who tells Libby, that Novak had concerns about how Wilson got appointed on that mission anyway.
Karl Rove claims to Libby that it was NOVAK who had told ROVE about Plame.
Libby tells Rove that Russert had told Libby the same thing.
All this took place at Karl Rove's office on the 10th or 11th. (After the conversation with Russert.)
12:19 -- More of the same. But Fitz asks a logical question. They're were focused on the fact that the VP had NOT sent Wilson, contra Matthews. So wouldn't they have been interested in who did? Libby doesn't say so.
The courtroom is looking restless. I wonder when the judge will want lunch.
Now we're on Andrea Mitchell again. After the Russert conversation. He recalls not telling Mitchell about what Russert told him, because it wasn't clear that Mitchell already knew.
Libby says something about not liking to obfuscate. The media room laughs and everyone shakes his/her head.
12:26 -- Lunch break!
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