Bob Woodward: The Grinch Who Stole Fitzmas
UPDATE 11/16/05 1:26 p.m.: This story’s too big for one post! Go to this one for the latest if you’re hungry for more…
The Washington Post has a blockbuster story for PlameGate junkies – Bob Woodward was told of Valarie Plame by an unamed official who was not Karl Rove, and not Lewis Libby, but who was, in fact, the first official to discuss Plame with a reporter:
Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed.
In a more than two-hour deposition, Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not believe the information to be classified or sensitive, according to a statement Woodward released yesterday.
Fitzgerald interviewed Woodward about the previously undisclosed conversation after the official alerted the prosecutor to it on Nov. 3 — one week after Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was indicted in the investigation.
…Woodward’s testimony appears to change key elements in the chronology Fitzgerald laid out in his investigation and announced when indicting Libby three weeks ago. It would make the unnamed official — not Libby — the first government employee to disclose Plame’s CIA employment to a reporter. It would also make Woodward, who has been publicly critical of the investigation, the first reporter known to have learned about Plame from a government source.
The testimony, however, does not appear to shed new light on whether Libby is guilty of lying and obstructing justice in the nearly two-year-old probe or provide new insight into the role of senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, who remains under investigation.
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Rove, said that Rove is not the unnamed official who told Woodward about Plame and that he did not discuss Plame with Woodward.
The complete statement by Woodward is here.
A longer quote is below the fold.
There’s more on the story, as always, at Memeorandum…
Just a random thought here: who gave Woodward the most access? Colin Powell’s State Department…second most: Rumsfeld’s team at Defense…
Kevin Drum: This is just bizarre…I can’t begin to make sense of this. The only thing that’s clear is that Mr. X must have had some reason to suddenly come clean, and that reason must have had something to do with Fitzgerald’s ongoing investigation. Perhaps Mr. X is a cooperating witness, or perhaps he’s someone who started to feel some heat and decided to come forward because he got scared. Who knows?
Captain Ed: “…[A] stunning new development in the Valerie Plame story, one that could unravel most of the investigation conducted by Patrick Fitzgerald.”
The despicable Armando from Kos is clearly worried, as he goes immediately on the attack: Sorry Bob, your credibility is shot. Walter Pincus gets the nod in a big way here. Question is why are you making that part up? The gossip angle?
UPDATE 11/16 6:45 a.m.: Betsy Newmark, guestblogging at Michelle Malkin’s: …[I]f Woodward and Pincus both testify to different memories of their conversations, how is that different from Libby and Russert both testifying to different memories of their conversations? If we can believe that the great Bob Woodward is misremembering when he told someone something, isn’t it possible that Tim Russert could misremember something, too? Or that Scooter Libby could? Why is one discrepancy worthy of indictment and the other one chalked up to “confusion about the timing”?
Thanks to the folks at Power Line for the link…
And the great Tom Maguire weighs in:
Fitzgerald blew it – he had White House phone logs, he had sign in sheets, he had Libby’s notes, he had testimony from many, many people, he had two years, and still, somehow, he did not include Bob Woodward on his contacts-of-interest list.
As to the specifics of the Libby indictment, a bold prosecutor might press ahead – arguably, Libby’s statement that he believed he was hearing about Plame for the first time when he spoke to Russert is still false, and arguably, Libby’s assertions that he sourced his knowledge to other reporters when he spoke to Miller and Cooper are also false.
But it will take a mighty straight-faced jury to focus exclusively on that if the defense can bring in a parade of reporters that may have, directly or indirectly, put the Wilson and wife story in Libby’s ear.
Macsmind: “Is There ANYBODY Who Didn’t Know About Plame?”
AJ Strata: “Libby’s lawyer is right – the Libby case took a massive broadside”…
The Left Coaster, repeating the mantra of those on the left:
What do Bob Woodward and Judy Miller have in common?
Both have been stooges for the administration.
Both have been complicit in the administration’s disinformation campaign against the American people.
Both are more concerned about being on the inside as Beltway Kool Kids than they are about being journalists.
Beltway Kos Kidz? Oh, Kool Kids, Kool Kids…
More from the Post story:
Downie said in an interview yesterday that Woodward told him about the contact to alert him to a possible story. He declined to say whether he was upset that Woodward withheld the information from him.
Downie said he could not explain why Woodward provided a tip about Wilson’s wife to Walter Pincus, a Post reporter writing about the subject, but did not pursue the matter when the CIA leak investigation began. He said Woodward has often worked under ground rules while doing research for his books that prevent him from naming sources or even using the information they provide until much later.
Woodward’s statement said he testified: “I told Walter Pincus, a reporter at The Post, without naming my source, that I understood Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA as a WMD analyst.”
Pincus said he does not recall Woodward telling him that. In an interview, Pincus said he cannot imagine he would have forgotten such a conversation around the same time he was writing about Wilson.
“Are you kidding?” Pincus said. “I certainly would have remembered that.”
Pincus said Woodward may be confused about the timing and the exact nature of the conversation. He said he remembers Woodward making a vague mention to him in October 2003. That month, Pincus had written a story explaining how an administration source had contacted him about Wilson. He recalled Woodward telling him that Pincus was not the only person who had been contacted.
Woodward, who is preparing a third book on the Bush administration, has called Fitzgerald “a junkyard-dog prosecutor” who turns over every rock looking for evidence. The night before Fitzgerald announced Libby’s indictment, Woodward said he did not see evidence of criminal intent or of a substantial crime behind the leak.
“When the story comes out, I’m quite confident we’re going to find out that it started kind of as gossip, as chatter,” he told CNN’s Larry King.
Woodward also said in interviews this summer and fall that the damage done by Plame’s name being revealed in the media was “quite minimal.”
“When I think all of the facts come out in this case, it’s going to be laughable because the consequences are not that great,” he told National Public Radio this summer.
And Woodward’s source? I think we all know who it was. Mark Felt, of course.
Seriously, this is certainly a strange development. Given that Woodward has been Colin Powell’s ghostwriter for over 10 years, it makes me wonder if Powell could be the source. It would be amusing to watch Bush-haters try to paint Powell as a diehard vengeful hatchetman.
The wierd thing is that this special prosecutor was called for basically by the press, but it turns out the press has been hiding parts of this story all along, not just about Joe Wilson’s conclusions and motives but about his wife’s status as well. Is it just me, or is the press looking worse and worse the longer this story drags on? And who should we believe Pincus or Woodward? I’m frealing mystified.
Actually I’m freaking mystified.
So… Where has Woodward been hiding all this time (probably giggling in glee that Libby is in hot water!) Why didn’t Woodward step forward long ago, and say, “Hey, wait a minute, I knew. I was told. The leak – leaked to me first.” Methinks Woodward is just as criminal as any so far. Where was HIS front page story – setting the record straight?
Fitsmas needs to be redefined… this looks like Woodwaywardtide!
Yeah, but if Woodward told Pincus that someone had all ready told him about Plame, shouldn’t Pincus have straightened some of this out in his reporting? But Pincus says Woodward never told him any such thing. So who’s fibbing Pincus or Woodward?
Armando: If the report conflicts with his uninformed thoughts and speculations, the source must be a liar. No need to look further.
Anybody ever find out who Novak’s source was?
off the topic, burning questions:
If the Iraqi woman had been successful in detonating in Jordan, would she get 72 virgins?
Is this a sign of lesbianism, or does she get 72 male virgins?
According to the vaporous Armando, Woodward lacks the credibility to counter Pincus? Well, I’m no fan of either really but is there ANY foundation to this? Isn’t Woodward a canonized figure in the world of Conventional Wisdom as well as the cobwebbed precincts of the Hard Left? Pincus and Milbank have been so frequently found mendacious and partisan in their reporting AND analysis that it hardly seems they could touch Woodward’s boot in the PR wars. We shall see. I predict yet another river of tears from the Left to add greater flow to the Million River, aka megapotamus. Great headline BTW.
Plame Game – Bob Woodward – Is there ANYBODY who
The Plame Game just took a RIGHT turn?
Woodward Knew
The fact that Woodward was told two years ago by a different senior administration official (ie not Libby, not Rove) apparentyl has everyone even more confused.
…
Plamegate: Woodward testifies
This just puts another nail in the coffin on the allegations that a CIA agent was “deliberately outed” in order to put her and her family in harms way as ‘revenge’ towards Joe Wilson for his NYTimes opinion piece. Via the Wash…
Start Checking The Rooftops of DC for Chris Matthews…
It looks like there’s more evidence that there wasn’t a concerted effort among Bush administration officials to “out” Valerie Plame.
The …
Major embarrassment for Fitzgerald, and my guess is that with this disclosure, there could be plenty more to come.
Wonder what Woodward means by “senior administration official?” Note that he does not say “White House,” but says “administration” instead. To me that says someone outside the White House, which means that the Powell/Rumsfeld theory could be correct.
What if the source was high ranking, but outside the defense/foreign policy loop? That would be pretty strong evidence that the info. was widely known, as opposed to “sensitive” or “classified.” And if similar sources start to emerge, that will make Fitzgerald look even worse.
What could possibly have motivated this “source” to approach Fitzgerald? And what about the ethics of Woodward, appearing and commenting freely about this story as the indictment was being handed down, knowing all along that he was a potential witness . . .?
It would make sense that the “senior administration official” is from the CIA. Where it started might be where it ends.
Hard to believe Woodward and the Post would have suddenly come out with their new information out of the goodness of their own hearts. Chances are better that Libby’s legal team had information on Bob’s knowledge of Plaime’s identity coming both from an alternate souce and coming before the time-frame outlined by Fitzgerald, and were going to make that part of their legal defense.
If that’s the case, then it’s better to get the story out their first on your own terms, if you’re Bob Woodward and the editors of the Post, rather than have someone else drag it out into the open and make your failure to come forward at an earlier date look even worse than it already is (and how this now affects Andrea Mitchell, who was telling a similar tale as Woodward is now about knowing Plaime’s CIA links before July 2003, but has since been backing off to fit more into the Cooper-Russert- Miller-Fitzgerald storyline, remains to be seen).
If Woodward asked Libby if he knew about Wilson and Plame before July 03, Libby would deny it to woodward, but at that point his statement about his calls to other reporters stemming from ‘other reporters questions’ rings true.
Woodward establishes a press person with knowledge of Plame, not obtained from Libby, who may have asked Libby what he knew.
Libby simply fowarded the question along. (Matthews was obsessesed that there was no press person asking questions of the VP’s chief of staff and that all of this originated with Libby.)
The trial is over.
Was Libby the first?
An interesting development in the whole Valerie Plame covert agent leak. Bob Woodward testified that he had heard of her nearly a month before her identity was revealed.
Instead of ‘Fitzmas’ it is starting to sound a lot more like ‘If the sh*t Fitz’
WoodwardGate
Richard Nixon is surely roaring with laughter in his coffin. Bob Woodward, the journalist that with colleague Carl Bernstein discovered the Watergate scandal in the ‘70s, is involved in the so-called Plamegate, the investigation carried on by Patrick…
[...] The WPO reports that:In a more than two-hour deposition, Woodward told Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald that the official casually told him in mid-June 2003 that Plame worked as a CIA analyst on weapons of mass destruction, and that he did not believe the information to be classified or sensitive…Woodward’s statement said he testified: “I told Walter Pincus, a reporter at The Post, without naming my source, that I understood Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA as a WMD analyst.” Pincus said he does not recall Woodward telling him that. In an interview, Pincus said he cannot imagine he would have forgotten such a conversation around the same time he was writing about Wilson. “Are you kidding?” Pincus said. “I certainly would have remembered that.”First up, that destroys Fitzgerald’s time line. Libby cannot be the first administration official to “out” Plame. Secondly, it destroys Fitzgerald’s credibility as an investigator. How could he have missed Woodward? Thirdly, we now have journalists (Pincus and Woodward) having a lot of trouble remembering who said what to whom and when. So, why should anyone believe a journalist ahead of Libby? I doubt anyone was deliberately lying; rather they trusted to the vagaries of their memories. Fitzgerald is now between a rock and a hard place. If he withdraws the indictment against Libby he’s telling the world his investigation was a waste of time and money. If he proceeds to trial, he’ll lose, proving to the world that his investigation was an even bigger waste of time and money. Libby’s lawyer has already hit back:William Jeffress Jr., one of Libby’s lawyers, said yesterday that Woodward’s testimony undermines Fitzgerald’s public claims about his client and raises questions about what else the prosecutor may not know. Libby has said he learned Plame’s identity from NBC journalist Tim Russert. “If what Woodward says is so, will Mr. Fitzgerald now say he was wrong to say on TV that Scooter Libby was the first official to give this information to a reporter?” Jeffress said last night. “The second question I would have is: Why did Mr. Fitzgerald indict Mr. Libby before fully investigating what other reporters knew about Wilson’s wife?” History may soon lump Fitzgerald in with Ronnie Earl as a zealous, partisan and incompetent prosecutor. Good links at The Strata Sphere, Decision 08, and Just One Minute Posted by: Pat on Nov 16, 05 | 12:48 pm | [0] comments [0] Views | Permalink | [0] TrackBack | Go to Main Page Random Posts Politics Over Reality Norway Asks, Why Us? Blue Sky Ideas var site=”sm6blogger” Judicious Asininity >>www.asininity.com 2004PHP [...]
Perhaps Libby Didn’t Lie
Bombshell in the Libby/Plamegate story today. Apparently, Bob Woodward knew of Plame’s identity months before Libby and, get this, had a meeting with Libby in which Woodward admits it’s possible he might have passed Libby the information. Hmmm. Wh…
Elliot Ness – Please Call Your Office!!
This doesn’t sound good, but you know who I think the source is… I like how Libby’s (new) attorney has framed the issue. Elliot Ness! Call your Office!!!
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Woodward Was Told of Plame More Than Two Years Ago
The big news of the day is Bob Woodward’s claim that he was told by a White House official about Valerie Plame’s CIA status in June 2003, well before the current controversy broke out.
Woodward Was Told of Plame More Than Two Years Ago (…
Bob Woodward testified … that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed.
Former CIA Director Bill Casey could not be reached for comment.
Woodward is no longer a beacon for truth. He used to be so honorable and how ironic that once known for outstanding journalism for truth and justice and for brining a president down; he has now come full circle and is aiding and abetting in helping to maintain a corrupt president all the time knowing that he is entangled in their bed of lies. Once known for fighting corruption he has become part of corruption. His words are false, lies, no longer independent but a talking advocate for the Bush Regime.
[...] STOP THE PRESSES! A pal of mine who works in the news industry just wrote that he’s starting to think maybe the CIA DID try to screw Bush, Bigtime! This is a huge thing, folks. Betsy, writing at Michelle Malkin’s place sees big things here, too. Seems to me the press and the CIA are looking worse every day in this story. Mark has a big roundup. [...]
a-lite:
Tin foil hat has a built in truth detector?
Where can I get mine? Just because you got shafted on fitzmas, and have now been shafted again-is that anyway to speak of the guy who brought Nixon down…
Don’t worry, you’ll have a lot more disappointment to follow-thank you so much for making this a first place failure for the dems, and advertising it for us.
Clear as Mud
While acknowledging I’m likely picking at the scab of an earlier post, did anyone see this little treat in WaPo today?Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday in the CIA leak case that a senior administration…
The only thing I can figure is that Woodward was keeping his trap shut in the hopes that Karl Rove was indicted. I’m not sure why he’s coming forth now, unless it’s simply he was under oath and couldn’t evade the question.
As I blogged about, the shame is that Scooter Libby has resigned over what amounts to Pincus and Woodward trying to effect a Rove indictment.
And a boat load of other folks in and around D.C. probably knew Plame worked for the CIA. This whole affair is likely gonna turn out to be an exercise in absurdity – it’s halfway there already.
Angellight’s tinfoil hat may be a little too tight, but nevertheless he or she has shown us the spin. Woodward is about to become the new Judith Miller in the eyes of the press, and the firing squad will soon form. Mark my words.
Woodward has already written at least one book about the war that’s not overtly hostile to Bush, and that is enough to make him… questionable… in his loyalties.
mtl – about the Iraqi woman – She gets to take a certain number of people with her to paradise.
Does Fitzgerald need a do-over on Plamegate?
… Got that people? Scooter Libby was not the first person to tell a reporter that Lyin’ Joe Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. It seems to me that sort of makes the Plamegate thing a whole new ballgame. It’s going to be interesting, to say the leas…
What does it really matter who first leaked the name? That is not the charge against Libby. It if LYING. And this “big revelation” does not change the tale that Libby told?
jaed, you nailed it…and Sean John, you’re quite right that this doesn’t change the perjury charge…however, it makes Fitz’s job much more difficult, as Libby’s lawyers will (and they are already signalling this) make the case about the relationship between journalists and their sources…you might not buy it, but how sure are you a jury won’t?…
WoodwardGate/2
An amazing post by Tom Maguire at JustOneMinute sums up the latest developments of Plamegate after Bob Woodward’s revelations and the possible consequences on the ongoing investigation. Basically, Fitzgerald did a lousy job since the beginning. He “b…
Woodward Apologizes, Cheney Speaks
This is just getting silly now. I say just quit now and forget anything ever happened. There will be no end, there will be no conclusion. There’ll always be someone who’s not talking. Bob Woodward says he knew of Valerie Plame a month …
So when does he apologize to the rest of us?
…So besides proving that Woodward is as vainglorious and shady as he has always seemed to be (oh goody! We get to play “who is Woodward’s deep throat?” agian!), what does this all mean?
The perjury charge is that fitz contends that Libby was never asked about Plame by the media, when he said he had been when he talked to Russert/cooper on July 10/11.
The obstruction and false statements stem from the same incident-just at different levels of the investigation.
He obstructed justice by lying about his source as another reporter, according to Fitz, made false statements to the investigators on the same topic, and same deal with the perjury, as he was under oath later before the GJ.
His story never changed as he worked his way up.
His defense will continue to be, ‘while I knew from classifed info, I also found that media knew. I never confirmed the info, just passed along the same questions I was recieving from the media’.
Fizzes case rest on the fact that reporters never knew, so it was impossible for them to have asked the question of Libby.
Managing editor of Time in Washignton stated in a letter to the judge that Plame’s job was known by media.
Gen Vallely states he was told by Wilson in a green room at Fox-isn’t fox in the media?
Who else was in the green room?
This is going to be the biggest non-frog march in the hx of scandals.
Howie Kurtz pimps lefty bloggers’ “passion” for Woodwardgate
Readers of the Washington Post didn’t get the whole story from Bob Woodward, and now they aren’t getting it from Howard Kurtz…
[...] The Times of London becomes the first major media outlet I’m aware of to confirm – sort of – the scuttlebutt that Stephen Hadley was the source for Bob Woodward, and thus the new first person to reveal Valarie Plame’s identity to a reporter: The mysterious source who gave America’s foremost journalist, Bob Woodward, a tip-off about the CIA agent at the centre of one of Washington’s biggest political storms was Stephen Hadley, the White House national security adviser, according to lawyers close to the investigation. Here’s what Hadley was up to at the time: Two years ago, when Plame’s identity was first revealed, Hadley was Condoleezza Rice’s deputy at the NSC. He is also thought to have been a key source for two books by Woodward on the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. I never out-and-out named Hadley, but I’m not surprised. When Woodward first came out with his bombshell, I had this to say: Just a random thought here: who gave Woodward the most access? Colin Powell’s State Department…second most: Rumsfeld’s team at Defense… Well, I had the wrong departments, but the right idea…just look for whoever Woodward talked to for his books, and there’s your culprit. Not a big stretch… [...]
[...] OK, that is one pun laden post title – as you will see in a second. Jack Kelly was discussing the Woodward Fitzmas bringing coal in the stockings, and mentioned a dear blog friend Mark Coffey! But what really makes Mr. Woodward, in the delicious phrase of Web logger Mark Coffey, “the Grinch who stole Fitzmas,” is his admission that it might have been he who mentioned to Mr. Libby that Mr. Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA [...]
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[...] If Bob Woodward is the Grinch That Stole Fitzmas (and he is), Viveca Novak is surely his right-hand (wo)man. Novak, who becomes yet another journalist casualty of the Fitzgerald investigation (she’s been placed on leave of absence by TIME), provides the airtight alibi that exonerates Karl Rove, now that it is plain that Fitzgerald’s investigation is one of perjury and not ‘outing’ a CIA asset: Toward the end of one of our meetings, I remember Luskin looking at me and saying something to the effect of “Karl doesn’t have a Cooper problem. He was not a source for Matt.” I responded instinctively, thinking he was trying to spin me, and said something like, “Are you sure about that? That’s not what I hear around TIME.” He looked surprised and very serious. “There’s nothing in the phone logs,” he said. In the course of the investigation, the logs of all Rove’s calls around the July 2003 time period–when two stories, including Matt’s, were published mentioning that Plame was Wilson’s wife–had been combed, and Luskin was telling me there were no references to Matt. (Cooper called via the White House switchboard, which may be why there is no record.) [...]