Countdown to Ecstasy

Obviously David Shuster’s report on Countdown was based on what happened today at the Libby trial. But if you read the accounts of Bloomberg, the AP and the Washington Post, you have to wonder — were they all at the same trial?

Olbermann, on Countdown:

And movement in one of the other major scandals’ investigations underway in the capital, Scooter Libby denied access to records documenting Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s trip to Niger, and a revelation that in July 2003 Libby was warned about the potential damage of outing Valerie Plame’s name and identity. The judge also signaling that the prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into Karl Rove might be nearing the close, noting that he expects resolution in the forseeable future of the problem of documents in the case that have been withheld because they touch on Rove, and because he is part of an ongoing investigation.

It’s rather remarkable that none of the three aforementioned news organizations felt this was worth noting. Libby spoke to Miller on June 23, July 8 and July 12, 2003; he also spoke with Cooper on the 12th. The CIA’s Bill Harlow has said he warned Robert Novak sometime around July 11 (or before) "in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson’s wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed." Was Scooter also warned around this time?

Other weirdness, from the AP:

Wells added that Libby was told several times to go forward but abruptly told to stop before he finally talked to the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and The New York Times’ Judith Miller.

Wells added that Libby was told several times to "go forward?" With what? Team Libby has stated that neither Bush nor Cheney told him to leak Plame’s identity, and the Washington Post claims Woodward testified that he never spoke to Libby about Plame so this must be in regard to the NIE or the other documents Libby was ordered to leak. But it looks like Bob Woodward was in fact a pit stop in the War on Wilson. Wouldn’t it be nice if Woodward actually wrote about what he knew of this story (as any journalist would) instead of running around calling Patrick Fitzgerald a "junkyard dog" without any acknowledgment that he was elbow deep in this shit? Cocktail weenies abound.

Crooks & Liars will have the video up soon and it includes a blockbuster about emails between Rove and another administration official regarding "Wilson’s wife." More soon.

Update I: Crooks & Liars now has the clip up, and it includes the following:

[A]ll the other attorney’s are talking about evidence and there was evidence mentioned today involving documents and memos of, from Karl Rove to another administration official about Valerie Wilson. If they’re talking about documents and memos as opposed to the Stephen Hadley email that Karl Rove wrote, in other words, if there are other emails or documents that would suggest that perhaps prosecutors have an even stronger case to suggest that Karl Rove didn’t have memory problems, he was willfully trying to avoid remembering certain things to the grand jury, but we’ll see pretty soon I think.

But the Hadley email didn’t include any information about Valerie Wilson. If documents were discussed regarding memos between Rove and another administration official that mention her, that’s news.

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