The American Spectator

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Re: Sorry, John

By John Tabin on 1.19.09 @ 3:35PM

No evidence that Libby lied? Really, Quin? I'll just be lazy and cut & paste what I wrote when the indictment came down:

The other part of the obstruction charge appears to be the most damning: Libby told the grand jury that he was surprised to hear from Russert that Wilson's wife was CIA. But the indictment alleges that Libby had discussed the topic nine times prior to the conversation with Russert -- with the Vice President, with the Undersecretary of State, with a CIA briefer, with Judy Miller, with the White House Press Secretary, with the Assistant to the Vice President, with Judy Miller again, and with the Counsel to the Office of the Vice President.

Sure looked like evidence to me. It did to the jury, too.

P.S. Tom Maguire, who followed the Plame mess closer than almost anyone, addressed the WSJ editorial here and Barone's column here. The important bit:

Fine, I don't think Cheney, Libby, or anyone in the White House had any notion that Wilson's wife may have been covert (was she?), so the notion that this was a staged leak to punish Wilson was simply a convenient partisan fiction.

However, I do think Libby lied to the investigators of this non-crime, thereby committing a crime.  His motives would have been to cling to his own security clearances and to protect Dick Cheney from embarrassment.