Oct 27 2005
Rove Clear, Libby Indicted?
This NY Times piece is claiming Rove is in the clear, pending further investigation and Libby faces indictment for not agreeing with the press who is culpable and covering their backsides.
Fitzgerald is going to come out of this looking like an idiot. If leaking Val’s employer was not a crime, confusion over accounts about it are not a crime either.
And after two years he better have answers or admit there is simply no way to tell and move on.
Pat, you know what happened to Ken Starr’s career (rightfully) after impeachment???
Indicting those who told the truth about those who lied to America…..
Time to throw them all out of DC. The whole bunch. Media, pols and lawyers.
Folks, we are not paying your salaries for this garbage. The surprises better be indictments for the Wilsons for lying, exposing classified information and conspiracy to cover it up with the press. What are you going to be remembered for Pat? You hold great power right now. You will define the meaning of law or be an example of power applied to minutiae and irrelevance. If you do not have a crime at the core – leaking of truly classified information, methods or contacts – do not waste our time with confused rec0llecti0ns alone. What are you going to do with the responsibility handed to you Fitzgerald? Is the law to decided policy and politics? Is the law to use as a bludgeon to attack partisans? Are you ready to cheapan the law? What do you want out of this?
Because if you are going to ask the Grand Jury to indict because the press – which leaked the information – has a different account than the administration – which was trying to set the record straight – then just go home. You don’t want infamy. You don’t want to be remembered as the blind prosecutor that twisted blind justice. What do you stand for Pat? I hope you read this and face the man in the mirror. He will be with you for all time.
And I am not the man in the mirror.
The article reads like all of the others. No concrete facts, just sources close to the case think it is inevitable that Libby will be indicted, and Rove will be under investigation. No FACTS. A Drudge Siren for a Thursday Night.
I am very tired of possibilities. Not one concrete fact in the entire NY Slimes story. I agree AJ, this better not result in a bogus charge, it better be for a serious crime, or no indictments.
I must disagree with you though regarding Kenneth Starr. He may not be a Fed Prosecutor anymore, but his current gig at Pepperdine University, on a hill, overlooking Malibu Beach, is a Job many would give their eye teeth for. If you have never seen the Campus, it is well worth a look next time you are on the Left Coast. I am sure he got a nice Beach House in the deal also.
And I am sticking to my guns… No WH Indictments. The thrust of the investigation is where it should be, on the Wilsons, CIA, and Dem Party.
Here’s his bio:
Judge Kenneth W. Starr is Dean of the Pepperdine Law School, and a partner with the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, P.C., specializing in appellate work. He has taught Issues in Constitutional Law as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and as a distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University School of Law. He recently published his first book: First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life, which is described by United States Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle as “eminently readable and informative.… not just the best treatment to date of the Court after Warren, it is likely to have that distinction for a long, long time.”
Judge Starr served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1989 to January 1993. He argued twenty-five cases before the Supreme Court and represented the U.S. government on legal issues involving regulatory and constitutional statutes. He also served as United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989, as counselor to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith from 1981 to 1983 and as law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger from 1975 to 1977 and 5th Circuit Judge David W. Dyer from 1973-1974. Judge Starr served as Independent Counsel for five investigations, including Whitewater, from August 1994 to October 1999.
Having received his B.A. from George Washington University in 1968 and his M.A. from Brown University in 1969, Judge Starr graduated from The Duke Law School with a J.D. degree in 1973. He was Note and Comment Editor of the Duke Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. He has been admitted to the California, District of Columbia and Virginia Bars.
Judge Starr has numerous professional affiliations, including having served as president of the Institute of Judicial Administration as well as the Council on Court Excellence. Other Boards on which he serves or has served include the American Law Institute, American Judicature Society, Supreme Court Historical Society, American Inns of Court Foundation, Institute for United States Studies, American University, Shenandoah University, and American Bar Association Journal Board of Editors.
He has received numerous honors and awards including the Jefferson Cup award from the FBI, the Edmund Randolph Award for Outstanding Service in the Department of Justice, and the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
Judge Starr was born on July 21, 1946, in Vernon, Texas, and was raised in San Antonio. He and his wife Alice have three children, Randy, Carolyn and Cynthia. They have made their home in McLean, Virginia since 1978. He volunteers his time as a Sunday School teacher and as a volunteer teacher at Anacostia High School. He also assists disadvantaged students in Washington, D.C. find summer internships, safe after school programs, and financial help for attending college.
Wikipeadia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Starr) says:
Post-Independent Counsel activities
After five years as independent counsel, Starr resigned and returned to private practice as an appellate lawyer. Starr is now a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, specializing in litigation. He is one of the lead attorneys in a class-action lawsuit filed by a coalition of liberal and conservative groups (including the ACLU and the NRA) against the regulations created by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known informally as McCain-Feingold Act. In the case, Starr has argued that the law is an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech.
On April 6, 2004, he was appointed dean of Pepperdine University’s School of Law. He was originally offered this post in 1996, however he withdrew from the appointment in 1998 after the Lewinsky controversy erupted and required his full time attention. Critics charged that there was a conflict of interest due to substantial donations to Pepperdine from billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, a Clinton critic who funded many media outlets attacking the president. In 2004, several years after President Clinton’s impeachment, Starr was again offered the Pepperdine deanship and this time accepted it.
In 2005, Starr worked to overturn the death sentence of Robin Lovitt, who is on Virginia’s Death Row for allegedly murdering a man during a robbery in 1998. Starr provided his services to Lovitt pro bono. On October 3, 2005, the Supreme Court denied certiorari.
Dean Starr often refers to the years of the Clinton and Whitewater Investigations as the “unpleasant years.” Some considered him to be on track to become the next justice of the United States Supreme Court when the Whitewater investigation interrupted this possible career path.
Burbank,
Don’t get me wrong. Ken Starr has a job now I envy for the ocean views. But he could have also let the perjury case against Clinton stay in the court. In the end it was not really him, but Congress that blew it. But the point is – we needed more than that to take down a President. And this is not even to the level of perjury in a sexual assault case.
My point is Fitzgerald’s tunnel vision on the law is going to ruin him and this country. If telling the truth to Wilson is not a crime, not recalling every detail about a non-crime is not a crime. And why was this a big deal? The press printed what they did. The press exposed Plame. No one held a gun to their head. They did not need to expose Plame to expose Wilson as a fraud.
Fitzgerald better address that reality. I know lawyers and prosecutors. Half my family is in that area of work. Fitzgerald holds the meaning of ‘law’ in his hands in this country. Is he holding the ‘ham sandwich’ or does he have a real crime here……
Patrick – what are you? The ham sandwich guy or the man who stood up for the law?????
AJ:
You are the first one I have read who is actually showing a bit of anger at the result (if we have the facts) at the result of this two year investigation.
I agree if there is no original crime and you continue to test ones memory over a long period of time you can certainly set the table for self incrimination.
If the NYT is correct then much faith will be lost in the Office of the SP as independent thinkers will question the lack of interest in the Wilsons and the MSM.
Perhaps the news will be different tomorrow..I suppose there is always hope.
Thanks once again for your great analysis and the time you have spent on this site so that we may have the time to keep ourselves up-to-date. You and TM are the best.
Agreed.
My goodness, five years of the Left and their mouthpiece the MSM slandering the WH, doing everything in their power to lose the main front in the GWOT, Iraq, and trying to throw a Presidential Election, and all they have to show for this investigation is this?
I feel the NY Slimes is projecting, nothing more. Fitz’s rep has been projected as sterling. Testimonials from Conservatives led me to trust him. I will hold judgement til tomorrow because I do not trust the MSM to predict what they want to happen and have it taken for fact. I will give Fitz the benefit of the doubt on this.
Wilsons, CIA, Media and Dems going down. No WH Indictments.
Maybe they have indicted Libby so they can pressure him to name Rove. This may just be a ploy.