Miller’s Tale
Atrios linked to a Washington Post article that pretty much suggests Judith Miller as possibly being the ultimate source for the Valerie Plame leak.
The most interesting excerpt is this one:
“The lawyer, who has knowledge of the conversations between Rove and prosecutors, said President Bush’s deputy chief of staff has told investigators that he first learned about the operative from a journalist and that he later learned her name from Novak.
Rove has said he does not recall who the journalist was who first told him that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA, or when the conversation occurred, the lawyer said.”
This caused all sorts of sparks to go off in my fertile little brain.
If that is, indeed, what Rove told investigators and the Grand Jury, then we we can play Cyber-Clue and figure out who it is that Patrick Fitzgerald is REALLY targetting in this investigation.
Thus, after reviewing what we know, it has to be Karl Rove!
And he’s pursuing a possible perjury or obstruction of justice charge against Rove.
How do we know this?
Well…if Fitzgerald believed Rove’s testimony, then Judith Miller would be the focus of his investigation.
And he’d treat her that way. Which means that she could, by rights, invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify without being held in comtempt. But she didn’t do that!
Instead, she chose to go to jail.
If, however, Fitzgerald needs Miller to testify in order to determine whether Rove committed perjury, or whether he lied to the FBI, then Miller’s conduct makes more sense.
So, it appears that one of two people are on the hotseat here: Karl Rove or Judith Miller.
But, Miller could get out of jail if she wanted to by either testifying to the Grand Jury, or by invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege.
Of course, Fitzgerald is too canny a prosecutor. If he’s actually targetting Rove, he could offer Miller immunity for her testimony against Rove and prevent her from pleading the Fifth Amendment.
Thus, by process of elimination, Fitzgerald MUST be looking at some sort of a perjury or obstruction of justice charge against Karl Rove. If Miller was his target, she’d be pleading the fifth right now and not be in jail.
Now, aside from the Rove angle…his claim that Miller (we all know who he’s referring to) was HIS source for the Plame information is interesting.
So just for kicks, let’s assume that Rove IS telling the truth. If so, how did Miller learn Plame’s identity?
My theory? Plame was once one of Miller’s sources!
It makes sense.
Miller was the New York Times’ resident “expert” on Chemical and Biological weapons.
And, as we also know, Valerie Plame was a CIA officer who worked on WMD issues.
Thus, it is not unreasonable to speculate that Plame may have been a SOURCE for one of Miller’s articles on WMDs. And I’m not talking about the BS Miller wrote in the runup to the Iraq invasion.
I’m talkng about her work on bioweapons, and other related issues.
So, if what Rove said turns out to be true…then (in the ultimate irony) Judith Miller might be sitting in a jail cell right now because she actually burned one of her sources!
But even if the above scenario is off base, it makes no sense that Miller had some OTHER source for Plame’s identity in the Bush administration. If that were true, why would the source ONLY tell Miller? Wouldn’t they also tell Rove?
So, I still believe that Rove is the one who’s in big trouble here. News reports have said Fitzgerald “knows” who Miller’s source is. That’s about as strong a piece of evidence you can get (given what else we know) that Fitzgerald does not believe Rove’s story.
If Miller “has a source” for the information, and Fitzgerald “knows” who that source is, then Fitzgerald is building a case against her “source,” not Miller.
So, I think he needs Judith Miller to nail down an indicment against Rove.
The question is, why is Judy refusing to testify?
I’ll leave that to you all to figure out.
UPDATE: Lawrence O’Donnell specualtes based upon the written legal opinions of the Judges revieweing Miller and Cooper’s appeals that the charges being pursued are more than just perjury and obstruction of justice.
ANOTHER UPDATE: While Karl Rove may have been in the book depository, Think Progress believes that Ari Fleischer was in the grassy knoll.
July 15th, 2005 at 10:14 am
Another tantalizing theory is that John Bolton gleened the info on Plame and passed it along to the White House. Why else would the WH want to keep the NSA intercepts secret from both Dems and Repugs during Bolton’s confirmation process? Do they show somehow that this scandal reaches all the way up the Monkey’s butt?
July 15th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Helena,
Of course Bush knew that Plame was Wilson’s wife. He probably was told the minute this information was reveived by the White House.
July 15th, 2005 at 10:20 am
Judith Millers source.
2 possibilities I can think of -
She was a conduit for Chalabi (who was also accused of selling secrets) on WMD issues. Chalabi had lots of access - possibly was debriefed by Mrs. Wilson at some point.
Or, Miller was an echo chamber for Cheney, who spent lots of time at the CIA harrassing agents about WMD. It is possible she was chosen to brief him or they came across each other.
Remember also thet Rove was not the only WH official - Novak mentioned 2.
July 15th, 2005 at 10:32 am
I See ROVE in TREASON PAINTING
compleated in 2001
2 C Painting Go 2
www.RogerART.com
Scroll Down till U C Yellow
Click 15 Protest Paintings
Thank U, Roger@RogerART.com
July 15th, 2005 at 10:37 am
My theory is, it’s Ari Fleischer. All the phone calls between reporters happened after July 6, 2003, when Amb. Wilson’s op-ed piece appeared in the NY Times. Fleischer had announced his resignation in May, and it took effect on July 15, so he fits nicely into the timeline.
I’ve outlined my theory here:
Was Ari Fleischer Judith Miller’s Source?.
There’s something else that leads me to Fleischer that I haven’t put in the post. In reruns of Scott McClellan’s statements about the leaker, he says, very carefully, if a person leaked classified informantion “that person would no longer be a part of this Administration.” It’s perfect Rovian discourse. The leaker would not be a part of the Admin because he already is no longer a part of it.
July 15th, 2005 at 10:44 am
Yeah, Jon. But how did Fleischer find that information out?
July 15th, 2005 at 10:49 am
People possibly who could have come across Mrs. Wilson at CIA:
Cheney and Libby(who visited often), Bolton (involved in WMD), Chalabi (Millers conduit and WMD snitch/liar).
Who else???
July 15th, 2005 at 11:04 am
Who else?
Lot’s of people. George Tenet, for one. Although I doubt it was CIA source because they wouldn’t have angrily referred this to the Justice Department for a crminal investigation.
July 15th, 2005 at 11:37 am
It could be Miller was the conduit between Cheney’s office and Rove.
Remember when the Senate was demanding the turn-over of the records of Bolton’s “review” of intel officers? Maybe Bolton did the oppo on Plame and Wilson, gave it to his boss, Cheney, who had Scooter give it to Miller to pass on to Rove who passed it on to other reporters.
July 15th, 2005 at 11:40 am
So who was at the CIA, besides Bolton? Who ran the CIA? Who has a connection to people who work/worked/will work, at the CIA?
July 15th, 2005 at 11:48 am
Hesiod- Good points.
I’ve been suspecting it was Miller who couldn’t keep her trap shut for a while now. She was obviously the middle-woman between Chalabi and the office of Dick Cheney/Scooter Libby in the lead-up to the Iraq war. She delivered the fodder for the propaganda they needed. So…..What happens if Judy Miller was the betrayer of Valerie Plame and Karl Rove found it all to be pleasingly fair game (as he admitted to Chris Matthews)…and spread it around to the other journalists? Did Judy Miller do something that could be considered a crime? What will it take to make her talk? Immunity? Who else is she protecting?
What about Novak? He and Rove have a history of co-conspiracy, and a NYT article implies that Novak was shooting off his big egotistical mouth to Rove about Valerie Plame. (Conflicting with Novak’s own alleged prior statements). There’s a whole lotta lyin’ goin’ on. [NYT]
Regardless of what Fitzgerald finds, I think all decent people should call for the firing of not only Rove, but Novak and Miller from their respective jobs, if they were engaging in f**king around and playing loose with a CIA’s identity. They all knew better.
A Greg Palast quote regarding Judy Miller’s privileged (and ethically questionable) “access” to Karl Rove and other official goons who would conspire to further betray CIA, and journalists protecting these goons as “sources”, Palast says:
The whole thing makes me want to take a shower to scrub away the filth of power-abuse and propaganda; the stinking lovechild borne of the intercourse between journalists with ‘access-ego’ and lying White House goons, off my brain. If only it could be that easy.
July 15th, 2005 at 12:24 pm
It is known that the CIA infiltrated the media quite some time ago. One source for this information can be found in a book called “The Cultural Cold War.”
Perhaps Judith Miller knew that Valerie Plame was CIA because she works for them too. She certainly writes as if she does.
And there seems to be some kind of battle going on within our intelligence services, especially during the run-up to the war. Since we are speculating, what if we speculated that these two women were on opposing sides of that particular battle?
July 15th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
“Perhaps Judith Miller knew that Valerie Plame was CIA because she works for them too. She certainly writes as if she does.”
Yup. And that would make her, arguably, subject to proecurition in the relevant statute.
July 15th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
It’s unlikely Bush or WH knew of Plame’s status until someone at State (ie Bolton) told them. This could’ve come come, indirectly, through Miller (as someone suggested above).
Read today’s piece by John Dean, “It Appears That Karl Rove Is In Serious Trouble”, especially the last paragraph. The upshot is that if Rove was told by a reporter (Miller), that doesn’t exonerate him; however, it opens Fitzgerald’s menu of possible indictments to include the federal conspiracy statute, “which was the statute most commonly employed during Watergate.”
This explains Miller’s plight, and shows another basis for Fitzgerald’s tenacity in this matter: it must be clear that Rove was not acting on his own, but that conspiracy, and probably a big one, was in place.
July 15th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
Bolton, Bolton, Bolton and that’s why the WH won’t turn those documents over to the Senate.
Miller’s in jail to make her bones. She’s loving every minute of it and probably already wondering what they’ll serve at her Welcome Home, Judy! party at the NYT.
July 15th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
The bottom line evidence is that Karl Rove has committed treason by outing an undercover CIA agent, that Rove lied under oath, that Rove has obstructed justice, that Rove is involved in the coverup.
There may be others who have committed crimes. (MIller, Bush, Cheney, Libby, Abrams, etc..)
Just because one person committed a crime doesn’t mean others didn’t too. Other people assisted Rove in this criminal activity. We must get them too.
July 15th, 2005 at 5:05 pm
If Plame were Miller’s source then she would be as guilty as Rove potentially is, and husband Joe wouldn’t be so vocal about Karl’s guilt.
July 15th, 2005 at 5:05 pm
>>>Bolton, Bolton, Bolton and that’s why the WH won’t turn those documents over to the Senate.
July 15th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Who knew? Well, let’s think REAL hard. Hmmm
Who’s Daddy ran the place?
July 16th, 2005 at 4:16 am
If Judith Miller were the source, she couldn’t be compelled to testify because of the 5th Amendment. She has to be protecting someone, and my money is on Cheney. He’s the only one I can see her going to jail for.
I think Ari Fleisher was told that this was about to go down, and he said he wanted no part of it. His last day at work was the day Novak’s story was published. That meant he never had to answer a question about it.
If there was advanced warning, that means there was a conspiracy. That’s much worse than obstruction of justice. I’m still holding out hope for treason charges. This demonstrably impeded the “war on terror” by destroying a valuable asset and I read the other day that at least one death has resulted from Plame’s exposure. Add to that the fact that Joe Wilson is going around reminding everyone that this is not just outing a CIA agent, which would be bad enough, it’s about a conspiracy to get us into a war the administration knew there was no justification for.
July 16th, 2005 at 10:02 am
I think Miller’s source was the Chimp. He’s the one who ordered everyone to sign those waivers, but Miller has stated her source hasn’t signed one allowing her to speak. The DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO technique is one that has served him well over the years…time, perhaps, to check HIS phone logs, or Big Dick’s…
July 16th, 2005 at 10:42 am
Why can’t it be true? What if Rove really did get his information from Miller? Where did Miler get it from? Who is she protecting? How about J Bolton? Bolton gives it to miller, who tries to confirm with Rove (thus telling him), and Rove tells Novak. Why is Miller in jail if it was Rove as we already know it to be?
My bet’s are on Bolton. Miller will not reveal Bolton either to protect him or perhaps to protect herself ( she may have been threatened). So watch for Bolton to get the appointment during the recess and then Miller can go free because it will not matter by then…
July 16th, 2005 at 12:18 pm
Miller was a mouthpiece for the WH in the lead up to the war. She totally parroted the party line in the pages of the NYT even as other reporting (albeit on the inside pages) raised serious doubts about yellowcake and the aluminum tubes being used to hoodwink the American people. We know the the WH was in the habit of paying “journalists” to tout their policies.
It is apparent that St. Judith of the Ink Pots not so much protecting the sanctity of press sources as she is protecting her own fanny. The question is why.
July 16th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
The only hole in your argument is…
Karl Rove gave his permission to ALL reporters to give testimony, in the Investigation, about anything that he had told them.
If Karl Rove WAS her source, she had no reason NOT to say so.
July 16th, 2005 at 7:10 pm
Don’t shed too many tears for Miller. She was one of the top reporters cheerleading the lead-up to the Iraq War. Look up some of her articles. Maybe that’s why she was so close to Karl Rove, and would rather go to jail, than “out” him.
…and the Miller told his tale…
July 17th, 2005 at 4:07 am
STOP.
Ask yourself a question…
Why is it that the fate of America rests in the hands of the RNC and the DNC to determine which of these illegally-funded organized crime rings can shout the loudest to influence public opinion?
Remember a time not so long ago when a (then respected) guy named John McCain fought tooth and nail for something called “Campaign Finance Reform” designed to take the money out of the political process?
What happened to that effort? What happened to that war hero? What happended to America since the failure of that effort?
Think about how much money the RNC spends to purchase air time from the MSM to sell their products (candidates). Is it really any wonder that those CEOs at the largest media companies go out of their way to please one of their largest customers?
The RNC has purchased the control of the MSM through the mechanisms that continues to allow money to influence the electoral and legislative process. McCain said it most clearly and was defeated. Following his defeat on the issue, he ambled over to the trough and joined the rest of the hogs, lining their pockets with our money.
It’s OUR Money!
THE PARTY IS OVER.
This two party system has failed. The slippery slopes that the money and the power and the internal political wars fuel have led to the most extreme of outcomes, WAR FOR POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL GAIN, as one might expect.
This is the RNC’s war. They bought and paid for the propoganda that SOLD it using their constituent’s money to fund the RNC propoganda machine, under the direction and control of Karl Rove - THE ARCHITECT OF THE PROPOGANDA THAT SOLD THE WAR.
AIPAC and the RNC CONSPIRED to place their own OPERATIVES within the White House and Defense Department, once in place, designed a marketing plan and financed the SELLING OF THIS WAR.
Rove is an operative for the RNC, an ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATE, on the payroll of the United States Government.
Feith, Fleisher, Bolton, Franklin, Wolfowitz, Pearle, Libby, Abrams, Zakheim and a long list of other OPERATIVES with AIPAC ties were installed in positions necessary to pull off the most elaborate CONSPIRACY ever conceived…to intentionally set the conditions for the invasion of the Middle East by the Government of the United States (we the sheeple).
Read. Learn.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/01/12_405.html
http://www.nogw.com/warforisrael.html
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5829.htm
July 17th, 2005 at 8:36 am
Miller went to jail to keep away from the press. Just as Powell is conveniently out of the country when questions of the Plame ID memo arise. Bolton can’t hide in any UN office. Fitzgerald, watch your back!
July 17th, 2005 at 11:11 am
Couple Questions;
How Does all this fit in with the extensive CIA “purge” initiated after the election and after Goss took over?
Also; When the CIA gets burned by someone in Gov’t, doesn’t someone usually get negative pay back big time?