Woo vs. Harmon - Witness Scooter Libby

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

—

DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

I. LEWIS “SCOOTER” LIBBY

Former Chief of Staff to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

November 20, 2007

BUSH/CHENEY MISLED PUBLIC
ABOUT CIA IDENTITY LEAK

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."

Bush's chief of staff at the time was Andrew Card.

The excerpt, posted on the Web site of publisher PublicAffairs, renews questions about what went on in the West Wing and how much Bush and Cheney knew about the leak. For years, it was McClellan's job to field — and often duck — those types of questions.

Now that he's spurring them, answers are equally hard to come by.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said it wasn't clear what McClellan meant in the excerpt. "The president has not and would not ask his spokespeople to pass on false information," she said.

Plame issued a statement saying the opposite.

"I am outraged to learn that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan confirms that he was sent out to lie to the press corps," Plame said. "Even more shocking, McClellan confirms that not only Karl Rove and Scooter Libby told him to lie but Vice President Cheney, presidential Chief of Staff Andrew Card and President Bush also ordered McClellan to issue his misleading statement."

McClellan turned down interview requests Tuesday.

Plame maintains the White House quietly outed her to reporters. Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, said the leak was retribution for his public criticism of the Iraq war. The accusation dogged the administration and made Plame a cause celebre among many Democrats...

"Just when you think the credibility of this White House can't get any lower, another shoe drops," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "If the Bush administration won't even tell the truth to its official spokesman, how can the American people expect to be told the truth either?"

In the fall of 2003, after authorities began investigating the leak, McClellan told reporters that he'd personally spoken to Rove, who was Bush's top political adviser, and Libby, who was Cheney's chief of staff.

"They're good individuals, they're important members of our White House team, and that's why I spoke with them, so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved," McClellan said at the time.

Both men, however, were involved. Rove was one of the original sources for the newspaper column that identified Plame. Libby also spoke to reporters about the CIA officer and was convicted of lying about those discussions. He is the only person to be charged in the case.

Since that news conference, however, the official White House stance has shifted and it has been difficult to get a clear picture of what happened behind closed doors around the time of the leak.

McClellan's flat denials gave way to a steady drumbeat of "no comment." And Bush's original pledge to fire anyone involved in the leak became a promise to fire anyone who "committed a crime."

In a CNN interview earlier this year, McClellan made no suggestion that Bush knew either Libby or Rove was involved in the leak. McClellan said his statements to reporters were what he and the president "believed to be true at the time based on assurances that we were both given."

Bush most recently addressed the issue in July after commuting Libby's 30-month prison term. He acknowledged that some in the White House were involved in the leak. Then, after repeatedly declining to discuss the ongoing investigation, he said the case was closed and it was time to move on.

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July 3, 2007

White House won't rule out
full Libby pardon

Spokesman says Bush satisfied for now
with commutation of jail term

MSNBC, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The White House on Tuesday declined to rule out the possibility of an eventual pardon for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But spokesman Tony Snow said, for now, President Bush is satisfied with his decision to commute Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.

"He thought any jail time was excessive. He did not see fit to have Scooter Libby taken to jail," Snow said.

Snow said that even with Bush's decision, Libby remains with a felony conviction on his record, two years' probation, a $250,000 fine (Note: This is half the fine in the instant case) and probable loss of his legal career. "This is hardly a slap on the wrist," Snow said.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who sentenced Libby to prison, declined Tuesday to discuss the case or his views on sentencing. "To now say anything about sentencing on the heels of yesterday's events will inevitably be construed as comments on the president's commutation decision, which would be inappropriate," the judge said in an e-mail.

Clemency granted

With prison seeming all but certain for Libby, Bush on Monday spared the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. His move came just five hours after a federal appeals court panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. The Bureau of Prisons had already assigned Libby a prison identification number.

Snow was pressed several times on whether the president might eventually grant a full pardon to Libby, who had been convicted of lying and conspiracy in the CIA leak investigation. The press secretary declined to say anything categorically.

"The reason I'm not going to say I'm not going to close a door on a pardon," Snow said, "Scooter Libby may petition for one."

"The president thinks that he has dealt with the situation properly," he added. "There is always a possibility or there's an avenue open for anybody to petition for consideration of a pardon."

Bush's decision was sharply criticized by Democrats. Republicans were more subdued, with some welcoming the decision and some conservatives saying Bush should have gone further.

"The president's getting pounding on the right for not granting a full pardon," Snow suggested.

Asked whether Cheney had weighed in on the decision to commute Libby's sentence, Snow said, "I don't have direct knowledge. But on the other hand, the president did consult with most senior officials, and I'm sure that everybody had an opportunity to share their views."

Dems angered

Bush’s decision enraged Democrats and cheered conservatives — though some of the latter wished Bush had granted a full pardon.

“Libby’s conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush’s decision showed the president “condones criminal conduct.”

Unlike a pardon, which would have wiped away Libby’s criminal record, Bush’s commutation voided only the prison term.

The president left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for his conviction of lying and obstructing justice in a probe into the leak of a CIA operative’s identity. The former operative, Valerie Plame, contends the White House was trying to discredit her husband, a critic of Bush’s Iraq policy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19583008/

~ ~ ~

June 5, 2007

Former Cheney Aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby Gets 30 Months in Prison

WASHINGTON —

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby left a federal courtroom with his wife Tuesday after being sentenced to 30 months in prison and a $250,000 fine for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

Libby, departing in a car without commenting to reporters, does not begin his prison sentence immediately. Judge Reggie B. Walton allowed Libby to remain free on bail pending his appeal, but said he saw no reason to delay action and will offer a ruling next week after reviewing written arguments.

In the meantime, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will decide where Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, serves his sentence, and will set a reporting date likely within the next 60 days.

Cheney called Libby a "friend," saying he is "deeply saddened" by his former chief of staff's trial and sentencing.

"I have always considered him to be a man of the highest intellect, judgment and personal integrity — a man fully committed to protecting the vital security interests of the United States and its citizens," Cheney said in a statement. "Speaking as friends, we hope that our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man."

Walton also fined Libby $250,000 and placed him on probation for two years following his release from prison.

Libby stood calmly before a packed courtroom when his sentencing was announced.

"People who occupy these types of positions, where they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special obligation to not do anything that might create a problem," Walton said.

President Bush, currently traveling abroad, will not intervene in the case while it's under appeal, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said after Libby's sentencing.

Bush "felt terrible for the family" when he heard about the sentence from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and Counselor Dan Bartlett en route to Rostock, Germany, Perino said.

• Click here to read Libby's indictment. (FindLaw)

Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing an investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

The highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair, Libby has steadfastly maintained his innocence.

"It is respectfully my hope that the court will consider, along with the jury verdict, my whole life," Libby said in brief remarks to the judge.

Sitting with Libby's wife Harriet Grant during the sentencing were conservative commentators Mary Matalin, a former Cheney aide, and Victoria Toensing, a former deputy assistant attorney general during the Reagan administration. Toensing wrote the Intelligence Identities Protection Act that was used to launch the CIA leak probe. Libby was not charged with revealing Plame's name but lying about how her name found its way to the media.

With letters of support from several former military commanders and White House and State Department officials, Libby asked for no jail time. His supporters cited a government career in which Libby helped win the Cold War and the first Gulf War.

"He has fallen from public grace," defense attorney Theodore Wells said. "It is a tragic fall, a tragic fall."

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald called on Libby to serve up to three years in prison. Fitzgerald declined to comment after the sentencing hearing.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,278201,00.html

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Patton Boggs, Karl Rove and OHA

From WorksOfConklin

The November 28, 2005 issue of "Newsweek" magazine includes an article linking White House chief of staff Karl Rove to Washington lobbying firm Patton Boggs and the payment of $400,000 by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to Patton Boggs to lobby for the Akaka bill. The implication is that Rove may be improperly using his influence with the President to lobby on behalf of Patton Boggs clients, including lobbying for the Akaka bill, in return for money and legal representation for himself regarding the investigation of CIA leaks involving Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Here are excerpts from the "Newsweek" article:

Deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove recently took out a $100,000 line of credit from Wells Fargo Bank ... any Rove legal debts -- which won't have to be publicly disclosed until next year -- could bring attention to his relationship with Patton Boggs, the D.C. powerhouse lobbying firm, where his lawyer in the leak case, Robert Luskin, is a partner. Lobbying records show Patton Boggs represents a battery of foreign governments, corporations and others with interests before the government. Rove has been involved in White House meetings involving at least one big Patton Boggs client: the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which paid the firm $400,000 earlier this year to lobby for a controversial native-Hawaiian recognition bill. Patton Boggs lawyer Ben Ginsberg, a Rove friend and big GOP lawyer who recommended he hire Luskin, is a principal on the case. The White House -- which recently ordered all staffers to take an ethics training course -- declined to say if there is any policy for Rove to recuse himself from issues involving Patton Boggs clients.

The Bush administration has shown ambivalence on the Akaka bill. The "Newsweek" revelations about Rove might explain why. Political influence-peddling sometimes squeezes out principled decision-making.

On the policy side, career civil rights experts and Constitutional lawyers in the Department of Justice have consistently opposed the Akaka bill and other Hawaiian race-based programs, but have sometimes been muzzled and over-ruled by political pressure. The Republican conservative base has strongly opposed the Akaka bill as shown by dozens of newspaper articles and blog comments during the period in mid-2005 when the Akaka bill appeared headed for Senate action. Even as far back as year 2000 the Wall Street Journal editorialized against it; and in 2001 Roger Clegg and Michelle Malkin published commentaries opposing it. For a collection of the most important published articles opposing the Akaka bill, in chronological order (about 200 pages), see: http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/AkakaPublishedOpposition.html

On the political side, there have been many rumors that Karl Rove and other strategists in the Republican party want to support the Akaka bill as a way of helping Hawai'i's Republican (in name only) Governor Linda Lingle, who is likely to run for re-election or who might someday run for the Senate. For example, the Grassroot Institute survey of Hawai'i households showed that 2/3 of all who responded to the question said they oppose the Akaka bill. http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/bigfiles3/AkakaScientificSurvey070505.html

A rumor is that when those results were in the process of being distributed by hand to the offices of all 100 Senators, the person distributing them was told by a White House operative to stop doing that because it would embarrass Governor Lingle who was at that moment personally lobbying Senators for the Akaka bill. Lingle has made the Akaka bill her top priority in an all-out effort to win the support of what she regards as a monolithic ethnic Hawaiian swing vote comprising 20% of Hawai'i's population. She has ordered her appointed Attorney General to vigorously defend state government agencies providing racially exclusionary benefits, against civil rights and taxpayer lawsuits. Lingle has also marched in red-shirt rallies in support of powerful race-based institutions (both government and private); see http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/bigfiles3/AntiAmericanHawaiianProtesters.html and also http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/redshirtsept2004.html

Throughout all 5 years of the Bush administration so far, there has been the same tension between principle and politics on issues such as affirmative action and border control. Karl Rove is the political "architect" trying to broaden the Republican base by appealing to powerful leaders and institutions in the black and Hispanic communities (and the ethnic Hawaiian 20% "swing vote" in Hawai'i). Identity politics caters to a mistaken stereotype that all blacks support racial quotas or affirmative action, that all Hispanics support open borders, or that all people with a drop of Hawaiian native blood support racial separatism or ethnic nationalism. Identity politics conflicts with the traditional Republican focus on individual rights and equality under the law.

Political expediency sometimes triumphs in the short run over principled decision-making. Unfortunately, political expediency might also sometimes lead politicians to take money under questionable circumstances, or to exchange political influence for money-equivalents such as legal representation. The connection between Karl Rove, Patton Boggs, $400,000, and the Akaka bill is troubling, although so far only circumstantial.

For further information about the Bush administration's activities related to the Akaka bill, see: "Bush Administration Actions and Statements on Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill, 2000-2004 (includes 2005 addendum)" at: http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/AkakaBush20002004.html

Full text of Newsweek report

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10117472/site/newsweek/print/1/displaymode/1098/

http://kenconklin.org/mediawiki/index.php

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Scooter Libby is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, political and personal relationships with Sibel Edmonds, Judge Reggie Walton, V.K. Durham, Cindy Sheehan, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, “Duke” Cunningham, “Dusty” Foggo, Jerry Lewis, James Baker III, Jim Nicholson, Norm Brownstein, Karl Rove, Daniel Akaka, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, James Ahloy, Enron, Aloha Petroleum/Harken Energy, McKenzie Methane, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, Robert Kihune, BCCI, Carlyle Group, Investcorp, APCOA, Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, Gale Norton, Linda Lingle, Faye Kurren, Nature Conservancy, Robert Miller, Marsh & McLennan, AIG, Chubb Group, Richard Rainwater, Bill Frist, Lee Bass, Halliburton, and others to be named upon discovery.

Internet References:

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS UNDER INVESTIGATION

"Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our Fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."

-- Abraham Lincoln

IRAQ BODY COUNT

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National Priorities Project - Cost of War

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A Timeline of Oil and Violence in Iraq

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THE EAGLE HOODED:
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PART I - PART II - PART III