As you probably know by now, Scooter Libby's new defense is that the President himself authorized the disclosure of Plame's classified identity to a reporter. Since the President authorized the disclosure, goes the defense's reasoning, it is by definition no longer classified.
Of course, this new testimony by Libby may be a perjurous Lie. However, let's just say for a moment that Libby's testimony is true and the President authorized the leak.
If the President authorized the leak, then surely he knew about the leak. It is surely fascinating to go back to the White House's statements and the President's own words to see the varied and multiple Lies that he told to the American public on this subject.
All quotes are taken directly from White House transcripts.
September 29, 2003
Q Scott, has anyone -- has the President tried to find out who outed the CIA agent? And has he fired anyone in the White House yet?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Helen, that's assuming a lot of things. First of all, that is not the way this White House operates. The President expects everyone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. No one would be authorized to do such a thing. Secondly, there -- I've seen the anonymous media reports, and if I could find out who "anonymous" was, it would make my life a whole lot easier. But --
Q Does he think it didn't come from here?
MR. McCLELLAN: But we've made it very clear that anyone -- anyone -- who has information relating to this should report that information to the Department of Justice.
Q Does he doubt it came from the White House?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?
Q Does he doubt?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there's been no information that has been brought to our attention, beyond what we've seen in the media reports, to suggest White House involvement.
September 30, 2003
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is.
...
I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business.
October 7, 2003
Q: Mr. President, beyond the actual leak of classified information, there are reports that someone in the administration was trying to -- after it was already out -- actively spread the story, even calling Ambassador Wilson's wife "fair game." Are you asking your staff is anyone did that? And would it be wrong or even a fire-able offense if that happened?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the investigators will ask our staff about what people did or did not do. This is a town of -- where a lot of people leak. And I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks, particularly leaks of classified information. And I want to know, I want to know the truth. I want to see to it that the truth prevail. And I hope we can get this investigation done in a thorough way, as quickly as possible.
But the Justice Department will conduct this investigation. The professionals in the Justice Department will be involved in ferreting out the truth. These are citizens who will -- were here before this administration arrived and will be here after this administration leaves. And they'll come to the bottom of this, and we'll find out the truth. And that will be -- that's a good thing for this administration.
The President wants to know the truth? He wants somebody to step forward? I mean, c'mon. He's either just authorized Libby to leak the information or he hasn't. If he has authorized it, this is just ridiculous lying. If he hasn't authorized it, then Libby has today committed some insane perjury.
I know that some of you are probably saying, "Surprise, surprise. These guys have been lying about everything for years." But this seems to me to be a different magnitude of outright lie.
Usually their lies have at least a possible rationalization for the blindly loyal, a truthiness twist that their base can hang onto when they hear it on Fox News or Rush. But by bringing up the President's own words now that Libby has implicated the President, there is no way the wingnuts can defend both Libby and the President at the same time. This is significant. The right-wing base, the 34% who still approve of Bush, do not like the idea of the President directly lying.
In the many front-page articles detailing Libby's testimony today, not one has gone back to quote the White House on the subject of the leak. We must remind people of the President's own words claiming to know nothing about the leak, and ask a simple question: Is Libby lying now, or was the President lying then?
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In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the relevant portion of Libby's court filing:
Defendant further testified that he at first advised the Vice President that he could not have this conversation with reporter Miller because of the classified nature of the NIE. Defendant testified that the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE. Defendant testified that he also spoke to David Addington, then Counsel to the Vice President, whom defendant considered to be an expert in national security law, and Mr. Addington opined that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document.
A close reading of this passage leads to another possible conclusion. If Libby is telling the truth in this statement, the Vice President could have lied to Libby when he told LIbby that "the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE."