I love that Bush and Rove are under tremendous pressure right now regarding leaked classified information. And I hope (expect) that Rove will have to resign.
Frankly, going back over some of the investigative journalism from the -start- of this controversy reveals that there isn't that much new information about the scandal right now - just collaborative evidence. Still important but memos and emails just confirm what was known almost two years ago.
Below the fold I'll summarize some of the old reports I found tonight.
Scooter Libby has been a principal suspect as the primary source of the Valerie Plame leak since Oct 2003.
Eric Boehlert wrote in this October 3, 2003 Salon article:
Many of the clues pointing toward Libby come from Novak himself, who's provided a number of details about his source. (Yes, there were two Novak sources, but according to the columnist, after a senior administration source gave him Plame's identity, the second source merely confirmed that when Novak told him he knew.)
Around July 17, 2003, Scooter was talking about Wilson to Time Magazine in this article.
May 14th 2004, Joe Wilson points his finger at Scooter on Democracy Now:
I think Scooter Libby is involved up to his eyeballs in this. Everybody who was at that meeting would have been part of the conspiracy to run the intelligence operation against me and ultimately to make the decision to leak. I don't know who made the phone calls, but beyond the people who actually picked up the phone are the people who made the decision to have them make that phone call. What I will say about them, whoever they are, they fall into the category of what the former President Bush called the most insidious of traitors. Whether or not they can be prosecuted and convicted is frankly, immaterial. What is irrefutable in all of this is that they betrayed the national security of the country. They are, the minute that the investigation was opened, the most insidious of traitors.
Seems like Scooter tagged along with Buzz on many of his frequent visits to the CIA as reported here. This leads me to think that Scooter was in the loop on everything and in the know about Plame's role in the CIA.
The vice president and his chief of staff went out to CIA headquarters on a number of occasions -- at least on two occasions -- specifically to address the questions of weapons of mass destruction and the attempt to acquire a nuclear capability.
Fitzgerald's investigation has a lot to do with Scooter according to this from the Washington Post on Aug 10, 2004.
But Russert did agree to an interview, under oath, with Fitzgerald on Saturday. And according to NBC, "the questioning focused on what Russert said when Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, phoned him last summer."
Rove is smoke and mirrors. Scooter Libby is the real criminal here.
Post your findings on the Scooter Connection below.