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Libby’s defense…

Posted on Tuesday 6 February 2007

[Hats off to Talk Left for providing the PDF files of the Libby filings!]

Lawyers file something called a "Theory of Defense Instruction" – suggesting what the Judge should say in instructing the Jury. Jeralyn explains it here. It’s in a graphic PDF file that I’ve reformatted to fit. Here’s what it says:
You can probably see why I went to the trouble to get this into a readable form. He doesn’t contest that what he said was not the truth, but contends that it was all he could recall at the time – a series of understandable mistakes. He also says that he had no motive to actively lie and that he knew the reporters "could and likely would" reccount their versions of the story to the Grand Jury.

I sure don’t buy the first part, but I don’t believe that second part either. The reporters [at least Matt Cooper and Judith Miller] balked at testifying. Miller didn’t go to jail after an 11th hour reassurance from his source. Judith Miller only testified after Libby personally released her [after three months in jail with him saying nothing]by writing his bizarre Aspen Letter. Here it is for review. You be the judge of what he was getting at:

This gem won’t make it into the Jury’s folder, but they will hear about his peculiar appearance as a cowboy in Jackson Hole. Libby is one weird guy. When he gave this Grand Jury testimony, I think he was banking on the reporters to either keep quiet, or lie, or something. What he contends in his theory of defense is just too hard to believe to even be taken seriously. But the other thing to note, his "forgetting" is only those things that put him in a bad light, and his "remembering" is only of things that were benign. That doesn’t sound "too busy" to any of us. It sounds like lying…

  1.  
    Carolyn Smoot
    February 6, 2007 | 8:58 PM
     

    Thanks for helping me make sense (somewhat) of this convoluted mess. No wonder we’re in such a terrible fix with Iraq. No one in this administration can talk straight about anything. Carolyn

  2.  
    Abby's mom
    February 7, 2007 | 6:42 AM
     

    “Miller didn’t go to jail after an 11th hour reassurance from his source.”
    I think you meant Cooper, not Miller.

  3.  
    Abby's mom
    February 7, 2007 | 6:51 AM
     

    I have never understood why, if Libby had give Judith Miller a waiver of confidentiality a year earlier, she elected to refuse to testify and why he let her languish in jail for months before reiterating it. Can you explain? Something stinks here.

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