On Fox: Excuses, Excuses, Excuses for Libby, Hume Says Plame Not Covert, Libby Is A Victim, There Was No White House Campaign Strategy To Discredit Joe Wilson...
Reported by Donna - March 6, 2007 -
Today on Studio B with Trace Gallagher filling in for Shepard Smith he had a segment with Brit Hume, Chief Apologist, to explain what happened when Libby was found guilty on 4 out of 5 counts today including obstruction of justice and lying.
At the top of the show they had a report from Catherine Herridge who said that Libby was one of the vice president's most trusted advisors. (Comment: That should hint at something right there). She said his lawyers would ask for a new trial and if that failed they would appeal. His lawyer said that Libby would ultimately be cleared. Herridge reported that Joe Wilson and his wife sent out a statement that they were pleased with the verdict and were continuing their civil case against, Cheney, Libby, Rove and Armitage.
Herridge added that Libby was smiing and then when the verdict was announced he went blank and his wife broke into sobs.
The following is my partial transcript between Trace Gallagher and Brit Hume on the CIA Leak Scandal hearing:
Trace Gallagher: Now, from Studio B live to Fox News Washington Managing Editor, Brit Hume. And Brit it's important to remember here that had there not been an investigation there would have been no crime.
Brit Hume: Well, in this case that's true because Scooter Libby is charged with lying during the course of an investigation that began as an investigation as to how and whether the name of a covert CIA agent had been illegally leaked by a Bush administration official. Well it turned out, of course, indeed the name had been leaked. Whether the woman was covert, Valerie Plame was covert within the meaning of the law, remains at this point, still unclear. Unlikely she was. (My emphasis)
And the leak came not from an administration supporter on Iraq trying to discredit an administration critic but rather from an administration critic within the state department who was the only person whose leak made any difference. That was the one that went to Bob Novak
who described repeatedly and has again today here on Fox how he got that information and he mentioned it in passing in a column and once it was out it was out. Libby was later questioned as to whether he also had done something like this and he's not charged with having done it he's charged with having lied about it and that's what the jury convicted him on today.
TG: And I heard you earlier, Brit, talking about how Vice President Dick Cheney might view this and you used the term, he might view this as Captain Ahab justice.
BH: That, I think is very much the feeling uh..in the Cheney camp...uh...they remain loyal to Scooter Libby, devoted to him in a way. They feel he's been a victim here of an investigation (my emphasis) that went on long after it should have been shut down because the original purpose of the investigation was served almost immediately. The special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald knew almost from the outset who had leaked the name to Robert Novak, who is the only person who's publication of it mattered since it was the first one. There were subsequent passing mentions of it and of course it blew up into a big case. So there was a good question of why the investigation persisted after that.
It was pretty clear that there was no big White House campaign to discredit Joe Wilson (my emphasis) by leaking his wife's identity. Joe Wilson, of course is someone who was sent on a mission by the CIA down to find out what Saddam Hussein's government may or may not have been up to in terms of acquiring nuclear materials in Africa. That was the original matter of what it was all about. Wilson came back and presented one version to the CIA on what he found and another to the press in an article to the NY Times which is what got this whole thing going. But the effort to discredit him was pretty faint if there was any serious effort at all, and that was obviously what Fitzgerald was persuing. He didn't find much he didn't charge much but on account of contradictory testimony, Scooter Libby stands today convicted and possibly headed for jail although I have a suspicion that the president won't let that happen.
Hume went on to say that Libby didn't have any motive for lying and possibly the jury thought he was covering up for someone else and that was a possible motive.
Comment: Hume served his purpose as a major apologist for the Bush Administration. Notice my emphasized statements, he felt that Cheney felt Libby was a victim, their was no big White House conspiracy, Valerie Plame was not covert even though the Special Prosecutor, Fitzgerald, said she was an outed covert CIA agent. On and on and on he goes, continuing the excuses - will they never end? And where is the fair and balanced reporting? Not on Fox.
