The Libby Inditement

Patrick Fitzgerald has handed down the first inditements in Plamaquiddick (pdf link). It is related to what I posted about the other day, lying to the Grand Jury and investigators, and not regarding the "outing" of a covert CIA officer. So, apparently, no original crime (we'll probably find out more from Fitzgerald's press conference), but a coverup in that Libby lied about how he found out about Plame. Very sad, and quite shocking. By all accounts, Scooter Libby is a very good lawyer and should have known better - perhaps hubris entered the equation.

The inditement is a pretty remarkable document, and I encourage you to read it all. Judge Napolitano just remarked on Fox News that he was aware that Joe Wilson frequented the cocktail circuit in Washington with his wife on his arm and introduced her as "my CIA agent wife" long before Robert Novak's original article. From the inditement we see that Plame's position was "classified", what ever that means. But even with that fact in the charges, Libby was not charged with anything regarding Plame or Wilson - just lying to the Grand Jury and the FBI about conversations he had with reporters.

Fitzgerald's office also has a press release in conjunction with this inditement (pdf link).

Let's see what happens at trial. More to come shortly (I'm hanging a new storm door before it rains).