Were the Cover-Up Conspirators Going to Meet in Aspen?

by emptywheel

Just an update on the Aspen mystery, no doubt inspired by my three days of driving through recently turned Aspen clusters. Here is the mystery passage:

You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover--Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work--and life.

To which Judy responded:

In answer, I told the grand jury about my last encounter with Mr. Libby. It came in August 2003, shortly after I attended a conference on national security issues held in Aspen, Colo. After the conference, I traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyo. At a rodeo one afternoon, a man in jeans, a cowboy hat and sunglasses approached me. He asked me how the Aspen conference had gone. I had no idea who he was.

"Judy," he said. "It's Scooter Libby."

eRiposte notes an odd discrepancy. Libby mentions Judy's vacation. Yet Judy says the Aspen reference relates to a conference. A big enough discrepancy, I think, to suggest one--or both--are bullshitting.

Then eRiposte goes on to ask whether,

[Judy's anecdote] was just a convenient anecdote to take attention away from the "aspens turn in clusters" aspect of Libby's letter.

But there's another possibility--that Judy and Libby are both misdirecting.

In my original Aspen post, I suggested the most likely explanation was that Libby was referring to the Forstmann Little Aspen Conference, which started the weekend after he sent his letter. Rove and Novak definitely attended; I have seen no indicated whether Libby attended or not. When I made this speculation, though, I thought primarily of general Neocon scheming--that perhaps everyone involved in the Get Joe Wilson campaign could get together and compare notes. But one more detail has appeared that makes me think there was a more specific goal.

As I noted in my first thoughts on the NYT/Judy document dump this weeked, Judy's response when Taubman asked if she were one of the six writers involved in the leak was no simple lie:

In the fall of 2003, after The Washington Post reported that "two top White House officials disclosed Plame's identity to at least six Washington journalists," Philip Taubman, Ms. Abramson's successor as Washington bureau chief, asked Ms. Miller and other Times reporters whether they were among the six. Ms. Miller denied it.

"The answer was generally no," Mr. Taubman said. Ms. Miller said the subject of Mr. Wilson and his wife had come up in casual conversation with government officials, Mr. Taubman said, but Ms. Miller said "she had not been at the receiving end of a concerted effort, a deliberate organized effort to put out information.

That is, this lie is not an invention Judy made up all by herself. Compare Judy's Fall 2003 statement with the claim Novak makes in his  2003 column.

First, I did not receive a planned leak.

[snip]

The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue.

Judy and Novak--responding to the same article--provide almost the exactly same excuse. The leak was not planned, not deliberate. They weren't pawns.

Now, Murray Waas has reporters investigators are looking closely at this story, as evidence of a cover-up.

Federal investigators have been skeptical of Novak's assertions that he referred to Plame as a CIA "operative" due to his own error, instead of having been explicitly told that was the case by his sources, according to attorneys familiar with the criminal probe.

Also of interest to investigators have been a series of telephone contacts between Novak and Rove, and other White House officials, in the days just after press reports first disclosed the existence of a federal criminal investigation as to who leaked Plame's identity. Investigators have been concerned that Novak and his sources might have conceived or co-ordinated a cover story to disguise the nature of their conversations.

The investigators have some evidence that Novak's story was the product of collaboration between Novak, Rove, and (presumably) Libby, part of an effort to tell a consistent story that exonerates everyone. Novak's story, then, is a product of the cover-up. And Judy Miller is telling a very similar story at precisely the same time.

I'm going to hazard a guess--that Judy Miller was involved in the conspiracy to cover-up the crime of outing Plame.

If I'm right, this is important enough. It means Fitz may have evidence against Judy not just of perjury, but also obstruction of justice. It means Judy's silence was part of the plan to cover up the crime. And if Fitz can prove this, it totally shreds whatever remaining claim to respecability and honor Judy had.

Which is where we get back to the Aspen reference. At least two of the cover-up conspirators were at Aspen together the weekend after Libby wrote his letter--at an event traditionally not covered by the press. Had Judy agreed to testify immediately upon receiving Libby's letter, she would have an opportunity to be there as well. To join her cluster of conspirators.

To dream up a new story.

If I'm right, Judy refused to dig herself in deeper. She didn't accept the letter as an adequate waiver. And in fact, she demanded another sign from Libby, which she received on September 19, after the conference ended. And, as I'll show in a future post, right now she's testifying willingly about the Libby obstruction, while she still seems to be lying (at least in public) about the Plame leak.

I think Libby's Aspen reference was an invitation for Judy to further conspire to obstruct the investigation. An invitation she apparently declined. I wonder, given the apparent love-letter to Rove Novak filed from Aspen:

U.S. News & World Report disclosed this week, with apparent disdain, that presidential adviser Karl Rove took time off from the Katrina relief effort to be at Aspen. He was needed as a counterweight. I settled in for serious fireworks, expecting Bush-bashers to assault his alter ego at the conference's final session. However, direct confrontation with a senior aide must have been more difficult than a remote attack on the president. It would be a shame if Rove returned to Washington without informing George W. Bush how erstwhile friends have turned against him.

Whether this was the first volley in a new attempt to cover-up. Anyway, just another speculation about the Aspen reference.

What Judy's Aspen reference means, though, I've got no clue.

Update: lawgirl has a good diary at DKos noting that Bennett either slipped, or admitted that Judy visited Cheney on that trip to Jackson Hole in August 2003. And Quicksilver (to whom I owe the Forstmann idea) notes that the development where Cheney lives in Jackson Hole is called the Aspens. Given those two tidbits, I now think it possible that the cover-up conspirators all met in Jackson Hole at Dick's house in August 2003. This is slightly earlier than I've believed the cover-up happened (I thought it was later, between the appearance of the September 30 WaPo article and Novak's October column, but then they'd have to meet face-to-face first to agree to cover-up, right?). But still a distinct possibility.

Comments

[Libby Sosume]

If Judy was Novak's original source, would that clear it all up?

[emptywheel]

I don't think Judy was Libby's original source. I think they were both go to reporters here. And, if I'm right about coverup, willing to continue lying (it appears that Novak went from complete legal impunity to deep doo doo, oops).

[saugatak]

Yeah, Judy and Novak are in on it. The way both worded their denial as "not being pawns" , "not being at the end of concerted leak attempts" blah, blah is pretty obvious. Fitz ain't gonna miss that. Novak, a reporter, not blabbing for two years . . . reporters are silent like this when they're protecting themselves.

Also, Judy failing to mention the Aspens turning in clusters in response to Fitz's open-ended question is something Fitz won't miss, her "spotty" memory on Valerie "Flame", her preening after she thought she fooled Fitz the first time around, her shaken reaction after her second round of GJ testimony, her insistence that she was protecting "other sources" that she can't remember after 85 days in jail . . .

One good point that brilliant Jane Hamsher at firedoglake made: The mispronunciation of "Valerie Flame" is the type of mistake you make the FIRST time you hear a name. Ask any psych, people remember the first and last, and forget the middle. There's no way under these circumstances that Judy would forget the first time she heard Valerie "Flame", subsequently corrected to Valerie Plame, and remember the times in the middle when she heard of Plame.

You add all this up and it spells "big pile of droppings" that will hit the fan when somebody turns. And you know what, when stakes are this high, somebody will turn. First person that turns gets immunity, the rest get the shaft.

There is no Mahatma Gandhi, no Jesus Christ in this slimeball cast of liars, cheats and war criminals. Nobody in this nest of skunks is going to take the hit to protect someone else.

[nandrews3]

"What Judy's Aspen reference means, though, I've got no clue."

When I read it, I thought: she wants to knock down the whole idea, left hanging in the air by her reciting the end of Scooter's letter, that the two of them are still meaningfully "connected," even though refuting it directly wouldn't be true. So, since she always does her own thing anyway no matter what she's asked to do, she tells this story, which by itself isn't falsifiable.

Isn't she a reptile? If she doesn't go to jail, the White House should make her the press secretary, since Scotty obviously needs bed rest.

[emptywheel]

nandrews3

Actually, she's perfectly qualified to do that, huh?

[David W]

applying Occam's Razor, it's either a.) a weak attempt to send a 'hidden' message, or b.) a pathetic attempt at human interaction.

my money is on 'a'--however, if so, it's just so weak and seemingly transparent--doesn't the 'turn in clusters' reference simply mean 'we're all in this together?'

If so, it's the opposite of clever--as if this message would actually strengthen her resolve--also, since it came after Fitzgerald specifically forbid any discussion related to the case, did Libby really think that the 'hidden' message would just slip by?

my secret agent side asks 'is there a hidden code in the message?' but again, apply Occam's Razor, and the simplest explanation will probably be the case: these guys are not supersecret whizbang operatives, they're scheming opportunists, who aren't particularly bright in covering their tracks--what's more, as others have noted, the vaunted loyalty is a myth, and the first Aspen that turns will indeed surely turn the cluster...

[marisa]

I was just wondering about the recent reports that Libby passed Miller bad info about WINPAC. Does anyone know if that info came from Miller's "newly found" notebook?

Seems a little convenient doesn't it? It certainly seemed strange enough that Miller would turn over notes that we were all fairly convinced Miller must have been caught in a lie and trying to get herself out of it.

Is it possible that she was instead conveniently passing info to Fitzgerald that would make it really difficult to prove that Libby had intentionally outed Plame?

[nandrews3]

Oh, hi! emptywheel

Don't suppose Scooter testified to that?

[Troller]

The link of Novak's article can be found at
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200310/ai_n9328212

[antonetteg]

I've always wondered if the passage was a coded threat. these are some pretty mean people after all. the whole "come back to work--and life"--it's kind of ominous.

[eriposte]

EW,

When I saw Taubman's comment about Miller, my immediate inference was that she was part of the cover-up at that time, along with Novak. What I'm intrigued by is whether Patrick Fitzgerald was aware of Miller's claim back then until it appeared in this weekend's Times. If not, I would imagine he must be going back to check the call logs or meetings between Miller and Libby et al. in Fall 2003 after the investigation was announced.

Another point. Have you had a chance to analyze yet the latest report out regarding Libby's claim about Plame being at WINPAC. I remember reading sometime back that David Shedd was an NSC guy in WINPAC that knew Plame and may have told a few people in the WH about her. I think you also wrote at one time that she worked for DO and WINPAC. Either way, here's another strange thing in what Miller said in her article which almost suggests that she was trying to get Libby off the hook.

She said that in her first meeting with Libby she wrote down "Wife works in bureau?" and when asked by Fitzgerald what she meant by this, she gave him some spiel about how she assumed it referred to the CIA and to "the agency that dealt with the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons" (presumably meaning WINPAC). Yet, she wrote that it was during her second conversation with Libby that she heard for the first time that Plame worked for WINPAC. Billmon picked this up.

Now, why would she contradict herself in her own testimony?

[windansea]

Larry Johnson

http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/797#comments

[windansea]

JO JO in deep dudu too

http://macsmind.blogspot.com/2005/10/clairvoyant-mr-wilson.html

[desertwind]

windandsea: Woah nelly!, fella.

[Meteor Blades]

Folks over at MSNBC are saying Officials unaware of reporter's special status:

WASHINGTON — Officials from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon say they have no idea what New York Times reporter Judith Miller was talking about when she claimed to have been given a "security clearance" while she was embedded with a U.S. Army unit in Iraq in 2003.

In a first-person account of her recent testimony before a federal grand jury, published in the newspaper on Sunday, Miller wrote the Pentagon had given her "clearance to see secret information as part of my assignment 'embedded' with a special military unit hunting for unconventional weapons."

According to the officials, they know of no instance or circumstance when a reporter has been, or would be, granted a security clearance and believed she would not have been given one when she was embedded with the unit that was tasked with finding Iraqi WMDs immediately after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials say they are continuing to check whether Miller had been granted a security clearance of any kind.

Normally it takes at least three months of background checks before anyone is granted a "secret” clearance.

Maybe Judy;s security clearance was a perpetual day pass like the one "Jeff Gannon" got for White House press briefings.

[obsessed]

windansea: Have you read the appeals court ruling on cooper's & miller's contempt case?

Check out this quote on page 40:

Had Cooper based his report on leaks about the leaks—say, from a whistleblower who revealed the plot against Wilson—the situation would be different.

How can you, or any of the writers you link to, think for one minute that Wilson is the target of this investigation after reading that paragraph, written by a judge who has seen Fitzgerald's case, complete with the 8 pages of classified, redacted information?

"the plot against Wilson"

Think, windansea, think! These guys are a bunch of crooks -- you've been had!

[cs]

My check was only cursory, but links to local events calendars and pro rodeo schedule turned up nada for rodeos in Jackson Hole in August 2003.

[saugatak]

In hindsight, Scooter looks dumb for coaching Judy's testimony and his coded message: us right-wingers (codeword "Aspen" referring to the right-wing conference) connected at the roots (we're all in this together) will all go down if one of us goes down (turn in clusters).

But remember, Fitz told Scooter he didn't want to see that letter so Scooter presumably thought he could get away with it. Hamsher, Swopa and/or Emptywheel (I forget exactly which combination of the Plamegate Blogger Trinity) put forth a lot of speculation as to who could have screwed Libby over. Based on the fact that Tate's letter (Scooter's lawyer) looked like an original, while Abrams' letter (Judy's 1st Amendment lawyer) looked like a copy, the collective wisdom was that it was Tate or someone in Tate's office. (BTW, I'm doing this from memory so my apologies if I'm being inaccurate to Hamsher, Swopa and/or Emptywheel, all of whom I deeply admire for the quality of their blogging.)

Thinking it over and in light of new information, I don't think Tate or someone at Dechert (Libby's old law firm and where Tate is partner) leaked these letters. Now, I'm an attorney as well, and I've worked at big law firms. The politics between partners at a big law firm can be vicious, and yes, it is possible that enemies of Tate or old enemies of Libby at Dechert wanted to screw them over.

But I just can't see an attorney--even one who hated Libby or Tate--divulging attorney-client privileged information like that. It's grounds for immediate firing and permanent disbarment if you get caught. What's the point of taking such a career-busting move? Libby's probably going to do down anyway.

However, one other person had an original of the letter from Tate--Bennet (Judy's crim lawyer). Bennett would also have been cc'd on Abrams' letter (hence the copy) as co-counsel, and received a copy of Libby's strange letter printed on plain paper from his client, Judy, who got the original.

Think about it from Bennett's perspective: Libby and Tate are trying to coach Judy's testimony. If Judy follows the coaching and these letters come out at a later date, Judy's screwed for obstrution of justice. If Judy doesn't follow the instructions and rats out Scooter, then Scooter's going to turn on Judy ("Aspens turning in clusters"). The key point is, JUDY DOESN'T WANT TO RAT OUT SCOOTER because if she did, "the aspens connected at the roots would turn."

So what do Bennett and Judy do? They know they're going to hold out on Fitz because to do otherwise would mean Judy admitting countless other sorts of stuff. But to hold out on Fitz while counting on the letters staying hidden is naive.

The solution? Bennett leaks the letters to send Libby and Tate a message: Shut up. You're only making things worse for yourselves and you're dragging down Judy. Having clipped Libby, Judy then goes in and tries to keep Fitz at bay. Even after Fitz nails her for holding out, Judy does her best to protect Libby (and consequently herself), but by stating in her article that she told Fitz that Libby's letter could be "perceived" as coaching, she sends the message to Libby that I'm not the one responsible for your letter, you screwed it up. Judy then relates the rest of her B.S. testimony with holes large enough to hide all of the missing Iraqi WMD to send Libby the message, see I didn't try to nail you.

Bennett reinforces this message by going out in public to say how stupid Libby was to try to coache Miller's testimony. Now why would a smart, experienced Washington lawyer go out of his way to trash in public a (soon to be ex-)power player in D.C.? He's trying to tell Libby and Tate that their attempts to interfere were unnecessary since Miller would, in attempting to save her own worthless hide, have protected Libby as well.

With Scooter's letter leaked, and Judy saying Scooter's letter could be "perceived" as an attempt to coach, Judy protects herself from charges that she was following Scooter's coaching when she intended to hold out on Fitz from the very beginning anyway.

My conclusion: Tate screwed up. You can't expect your client to think rationally in situations like this. As the attorney, you have to penetrate everyone's motivations and hidden messages and send out your hidden messages without landing your client in deeper trouble. Tate seems to lack the subtlety necessary to do the job. I'm beginning to believe Abrams when he says Tate bitched that Libby's waiver was coerced.

Also, I bet that "the stories that Judy should be covering" mentioned by Libby in his letter were the areas where Libby knows the dirt on Judy. If I were Libby's lawyer, I would have told Libby to cut it off there. Judy would have gotten the message since she knows where her skeletons are located, and while the passage would have seemed strange, it would have been defensible.

[emptywheel]

saugatak

Some good speculation. I think Judy and Bennett may have made a deal with Fitz: they bring Libby down for obstruction, and Judy doesn't testify to her involvement in all things forgery. Certainly that seems to be their strategy now. THe biggest reason I'd doubt it would be timing. It seems clear Judy was less than cooperative the first time around. And more cooperative later.

cs

The Jackson Hole reference could simply be an easy way to symbolize Dick Cheney. It's definitely his favorite place and he has a big home there. August and September is fly fishing season in Jackson Hole, though (and I know Cheney fly fishes, although apparently not as well as my chick friend who bested him in a competition one day).

[Glic]

I've thought from pretty early on that they laundered the leak through Judy and, maybe, Novak. I think it simply comes down to this: the leakers - Hannah? Rove, Libby, et al, believed they would be protected by the reporters' shield of not being compelled to revealing their source(s). Believing they could do this and get away with it shows us, yet again, the remarkable hubris of this White House.

[park]

Speaking of hubris, what strikes me as the most hilarious part of Judy's first-person narrative of her GJ testimony is this whole effort to protect Libby (and the neocons) by saying that Libby was just trying to get the poor, un-listened to and uninfluential White House side of the story out in the face of the "selective leaking" from the CIA. It's one thing to be spinning it that way two years ago, or even last year, but for Judy to be doing it now just shows that hubris, as well as how committed to the neocon movement she is. I mean, hello? THERE WERE NO WMDs OF ANY KIND, THERE WERE NEVER ANY WMDs OF ANY KIND. It's like they think they can spin it to make it look like the CIA's irresponsible "leaks" were what made the WMDs go away. It's unreal, it is.

[Joe Student]

If Raw Story's post that somebody flipped in the White House, could the "aspen" memo be a signal to Judy that Rove and Novak (both at the aspen conference) have "turned" and for Judy to watch out.

Just a thought.

[wim]

I've been wondering about the careful worded "she had not been at the receiving end of a concerted effort, a deliberate organized effort to put out information."

Could she have been at the *other* end of a concerted effort, a deliberate organized effort to put out information instead?

[Squirm]

CS: there appears to be a regularly-scheduled rodeo (http://www.jhrodeo.com/) that runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Wednesday and Saturday *EVENINGS* (starts at 8pm). So, it's possible that she went to this rodeo, but it's not bloody likely Scooter was wearing shades.

Fitz is clearly no slouch at this, though, and I'm sure they've checked this story out. So, we shall see, I suppose...

I'm not particularly inclined to believe Judy.

[Prof]

It appears that there is a "local" rodeo (for tourists) every Wed. and Sat. in 2005, so there probably was in 2003.

http://www.jhrodeo.com/
Wyoming Rodeo
with the JH Rodeo Company takes place
Wednesday & Saturday at 8 p.m.