Stop Making Scottie McC Rich!!

by emptywheel

Cannonfire is right. People have gotten way too excited over this Scottie McC "revelation." I'd advise you all to look closely at what John Dean had to say about the flap on Olbermann:

Dean: Well, there's very little that's specific in this. I actually thought about calling the publisher today. He's a very able publisher--Peter Osnos, Public Affairs, good journalist. He knows exactly what he's doing. But if he says there's not much more, and that's the indication, I think that's maybe why they put this out as a good tease, to get bookstores interested in the book. [my emphasis]

Scottie McC's publisher has pulled off quite the coup--taken a detail that was, largely, already known, and used it to cause a stir about a book that will not yet be published for another 6 months. Already, Dodd is calling for an investigation, folks are calling for HJC or Waxman to hold a hearing. What the left has done is read one publishing blurb designed to generate this kind of buzz, and played right into the plan. Congratulations. You're all making Scottie McC rich.

What Scottie Said

That said, I guess it would pay to look more closely at what we know, so that everyone can calm down and stop putting dollars into Scottie McC's pockets. Let's look again at what Scottie says (and has said before, and his spokespeople have said since).

The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

There was one problem.  It was not true.

I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself. -from What Happened

Or, to translate:

• It was not true that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with the leak of Valerie Wilson's identity.

We've know this detail--that Rove and Libby were involved in leaking Valerie Wilson's identity since Fall 2005 and earlier.

• Scottie unknowingly passed on false information.

Scottie has been saying this for years, as well, ever since his tiny credibility took a hit when it became clear his public exonerations were false. In other words, Scottie still maintains that he, at least, had no idea the public exoneration was false.

• Rove, Libby, the Vice President, Andy Card, and the President "were involved" in having Scottie "unknowingly pass on false information."

Please note (again, as Cannonfire points out), Scottie says nothing about the President being "knowingly" involved. He doesn't even detail how the President was involved. Given the way this Administration builds in plausible deniability, and given the degree to which the leak of Valerie Wilson's name included a "secret mission" (as Libby lawyer Bill Jeffress called it) involving just Bush, Cheney, and Libby, I'm not sure that Scottie McC would know even if Bush were the mastermind of this leak and cover-up.

And he certainly doesn't say so in this excerpt.

What We Already Know

As I said in this post and Jeff said in the comments, the only thing that is sort of new is the involvement of Bush and Andy Card in getting Scottie to publicly exonerate two people who had been lying about their involvement in the leaks about Valerie Wilson. That's because we already know that Cheney and Libby conspired to get Scottie to give Libby a public exoneration (and frankly, as you'll see below, we knew of Card's role, too).

For example, here's a passage from the trial in which David Addington--David Addington, of all people!!!--explained how he discovered that Cheney had done something that even he, Mr. Unitary Executive, thought was improper: push Scottie McC to publicly exonerate Libby.

Fitzgerald: The thrust of what you recall is that Scott McClellan, the Press Secretary for the President of the United States, had gone out and made a statement exonerating Karl Rove of any misconduct in connection with the controversy surrounding the disclosure of the fact that Mrs. Wilson worked at the CIA, correct?

Addington: Yes, and essentially—the reason this sticks in my mind is I had a conversation not too many days later with Dan Bartlett, who was then the assistant to the President for communications. And by this point, something had been said—I frankly don’t remember what—again, by the press office, and it included Mr. Libby this time. And I made the comment to Mr. Bartlett, you know, I don’t know why you are making these statements about, you know, this case—and I will explain why in a second.

But his reaction was, “Well, your boss is the one that wanted us to do it.” And then I shut up.

[snip]

Fitzgerald: And when Mr. Bartlett said your boss wanted him to do that, your boss is Vice President Cheney, right?

Addington: Yes sir.

And here is the part of the note recording the conversation between Libby and Cheney that show Cheney's notes making clear that he's going to knock some heads to make sure Libby gets his exoneration.

There are several key points about this note. First, as I said, it makes it crystal clear that Cheney is going to knock some heads together to make sure this happens. But the other key point is what Cheney stops short of saying:

Not going to protect one staffer & sacrifice the guy the Pres that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others.

In other words, when Cheney was preparing to knock some heads together, he was thinking specifically about how unjust it was for Libby to be accused considering Cheney's understand that the President asked Libby to stick his neck in a meat grinder--presumably, meaning Bush asked Libby to lead the response to Wilson. This is consistent with the fact that, just before OVP started investigating the Wilsons with new vigor on June 9, 2003, Bush told Libby he was concerned about the Kristof allegations. Cheney stopped short of describing Bush's involvement in writing. But there's at least a good case to be made that that's what Cheney was thinking: When Cheney prepared to knock some heads together, he did so keeping Bush's role in mind.

One more thing about Cheney. We know that his lifelong acolyte, David Addington, recognized his actions here as incriminating as soon as he saw the note.

Wells: And, in fact, when you saw that particular document, you picked up the telephone and called Terry O'Donnell, counsel to the Vice President and told him about the document?

Addington: He and I may have communicated about it. Whether it was a telephone call or not, I can't say. I might have phoned him. I might have shown it to him. I think probably a phone call.

Addington sees the notes, and contacts Terry O'Donnell, suggesting Addington saw the note as evidence that might incriminate Dick.

What We Already Know about Bush and Card

Now, there's even been evidence that Bush and Card were involved in this process. For example, when Libby explained the public exoneration in his grand jury appearance, he described Card's involvement.

A. If memory serves, and it doesn't always, I think I was at the -- the, the first time this sort of came up, I was at the -- at the White House, I think, and this came out and believe I went to talk to Andy Card and Scott McClellan about the time it came out. I'd have to check the dates, but I'll explain as best as I recall it, if that's okay. And Scott said, well, we don't want to go down the whole list. And Andy said something about the same. And I said, you know, I didn't feel that was quite right since I didn't talk to Novak [ed. though of course Libby did speak to Novak] and I didn't think it was fair that they were saying Karl Rove didn't speak to Novak but not saying I wasn't the one who spoke to Novak.

But at least according to the convicted perjurer Libby, he didn't tell Scottie or Card that he and Rove had both spoken to Novak.

Q. And when you spoke about the fact that Mr. Rove had been cleared did you indicate to either one of them that in fact Mr. Rove had spoken to Mr. Novak some time prior to July 14th?

A. No, I don't think I did.

Q. Was there a reason you didn't share that fact with them?

A. It wasn't what I was most concerned about. What I was most concerned about was getting them to say something I about that I had not been the one that spoke to Novak.

[snip]

Q. In your conversations with Card and McClellan or lanyone else did -- as far as you know, did anyone else in the White House know that Mr. Rove and Mr. Novak had spoken before
July 14th?

A. Not that I know of.

Q. As you sit here today do you know if anyone in the White House besides you and Mr. Rove is aware of the conversation that took place between Mr. Rove and Novak prior
to July 14th?

A. I don't think so.

Libby's testimony, whether it was true or not, would corroborate the notion that both Scottie and Card had no clue that Rove and Libby were talking to Novak.

Now, Libby gets all hazy when Fitzgerald asks him about how Cheney ensured that Libby was indeed exonerated.

Q. And you wouldn't remember if the Vice President told you, hey, I just picked up the phone and called Andrew Card or Scott McClellan and you're being taken care of?

A. As I say, I,think, I think he did do that at one point and I just don't remember whether I actually tried with him fruitlessly the first time when they didn't change it or
if it was the second time.

It's not clear whether he's protecting Cheney--or Bush. But he definitely backs off confirming details of Cheney's involvement in the public exoneration. That's a point that remained unclear up until and during the trial, when, after claiming Cheney got Scottie to exonerate Libby in his opening statement, Ted Wells included Bush in the mix in an attempt to prevent the video of Scottie exonerating Libby from coming into evidence (thanks to Jeff for pointing me back to this citation, which he found while working on his book).

THE COURT: Does the Vice President sort of become his surrogate to deliver the message to the White House press people to get them to act? I guess we would need –

MR. WELLS: I don't know. That's what I mean, you are going down a road where, put it like this. First –

THE COURT: There may be a link because I guess we would need the Vice President's testimony as to what he did that then resulted in McClellan, if that's true, making the statement.

MR. WELLS: Whatever the Vice President did, he did not do it as Mr. Libby's surrogate. The Vice President did what he decided on his own.

THE COURT: If he did it at Mr. Libby's behest, I mean –

MR. WELLS: That's where I'm drawing the distinction. I think what that rule is about, if somebody is your agent, but I think the Vice President made his own –

[snip]

MR. WELLS: I don't think the transcript is going to answer it because I don't think anybody knows. I think you would have to talk to President Bush because he's probably somewhere in that chain.

MR. FITZGERALD: Your Honor, I think the transcript both in the Grand Jury and in Mr. Wells' opening says that the Vice President did this for Mr. Libby. And the note, it just says it right

THE COURT: The opening statement is not evidence.

MR. FITZGERALD: But it is uncomfortable when someone takes an evidentiary position inconsistent with how they opened. As far as the White House, the White House was throwing Mr. Libby under the bus. Mr. Libby is trying to save himself through the Vice President. Now we're getting an implication that it must have been the President involved in this. The testimony in the Grand Jury is that Mr. Libby went to people to get the clearing statement. Then he went to the Vice President. And that he understood the Vice President interceded for him. We've heard evidence, not from opening statement but from Mr. Addington, that when he went to Mr. Bartlett and said you people shouldn't basically be making these statements, Mr. Bartlett says, that decision was your boss, your boss, meaning the Vice President. That was yesterday. We have the note, that's Government's Exhibit 532 in evidence, from the Vice President: Has to happen today; call out the key press, saying same thing about Scooter as Karl. This is not – 

THE COURT: What date is that?

MR. FITZGERALD: It's not dated but it's prior to the statement. So it's probably around October 4. This is what Mr. Cheney, the Vice President, wrote. It's not a request to the President. It's a direction, and my understanding is the Vice President spoke to Mr. McClellan. 

THE COURT: Who's that to? Does it say who he gave those to?

MR. FITZGERALD: No, but Mr. Libby testified in the Grand Jury that these are the words he wanted Mr. McClellan to issue, and Mr. McClellan then made a statement. We have evidence from Mr. Addington on cross examination yesterday, that when he made a comment to Mr. Bartlett about why this statement was made, Mr. Bartlett responded "That was your boss." I think there is no dispute here that the decision to issue that statement did not come from the President. It came from the Vice President. There is no dispute that Mr. Libby asked the Vice President to intercede. Mr. Libby also asked Mr. McClellan to intercede. It got done. I think that's right down smack down the middle of a statement by a person authorized by a party to make it. 

MR. WELLS: I do not believe those are the facts. I do not believe the evidence will show that Vice President Cheney went to Andrew Card. I think maybe we ought to wait until the Vice President gets here to find out what happened. But I do not believe his recitation is based on the facts or is factual. [my empahsis]

In other words, Ted Wells wants to muddy the issue by suggesting that Bush was in the chain of command between Cheney and Andy Card. Yes, McClellen's comments seem to confirm that--but they in no way confirm that Bush knew that Libby had been leaking Valerie Wilson's identity, and they certainly don't confirm that McClellan knows whether Bush knew of that fact.

Hearings and Investigations

Now, don't get me wrong. I'd love to have Congress look at the evidence that Bush (and, more importantly, Cheney) were directly involved in Valerie Wilson's outing the cover-up of that outing. I'm thrilled if folks can force Scottie into the uncomfortable position of testifying before Congress about what he knows--using his book as an excuse to overcome any privilege claims. And if this can help Joe and Valerie get their lawsuit back on track, all the better.

But if anyone is going to do some investigating, they should do so on the premise that Scottie's book is one weak piece of evidence--from among a sea of much stronger evidence--that Cheney, at least, was involved in the leaking of Valerie Wilson's identity and the cover-up of that leak. We're not going to get Bush until we go through Cheney, anyway, and with Cheney, there is already clear evidence of his foreknowledge and involvement, which we don't have with Bush, probably not even if Scottie testifies.

And for chrissake, can we avoid playing into the publicist's game and making Scottie a mint off of this?

To that end, I'd respectfully suggest that instead of saying:

Omigod! Scottie says Bush was personally and knowingly involved in the cover-up of the leak!!! Call Congress! Call the cops!!

Can we try this:

Scott McClellan's book apparently provides more evidence--on top of existing compelling evidence--that the knowledge of the Valerie Wilson leak and cover-up of that leak extend far beyond Scooter Libby. His book invites Congress to hold a hearing on what he knows. But along with McClellan, any hearing should include other key witnesses, including Dan Bartlett and David Addington, who can speak directly to the intentionality of this cover-up.

Congress didn't do so great with their commutation hearing. Let's not set them up for failure and disappointment with underwhelming Scottie testimony.

Comments

[Rayne]

Says something about the right-wing welfare program, though, doesn't it?

Scottie's been cut off if he's got to rely on buzz about his book to put food on his household.

Or maybe the Regnery hand-biters already bit off enough of the hand that fed them with their suit, to the point where their bulk buyer of books (read: winger welfare and major supplier of remainders for Dollar Stores) won't even buy new books like Scottie's...

Whatever the case, starve 'em.

[Rayne]

Oh, forgot to add the other two cents that occurred to me about this hard court press to sell Scottie's book...

Does the White House want Congress to investigate this mess, at the risk of Congress screwing up the outcome a la Iran Contra, rather than allow USDOJ under Mukasey to do so? Is that another reason why MSNBC, home of Cheney's favorite tool Timmeh Russert, was so breathless this morning as it covered Scottie's ersatz revelation?

[jonno]

once again the best fact reporting can be found here at TNH. I just made a rare trip to CNN to see what they were saying about Joe Wilson's comments (I guess) this morning on their broadcast. Was surprised to see virtually every commenter calling for impeachment of both Cheney and Bush. Wow. Perhaps the populace really has had enough finally. That'd be a good thing.

[Mad Dogs]

I hold out little or no hope that our Congresscritters "get it" enough or even at all to re-examine the Valerie Plame Wilson betrayal. Cowering under the bedsheets is all too comfortable.

Twill sadly be one of those Congressionally unexplored nuggets of history that only us, the devout Plameologists, have observed.

Oh for a Pat Fitzgerald-like Congresscritter.

[Jeff]

Great stuff, totally agree with all of this. One minor point: it is probably not clear - especially since Wells calls him "counsel to the Vice President" - that Terry O'Donnell is Cheney's personal lawyer, i.e., as Addington explained on cross-examination when Fitzgerald got him to clarify the point, the lawyer with whom Cheney would have to confront potential criminal liability, because Addington's (at the time actual Counsel to the Vice President) communications with Cheney were not covered by attorney-client privilege.

Also, it's always seemed very odd to me that Addington shared all the documents OVP was turning over to the prosecution with Gonzales before turning them over. It effectively meant that the President could keep track of what the investigators knew as far as documentation went.

One other odd little Addington tidbit: what on earth were the documents in the envelope that were the only OVP documents produced to investigators that Addington himself did not see?

[bmaz]

Well, I think the whole McClellen dust up is interesting, but really changes nothing. I was one of the apparently many people that emailed EW when the initial report came out. But I emailed her the Atrios report on the initial AP article because it had this quite true and hilarious line regarding the title of McClellen's book, "Big Giant Tool of Corrupt Assholes is the title, I think.", not because it was particularly earth shattering. I would be literally shocked if this vague blurb by McClellen changes the course of view on the part of either Congress or Fitzgerald. Ain't happening; and by the time the DC crowd gets back from the holidays, they will not even remember this.

[Taxpayer]

Why doesn't someone in congress or the press get an advance copy so they can see what Scott really says? And why doesn't anybody give Scott a hard time for not speaking up sooner? What's happening with the Plame lawsuit, anyway?

[eyesonthestreet]

Really great summary, as always.

EW- do you think the entire word "pres-ident" was written by Cheney- isn't the space after suspect? Also, the grammer is wrong- "the guy the pres that was asked," it seems that "the pres (space)" was doctored in some way.

"the guy that was asked..." makes sense

Thanks in advance.

[marksb]

As far as the commentators calling for impeachment, we know that isn't going anywhere; we can't even get a wiretap-free FISA bill through the Senate, let alone a voluntary commitment to end the (undeclared)(illegal) "war". A call-for-impeachment play could allow the Republican candidates to separate themselves from Bush and Cheney while still singing all the best songs from their hymnbook. The press discussions and he-said/she-said would be all about the call to impeach, and not about the criminal policies.

[bmaz]

Oh, and by the way, this does not help the Wilsons one iota as to their lawsuit; whoever started that meme ought to be clocked. The Wilson suit was dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds; it would not matter how true McClellen's quote was, it has no bearing whatsoever on the grounds of the dismissal.

[emptywheel]

eyes

There's no sign of tampering, but I've only seen a PDF. I always thought that Cheney was going to write, "the president asked" but that after he thought better of writing "president" he turned it into a passive to hide the actor.

[nolo]

eyes -- i, too, think EW has
it exactly right -- cheney
stopped his note in mid-title,
halfway through "pres[-ident]",
then revised the balance of
the sentence BEFORE he even
wrote it. i am grateful that
he used a fountain-pen, which
leaves us the evidence of the
"pres" -- so much so, that
i decided to make it my mast:
the writing scribbled on the
top of cheney's forehead, in
the right margin, on my site.

it was plainly top
of his mind. . .

yes -- all here, assembled, are right -- this
is scarcely news, but it makes great theatre;
and theatre sells many advance copies of books.

p e a c e

[Alyx]

won't be buying the book....
Funny thing this morning in the Ralph's parking lot a guy set up a little stand..
"Impeach Cheney"...I thought to myself a little late isn't it?

[Alyx]

...also just happened onto this webpage and laughed my heiney off...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

[KLynn]

Alyx

better late than never...Conyers wants phone calls,letters, signatures from citizens regarding impeachment.

[Frank Probst]

Hmmm. I going to disagree a little with some of the comments. I agree that Scottie's little "revelation" isn't anything new. Nevertheless, it's quite significant, because it's put the whole scandal back in the headlines. The presidential candidates (on both sides) are talking about it, so the media is obligated to report on it, and it's getting harder and harder for them to avoid the fact that neither Bush nor Cheney has come clean on their role in the whole scandal. Scotty has pretty much said that both Rove and Libby lied to him, and Bush, Cheney, and Card were all "involved" in having Scotty repeat those lies to the public. Cheney's "involvement" is documented in his own handwriting. Even the densest White House reporter is going to want to ask: "When did Cheney find out that Scooter was lying? And what, if anything, did he do about it?"

[Pfunk]

shut up shuttin up

[Pfunk]

Bmaz you may want to call Joe "I ain't seen nuttin in Niger" and tell him off

The book excerpt could strengthen that case, which is currently on appeal, according to Wilson.

"The argument that we've made in our civil suit is that public officials were abusing the public trust in the exercise of their official duties in support of a private political vendetta," he told CNN. "I think what McClellan says certainly makes that very clear. At a bare minimum, for openers, I think it's incumbent on the president and vice president now to release the transcripts of their statements to the special prosecutor so that we now have a fuller understanding of what they knew, when they knew it and what they said to Justice."

[katie Jensen]

I totally agree with Frank Probst's comment. I don't think there is anything new, but for my money it brings all that suspicion into the limelight, the truth about this seems to come out in layers. That is, I think the press did a great job of preventing the true story from getting out. I was amazed at how ignorant Larry King, Tweety, Russert were about the facts. I mean, you all on this site know better than most how totally out of it they were. We were getting facts, but the american people were getting a muddy mess of information. I think the mud is settling. I still think Bush is guilty, but I keep saying that I get it that we can't prove it.

I think the American public is just "getting it". At the time of the Libby trial it was all about how it was only a lie. I think Scotty's statement makes it clear that it was more than the fact that Libby lied. That a crime was truly committed but it was a crime that Fitz couldn't prove. He's saying, "I didn't feel good about it. I lied."

I think it is just dawning on a lot of ignorant folks that a real bad thing happened. It wasn't spin. It was the truth. They heard from Valerie and she was pretty believable just a few weeks ago as she told the nation that she was covert, that damage was done, that she worked in WMD proliferation, that indeed these guys admit to talking about her status with the press. I just really don't think most americans got this picture before.

[Boo Radley]

"Oh, and by the way, this does not help the Wilsons one iota as to their lawsuit; whoever started that meme ought to be clocked."

I saw a film clip this am of Joe Wilson starting it from Utah. I assume the family is on a skiing vacation. Joe didn't mention the case had been dismissed and failed to heed emptywheel's excellent advice: "Let's not set them up for failure and disappointment with underwhelming Scottie testimony."*

I'm not going to buy Snottie McMuffin's book, but I see it as a net win for progressives. As Bush's former Press Secretary, he has an imprimatur with MSM editors and the GOP that progressives lack. The MSM will print as "new," what emptywheel and others have been writing about for years, solely, because Scottie said it. That discredits the Bush administrations and all their policies. So what if Scottie thinks he carved out a safe place in his book for King George. His book still fires kill shots at DeadEye, Libby, and Rove, while confirming that Cheney is really the Chief Executive.

Another crucial issue is that Scotty's book is post Libby commutation. It's that profoundly self-interested act which will link Scooter to George just as Jimmy Hoffa is linked to Nixon. Carving out a safe place for George was a lot easier before Bush commuted Libby's sentence.

Also, what's really driving the political agenda is the price of oil. A lot of the GOP and Vichy Dems are searching for a chance to distance themselves from the Bush administration. Snottie just gave it to them.

*As a matter of law bmaz, I'm sure you're correct that Snottie's book has no bearing on the jurisdictional issues that caused the dismissal of the Wilson's civil suit. But, as we know, bad judges frequently ignore the 4th Amendment, the great writ, and centuries of legal precedent. There's no reason they can't do that now and reinstate the Wilson's civil suit.

[bmaz]

Boo - I didn't realize it was Joe Wilson that said that, although I saw someone on one of the cable shows musing about it yesterday as well. I have nothing but the utmost respect for both of the Wilsons; so I will sheepishly retract the "ought to be clocked" part of my comment. As many will recall, I had some issues with how the complaint was tactically pled in the Wilson civil case; I would give anything to have read the complaint in time to have actually tried to help them, but that was not the case. I would also give anything for the McClellen bit to actually help them, but I cannot see how it will. I wholeheartedly agree with Joe when he says "I think it's incumbent on the president and vice president now to release the transcripts of their statements to the special prosecutor so that we now have a fuller understanding of what they knew, when they knew it and what they said to Justice." Boo, It is great to see you again. Am working hard to not respond to troll.

[Mad Dogs]

As an aside, I've always been drawn to Deadeye's final comment in that note: "because of the incompetence of others."

Is Deadeye miffed because these "incompetent others" couldn't shaft Joe Wilson as Deadeye himself planned?

They got their marching orders from Junya? Deadeye? Both together, and they bungled the smear?

And just who would be these "incompetent others" that screwed up the hit job? Rove, Bartlett, Card, Fleischer, Armitage?

It seems pretty clear from Deadeye's comment, that a few "somebodies" did not accomplish the task that was ordered.

[skirte]

It's Nuremburg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[oldtree]

aren't mr. mclellan and mr. fitzgerald in communication with one another? Since Mr. Fitzgerald now has an FBI that isn't as corrupt as it was the day before yesterday, it is possible he has been provided with more information for the pending indictments?

[Mad Dogs]

EW, I think you really should change the title of your post to "Stop Making Scottie McC Cry."