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Two voices boom and fill the courtroom. Louder than what normally flows from a witness on the stand. These voices feel bigger than life. And what hangs in the air is the repeated sound of "I don't recall."
One voice belongs to the man on trial, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The other to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald who is prosecuting this case. Yet simultaneously, both men are sitting quietly at their opposing tables, sometimes taking notes or glancing to the big screen that displays their words scrolling line by line from a transcript.
What we are listening to are tapes of Libby's grand jury testimony from March 2004. We haven't heard it all as of this writing, but I can share some impressions. Libby sounds calm and polite. What is most striking is that he uses the phrase "I don't recall" again and again. I would guess hundreds of times. It has been so frequent it almost feels like a reflexive response to question after question. The repetition makes use of every form of the phrase, ranging from "I don't know" to "I don't recollect" to "I don't remember."
His responses follow pressing and repeated questions about what he knew and who he talked to about a CIA operative, Valerie Wilson, whose husband was a vocal war critic. Libby's inability to remember appears in stark conflict with other witnesses who have already testified at this trial. Those witnesses, government officials and reporters, did recall in great detail discussing Valerie Wilson and her CIA job with Libby. Libby is not denying those conversations. He says he can't remember them.
Sometimes it's tedious, but it's also intriguing -- especially as Libby recounts events inside the White House and conversations with the vice president. The kinds of things usually kept secret. Libby is accused of perjury and obstruction. He is charged with five felonies. Serious business. He, like any defendant, is presumed innocent.
The prosecution calls it a lie. The defense says Libby was a man too busy to remember all the details. The jury will have the final say.
Read more from Kelly O'Donnell
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Seems to me that it worked well for Reagan and Bush, too... What else are you going to say when the truth would kill you? Oh yeah, folks who did tell the truth aren't actually on trial, are they?
Rick, San Diego, CA (Sent Feb 6, 2007 2:22:28 PM)
An interesting episode of memory lapse. I wonder if old Scooter has a clear memory of other events that occurred around the same time as the events he can not recall.... What is the term - selective amnesia????
Doug, San Mateo, Ca (Sent Feb 6, 2007 2:14:43 PM)
Dave, Tn
If all this is a joke well we need to know if Iran is making WMDs and that's what Plame was working on in her covert job working in Iran. Now with this so called joke her agents overseas were killed by the leak of her covert name and her life will always be in danger. We don't have good information thanks to the leak of our Iran agent. Treason is a crime in this country. Other in history have be convicted and killed for Treason. The White House like the Nixon years felt it is above the law and with your comment it ok. My child is serving in active duty in Iraq so this illegal invasion and lies by the White House may be a joke to you but not to me and other parents who sons/daughters are dying based on lies. When our troops come home in body bags I guess that's a joke to you also. Nice to see what support our troops really mean to you. Libby case is just the beginning of what the full crime wave looks like. As for the Clinton case not one soldier lost their life because of his affair. What's more important to Americans a President who has an affair or a President who lies and have covert agent name leaked and thousands of soldiers die. I guess you think Clinton is worse.
Jackie Rawlings Riverside California (Sent Feb 6, 2007 2:10:29 PM)
yeah, Dave - in the WAR ON TERROR, who cares if political hacks sacrifice an undercover agent for political revenge? It's not like anything rests on the WAR ON TERROR - nothing compared to the asses of the most despicable, criminal and pathological administration since Nero. Keep believing, baby.
! (Sent Feb 6, 2007 2:05:38 PM)
Now we are to believe that Libby and educated experienced international lawyer who defended one of the riches men in the world Marc Rich now says he can't remember. Cheney/Bush gave him orders to leak classified information while talking about Plame in June. From July numerous witnesses say he told them about Plame. Even Judy Miller who as a journalist had national security clearance and worked with the White House on spreading the lie about WMDs, Libby says he can't remember. The first time he heard Plame name was from Russert who he called only to speak to Matthews yet we are to believe of all the things Tim had to say it was Plame. Yet Libby never bothered to get to Matthews. Libby did what he was told by Cheney yet he says he didn't leak the name as ordered. He followed orders but this is the only time he didn't. Why? Notes, testimony and tapes prove different but we are still to believe that this man who help lead our country into an illegal invasion can't remember. But he can remember Tom Cruse visit, his son's birthday and the soccer match during the same period. Wilson was on the mind of Cheney/Bush so much that they decided to leak information about his wife yet the Assistant to both didn't bother to do as he was ordered. The so called meeting with Judy Miller in June at the hotel was his first time doing what he was order but Judy was already knowledgeable to that information from Cheney. Libby is guilty of his crimes, this case is now about how the White House used journalist and media to cover up the invasion of Iraq. Even Rupert of Fox news admitted he was feeding false information to the public to help the White House invade Iraq. This White House is more corrupt then the Nixon team. Nixon lied and did break ins to cover up crimes, Bush illegally invaded a country and had 3000 plus soldiers die for those lies and war profiteering. Now the GOP wants to continue in the crime wave as Bush needs to give big business 2.9 Trillion dollars to brake the US Treasury for the next President. The Libby case is just the window of the bigger picture of the crime wave going on in the White House.
Jackie Rawlings Riverside California (Sent Feb 6, 2007 1:57:54 PM)
Come on, we all know that Cheney told Libby about it,
and he told others about it, including many in the media. The Bush Administration is built on lies, and
this trial will result in the walls that will soon come tumbling down. We can only hope that Congress has enough will to prosecute Bush, Cheney and Company
(Sent Feb 6, 2007 1:51:17 PM)
Well the "I don't know" "I don't recollect" "I don't remember" worked well for the Clintons so why not.
Libby is being Nifonged, and this whole thing is a joke.
Dave, Tn (Sent Feb 6, 2007 1:43:13 PM)
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