NY Sun: "Bush Authorized Leak to Times."

...The new disclosure could be awkward for the president because it places him, for the first time, directly in a chain of events that led to a meeting where prosecutors contend the identity of a CIA employee, Valerie Plame, was provided to a reporter...

"Defendant testified that he was specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified NIE to Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the NIE was Ôpretty definitive' against what Ambassador Wilson had said and that the vice president thought that it was 'very important' for the key judgments of the NIE to come out," Mr. Fitzgerald wrote.

Mr. Libby is said to have testified that "at first" he rebuffed Mr. Cheney's suggestion to release the information because the estimate was classified. However, according to the vice presidential aide, Mr. Cheney subsequently said he got permission for the release directly from Mr. Bush. "Defendant testified that the vice president later advised him that the president had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE," the prosecution filing said.

Reading the same court documents overnight, reader JL writes, "Heads-up: there is some big news, it seems to me, in Fitzgerald's latest filings in the Libby case. Waas is going to go nuts. Among other things, Cheney wanted Libby to disclose the NIE to Miller, Libby had classification concerns, Cheney went to Bush, yes that Bush, and got approval for Libby to disclose the NIE to Miller and - check this out -Libby went to Addington for advice and got his opinion that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document. Wow. I'm not even through Fitzgerald's filing yet. There are other interesting bits, including previously unreported details about Cheney's seemingly rather extensive role in directing how Libby was to respond to Wilson in July 2003, including about that July 12 trip on the plane that the WaPo reported on and then withdrew.

"But the Bush thing strikes me as big news - along with the fact that Libby need Addington's opinion on declassificaiton and that appears to be all he got. So did Bush authorize Libby to disclose classified information?"

Furthermore, blogger eRiposte writes, "...The NY Sun is reporting that Libby had permission from Cheney and Bush to leak portions of the key judgments of the NIE because it bolstered the uranium claim. But as I have discussed before, the key judgments of the NIE specifically excluded the uranium claim. This is very interesting in terms of its implications. I’ve discussed this further here."

Here, via the Smoking Gun, is Fitzgerald's latest filing.

Update: Here's Murray Waas' piece in National Journal from this morning on the same filings. Furthermore, Waas reports, Cheney broadly directed Libby to leak classified information to a bunch of journalists, on multiple occasions, to make the White House's political case for war:

Although not reflected in the court papers, two senior government officials said in interviews with National Journal in recent days that Libby has also asserted that Cheney authorized him to leak classified information to a number of journalists during the run-up to war with Iraq. In some instances, the information leaked was directly discussed with the Vice President, while in other instances Libby believed he had broad authority to release information that would make the case to go to war.

In yet another instance, Libby had claimed that President Bush authorized Libby to speak to and provide classified information to Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward for "Plan of Attack," a book written by Woodward about the run-up to the Iraqi war.

Talk about the politicization of intelligence. Remember how many times Bush and Cheney have indicated they can't brief Congress on certain things for fear it'll leak? Uh huh.

More:

One former senior government official said that both the president and Cheney, in directing Libby to disclose classified information to defend the administration's case to go to war with Iraq and in formally declassifying portions of the NIE later, were misusing the classification process for political reasons.

The official said that while the administration declassified portions of the NIE that would appear exculpatory to the White House, it insisted that a one-page summary of the NIE which would have suggested that the President mischaracterized other intelligence information to go to war remain classified.

Let's just review. Senate Intel committee chair Pat Roberts says the American people don't deserve a real review of the administration's use and alleged abuse of pre-war intelligence, because the Dems are trying to make a political issue of it. But it turns out the White House treated the most classified intelligence as political footballs, to be leaked like a sieve when it might serve their political and PR cause. And that was directed from the very top. So, do we get to investigate the lack of an investigation?

Update II: Reader SS sends these quotes along:

"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." [Bush Remarks: Chicago, Illinois, 9/30/03]

"The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration." [White House Briefing, 9/29/03]

Uh huh.

Posted by Laura at April 6, 2006 10:04 AM