Reply #80: This on Bush, Cheney, Rice - hit the top of the DKos Most Recommended

[leveymg]

Back in Feb. Fitz gave us the first clue that he had expanded the focus of his probe to Bush and Cheney, and that he was looking at the goings on of Condi and the press aboard AF1 in Africa on 7/11/03.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/6/12248/27290

FITZ LETTER: Bush, Cheney Now Prosecution Targets?
by leveymg
Mon Feb 06, 2006 at 09:24:08 AM PDT
In court papers published late last week, Patrick Fitzgerald revealed that his office has obtained at least one Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) that discusses the trip to Niger taken by Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the husband of Valerie Plame.

While it was previously known that Bush and Cheney had been interviewed by Fitzgerald about the outing of Plame, this is the first indication that the prosecution in the case has started to look into documentation that might answer the question of questions: "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"

MORE below . . .

leveymg's diary :: ::
Lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby had requested Bush's PDBs along with other classified documents as a part of discovery. Fitzgerald responded with a letter dated January 9 filed in federal court late last week, http://www.fas.org/...

Fitzgerald wrote: "As you are well aware, the documents referred to as Presidential Daily Briefs ("PDBs") are extraordinarily sensitive documents which are usually highly classified. We have never requested copies of any PDBs. However, we did ask for relevant documents relating to Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife; Valerie Plame Wilson... and the trip undertaken by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger in 2002... from the Executive Branch of the President and the Office of the Vice President.

"We also sought from the Central Intelligence Agency documents relating to the same item.... relating to the same items, with the exception that the CIA was not requested to produce documents in the files regarding Valerie Plame and Wilson that were not related directly or indirectly to Ambassador Wilson's travel to Niger in February 2002.

SNIP

"In response to our requests, we have received a very discrete amount of material relating to PDBs. We have provided to Mr. Libby and his counsel (or are in the process of providing such documents consistent with the process of a declassification review) copies of any pages in our possession reflecting discussions of Joseph Wilson, Valerie Wilson and/or Wilson's trip to Niger contained in (or written on) copies of the President's Daily Brief (PDB) in the redacted form in which we received them."

It is likely that on June 19, 2003, Bush received the PDB discussing the Wilson trip. Murray Waas reported:

("Fitzgerald Court Papers: Bush Was Briefed on Joe Wilson", Fri Feb 3, 6:21 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/... ... ):

As my National Journal story first disclosed yesterday, then-CIA director George Tenet received a highly classified memo on June 17, 2003, on the Niger matter from his analysts warning that allegations that Saddam Hussein had attempted to procure uranium from the African nation were to no longer to be believed. In the memo, the CIA analysts wrote: "Since learning that the Iraqi-Niger uranium deal was based on false documents earlier this spring, we no longer believe that there is sufficient other reporting to conclude that Iraq purchased uranium from abroad."

SNIP