judy miller: criminal

* digby in full:

"Ok kidz. Judy's lawyer Bob Bennett just told Wolf Blitzer that Judy's agreement with Fitzgerald was limited to "the Valerie Plame matter" not just Libby. Wolf pressed. Bennett reiterated that it was "the Valerie Plame matter."

Judy was worried that Fitzgerald was going to pursue her bogus WMD claims.

Bolton and Cheney and Rove all the rest aren't off the hook on Plame. Do you suppose that includes Niger?" (link)

* "Reached last night, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of the Times, said, "I can confirm that Judy Miller is out." He declined to elaborate except to say the reporter was "enjoying a steak at dinner, which you are interrupting."" (link)
did judy spend her first free night shagging sulzberger? keller? libby? rove? blinky? abrams? surely not her husband.

* david corn: "One person who recently had contact with Fitzgerald and his attorneys says that they seem confident about whatever it is they are pursuing. The Miller matter was something of a sideshow that at times drew more attention than the central issue. Now that Miller has decided to follow the course of the other reporters, perhaps Fitzgerald will be ready to end his inquiry and render decisions about indictment." (link)

* stirling newberry: "Miller released tonight after talking to Scooter, who reaffirmed that she could talk. Clearly she was stonewalling while something else happened.
Objust anyone?" (link) http://www.bopnews.com/archives/005047.html#5047

* "Q. Scooter Libby's lawyer - and your (miller's) source's lawyer - I suspect you're not going to tell us if that's correct.
MILLER. I am not going to tell you if that's correct."

ok - i have a theory. everyone is presuming that the miller/libby 'agreement' is legitimate on its face. my theory is completely speculative and unsubstantiated - but what if the miller/libby thing is just cover for another story? perhaps its just my knee-jerk contrary-ness - but with this administration, taking a contrary line has served me well. everyone seems to be trying to force a bunch of really weird observations into a story line where judy and libby met in june 03 and then judy was called to testify and libby granted a waiver, which judy didnt quite accept so she went to jail for 3 months, only to eventually get the same waiver 80% of the way though her sentence - and she gets to stand on the steps and whimper in her girly voice something about sources and integrity. i call bullshit - and im kind of surprised that no-one else has.

i dont know what is *actually* happening - but it seems to me that trying to fit those facts into the accepted narrative simply doesnt make sense - which is what is driving all of the kremlinologists crazy. as a general rule, id suggest that if the facts dont fit the frame, then maybe the frame is wrong.

i dont quite have a grand unifying theory - but the broad brush is that Libby was *one* of the miller's sources (or vice-versa) but that she also has another source (or she fed another source) - and this latest nonsense about whether the libby waiver was legitimate or not is just a kabuki dance.

according to this hypothesis, miller was scared about doing more time, perhaps under criminal obstruction, and they concocted a *media* story about how miller could testify - fitzgerald agreed to go along with the story cos he runs a tight ship and he doesnt care what story they peddle to the public. he wanted to get her in front of the grand jury for non-libby related reasons - perhaps to ascertain what *other* conversations she had with someone else.

that scenario would make as much sense as the nonsense they are currently trying to peddle.

think about it - 'everyone' on the planet 'knows' that miller agreed to testify based on her brand-spanking-new release from libby which is a year old, and everyone recognizes, including cooper and everyone else who has already testified - but miller cant bring herself to say the words - and if u watch her press conference, she looks to her lawyer to see which questions she can answer and which ones she cant - and as someone else pointed out (digby?) she sounds more like scotty than a journalist - so she is still constrained about what she can say - despite her perfect, personal, unconstrained release from libby.

we also have a bunch of other mitigating reasons to doubt the 'official' story - i wont go check on the details right now, but the miller/libby negotiations apparently went on for weeks (2? 6?) - it sounds like it was more than a simple misunderstanding while princess miller was spending her nights in jail!

we also had the offensive nyt editorials in the meantime - culminating in keller laying it on thick, carefully explaining how they asked for permission from fitzgerald to have a phone call without the perception of conspiracy/obstruction etc etc - did they make the same noise about boltons visit to judy's cell? nope. arianna broke that story on a leak - and it wasnt confirmed for weeks.

remember - judy testified in front of the GJ for 4 hours - they were askng her about a lot of things - thats gotta be worse than 3 months in jail. its not like she was just confirming what the rest of us thought we knew - i dont think i could stand being asked by a gf how my week was for that long - even if id never ever done anything wrong and i wasnt second-guessing what someone else might have told her.

in summary - i posit that the whole miller/libby thing is a complete scam. i might be wrong - but i'd have to think that id get 20/1 odds or something like that - thats a bet id be prepared to take.

if thats true, it raises some very interesting questions - why would try to perpetuate this scam?

i must admit - i dont have a satisfactory answer. what are the options? if my theory is correct - then they arent fooling fitzgerald - they are merely trying to fool the public. it seems like a bandaid measure, at best - perhaps they are just trying to do all they can and delaying bad press for a few extra weeks - but it wont matter one iota once the indictments come down - maybe thats the best theyve got (altho it seems quite elaborate for a temporary scam).

if the best that they can do is try to buy a couple of months, then they really are in trouble