Self Correcting Blogosphere /Treasongate update

Dick Keil of Bloomberg says Libby and Rove were not on the trip to Africa (as I had said yesterday). That doesn't necessarily disqualify that they had seen the memo. Now, I saw Dick Keil and his buddy Bill Roberts on Monday's Charlie Rose. Along for the ride was Matt Cooper on the show. I couldn't believe that Cooper a man who was willing to go to jail for this case, was less enlightening than the two Bloomberg reporters were in terms of the details of the case. Cooper and Judy Miller's obfuscation in this case is just deplorable. At first they spun this successfully into a "protecting the source" issue. But the source committed a crime, and there is no excuse for that.

Anyway I digress. The new report I highlighted brings to light some more he said she said issues with the case.

Apparently:

Two top White House aides have given accounts to a special prosecutor about how reporters first told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to people familiar with the case.

Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, one person said. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn't tell Libby of Plame's identity, the person said.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, according a person familiar with the matter. Novak, who was first to report Plame's name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said.

Both Novak and Russert have apparently testified to the contrary of whatever Libby and Rove said in their testimony. So who lied? Let us use Occam's razor on this one.

Novak and Russert have much more to loose by lying to the prosecutor here. They are both "just reporters" Russ has a family and we all know how much he loves them and would miss them if he had to worry about dropping the soap daily. Novak is an old man bitter and pissed that every job he had at CNN is blowing in the wind now. He doesn't want to rot in a jail cell helping guys like Russert pick up the soap!

Libby and Rove however, were in charge of a political smear campagn against Wilson. Getting revenge for his insolance towards the beloved President War Criminal. Therefore, if I were on the grand jury I would have to take all of this into account on deciding who is lying. Either way, if Keil and Roberts are right, perhaps its time for Timmeh and Bobbeh to get back into that GJ room.

More tonight on Charlie Rose via Pincus (WaPo reporter also shedding lots of light on this)!