Fitzgerald releases Libby Grand Jury testimony

[sabra]

Lots of interesting stuff...

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/exhibits/0306/index.html

Q= Fitz
A= Libby

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/exhibits/0306/gx1t.txt

<snip>

Q. And we'll deem that an exhibit again, just to make
sure the classification level is correct.
A. Thank you, sir.
Q. And if you look down -- I'll point to you on the
page.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you, do you see what appears -- is this your
handwriting?
A. Yes, sir, it is.
Q. Do you see --
A. Or most of it is. Some of it is not.
Q. -- senior staff?
A. Yes.
Q. That say, uranium story?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you -- why don't you just read that line across?
A. Uranium story is becoming a question of the
President's truthworthiness (sic). Lead all new. Probably,
"leads all the news" is what I was saying. It's turning to a
process story is what the thought was, I believe. And then it
has Mr. Rove at the senior staff meeting saying, "now they
have accepted Joe Wilson as credible expert?" "We're one day
late with getting CIA write response," I think that's what
it --
Q. Okay. Fair to say at the senior staff meeting,
there was concern expressed that this is a question going to
the trustworthiness of the President at this point?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And there's a question here that's leading all the
news, and Rove is complaining that Mr. Wilson is being taken
as a credible expert?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Fair to say that there was an effort to undermine
his credibility as an expert?
A. I don't know about that. My view was that we could
get the facts out about what he had done, that would be more
than sufficient because the record was very clear about what
he had done and hadn't done, and that the CIA had not accepted
what he had done as, as refuting the point. So I don't know
that there was an effort to undermine him as a credible expert
for what he did. But that --
Q. Well, in the effort to undermine the story were
people going around saying, let's undermine his story but
let's be very careful not to hurt him?
A. I never heard that.

...

Q. Is it fair to say though that the sound bite you
took away from Karl Rove is they're now accepting Joe Wilson
as a credible expert? Correct?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And is it fair to say that many would think that if
Joe Wilson were hired because of nepotism, because of a
contact he had at the Agency, that might undermine his
credibility as an expert?
A. Some people may have taken it that way. That was
never -- what I took out of it, the wife working there,
Ambassador Wilson's wife working there, because what he did he
was perfectly competent to do. What he did was he went and he
sat down with the people from Niger and said, hi, I'm here,
I'm going to talk to the United States government, as he says
in an article, he sat down and had tea with them and asked
them what they had done or hadn't done, and ambassadors do
that all the time. So I thought he was very competent to do
that mission.
Q. Sir, are you telling us under oath that you never
thought that Mr. Wilson was hired because of nepotism?
A. I didn't know why he was hired and I did not know at
this point, I think I had forgotten exactly how he came -- or
I don't think I knew how he came to be hired at this point. I
think that came out with the Rove report. What I, what I had
known but forgotten at that point was that his wife worked at
the division, but I didn't know at that point that his wife
had anything to do with hiring him as far as I can recall.
And on this day, July 8, as I've, as I've tried to make clear,
the best of my recollection is that I was surprised when I
learned from Russert that his wife worked there. So I think I
had forgotten it. That's what I, what I think. But the,
the -- I'm sorry.