Another Libby Thought

This column by Byron York basically suggests that Scooter Libby was pronounced guilty because the jury found Tim Russert more believable than Libby.

What convinced jurors to convict Libby, apparently, was the credibility of a single prosecution witness, NBC’s Tim Russert. “I thought he was very credible,” Collins said of Russert. “A lot of people thought he was very credible.” And Russert was the key in more ways than one. It was his phone conversation with FBI agent Jack Eckenrode in November 2003 that let prosecutors know there was a conflict between his story and Libby’s, thus turning the CIA-leak investigation into a perjury probe. And it was his testimony—that he did not tell Libby about Valerie Plame Wilson, as Libby told the grand jury—that was the fatal blow to Libby’s defense.

Libby had claimed that Russert told him about Mrs. Wilson and that, even though he, Libby, had learned about her earlier, he had forgotten about her in the crush of events in July 2003, and thus was surprised, as if hearing it for the first time, when Russert mentioned it to him. Russert denied that, and his testimony simply overwhelmed Libby’s version of events.

If true - this is sad. I'm sorry but any credibility Russert had with me went out the window when I found out that he had the syrupy memoir Big Russ and Me - a book about Russert's relationship with his father - ghostwritten by the same guy who did Iaccoca's "autobiography". The book is purposely misleading - making you think this was Russert's own tribute to his dad. We can't even trust Russert's reminiscence about his own father but the jury was made to believe his memory regarding Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame? Sorry - I'm not buying that and now a man might be going to jail because Russert is more accomplished at "appearing" believable.