Last July, rumor had it that conservative allies of the White House would begin a concerted effort to undermine Patrick Fitzgerald’s reputation and credibility. William Safire tried to get the ball rolling, blasting the Fitzgerald as a “runaway prosecutor.” Soon after, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page blasted the special prosecutor as a “loose cannon” and an “unguided missile.” Fortunately, the attacks never caught on and Fitzgerald never received the full brunt of the GOP smear machine.
National Review’s Byron York, however, devoted his column this week to questioning Fitzgerald’s investigation and prosecutorial methods.
Watchers of the CIA leak investigation are buzzing over a series of letters between prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and lawyers for former Cheney chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby. In the letters, contained in motions filed recently by Libby’s defense team and released by the court, Fitzgerald steadfastly refused to reveal whether he has any evidence that Bush administration officials violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the Espionage Act, or any other law by revealing the identity of CIA employee Valerie Wilson.
It’s not much of an argument. As Judd Legum explained, “[T]he reason Fitzgerald didn’t provide that information is that Fitzgerald never charged Libby with any of those crimes. He charged him with perjury and obstruction of justice. He provided Libby’s defense team with evidence related to those charges.” York seems to have overlooked this little detail.
Indeed, going through York’s piece, he seems intent on convincing the reader that the Plame leak was inconsequential and that there really were suspicious circumstances surrounding Joseph Wilson’s trip to Niger in 2002. I had thought we were past this point in the discussion, but apparently York is clinging to some kind of baseless hope that confidence in Fitzgerald can still be undercut.
York’s a little late. The typical smear may have been possible once, but that was before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sang Fitzgerald’s praises; before RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman said on MTP that he has “complete confidence” in Fitzgerald; and before Bush personally praised Fitzgerald for the “dignified way” in which he’s run the Plame investigation.
That said, do you suppose Fitzgerald is starting to make conservatives nervous again? Stay tuned.