Libby Trial - Day Two

Former prosecutor, Christy has the goods for us again at FDL. Some tidbits:

Unfortunately, again, for Team Libby the types of questions asked walks them right back to the twin points of their defense argument which are not easily reconciled and may, in the end, come crashing into each other: if you are a busy and important man, why were you, Scooter Libby, running around the national security and diplomatic arena asking questions about a matter that you now say was trivial — asking multiple people multiple questions over an extended period of time? It just does not add up to any logical conclusion.

[...]

In criminal matters especially, you find that there is an awful lot of taint to a number of the people who testify — as a former colleague of mine in the prosecutor's office used to say, "You don't find swans swimming in sewers."

In the Libby matter, there is already a growing sense of the level of infighting, nastiness, egotism, and backbiting that is going on within the Bush Administration and between the various segments of our national security apparatus, the highest levels of the executive and among the diplomatic and military wings. To be completely honest, it is a wonder that these people have managed to cobble together anything that functions at all and — frankly — looking at the mess that is Iraq and our burgeoning deficit, an argument can be made that it is not even functioning in any real sense of the word.

This case, and the testimony elicited therein, is lifting up an awful lot of uncomfortable rocks. And what we are all seeing squirming underneath them is not pleasant for anyone in the courtroom. And it is only going to get worse the further down the road of testimony that we go. Tomorrow, we will finish the testimony of Craig Schmall and move on to Cathie Martin, whose testimony will be key in so many ways. Much more to come from the Libby trial.