Mouse House Scores - Pix Fix Trix For Flix...

News Junkie optioned by mega-family values studio...hush hush on the QT.

"Required reading for aspiring journalists." -- Publishers Weekly

"I love this book. When other U.S. reporters were licking Ken Lay¹s loafers, Leopold went for Enron¹s thieving throat. Leopold is...a journalist who insists on real investigative reporting, inside documents, inside sources, hard knife-in-the-gut evidence, detective-style reporting that is just about illegal in the U.S.A. Every journalist in America should read this, then quit or riot." -- Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

"Having told the truth for years as a first-rate reporter, Jason Leopold now comes completely clean about himself and also sheds light on his imperiled profession. A riveting account of just how hard the truth can be." -- Mark Crispin Miller, author of Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney¹s New World

"News Junkie provides the best account so far of how, and why, current American journalism has become so pharisaical, spineless, and detached from the truth." --T.D. Allman, journalist and author of Rogue State, Unmanifest Destiny, and Finding Florida

"...written with all the energy of a 21st-century "Junkheap" Woodward & Bernstein." -- Dazed & Confused

"...malicious and disgraceful..." -- Mark Corallo, Spokesman for Karl Rove, on Jason Leopold

Congratulations, Jason! It couldn't happen to a nicer, more dedicated or talented "junkyard" reporter than yourself. Your work is a Touchstone for the truth. -- Patrick (the J. stands for "Junkyard") Fitzgerald

A Capital "B" and "S" In DuBiouS...

Pentagon Inspector General: Key Report On Iraq Is Faulted
'Dubious' Intelligence Fueled Push for War

Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon's inspector general.

Feith's office "was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda," according to portions of the report, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). The inspector general described Feith's activities as "an alternative intelligence assessment process." <more>

Refresh my memory. The Plame cover-up is about what?

DoD Report Appears to Confirm Downing St. Memo

A long-awaited report on the veracity of pre-war Iraq intelligence has found that a secretive policy shop exaggerated the Iraqi threat, providing the White House with cherry-picked information about links between Iraq and al Qaeda. The shop, operating out of the Pentagon, was set up by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Its goal was to lay the groundwork for a pre-emptive military strike against Iraq.

The report would appear to confirm British intelligence assertions that surfaced in a document widely referred to as the Downing Street Memo that the facts against the threat posed by Iraq were being fixed around the Bush administration's policy leading up to the invasion of Iraq. <more>

Maybe I Am...

Wells: Any possibility of Mr. Fitzgerald being Santa Claus?

Tim Russert: (bewildered) No.

Do not open before Fitzmas.

Indictment Still Sealed, Fitzgerald Still Busy

Bush At Center Of Libby Leak...

Old news is good news - it was accurate then and it is accurate now.

Bush at Center of Intelligence Leak
By Jason Leopold

"Attorneys and current and former White House officials close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson said Thursday that President Bush gave Vice President Dick Cheney the authorization in mid-June 2003 to disclose a portion of the highly sensitive National Intelligence Estimate to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and former New York Times reporter Judith Miller."

"The officials, some of whom are attorneys close to the case, added that more than two dozen emails that the vice president's office said it recently discovered and handed over to leak investigators in February show that President Bush was kept up to date about the circumstances surrounding the effort to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

The sources indicated that the leak probe is now winding down, and that soon, new information will emerge from the special counsel's office that will prove President Bush had prior knowledge of the White House campaign to discredit Plame Wilson's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who accused the administration of "twisting" intelligence on the Iraqi threat in order to win public support for the war."

The new information that surfaced late Wednesday places President Bush at the center of the probe for the first time since the investigation into the leak began more than two years ago and raises new questions as to whether Bush knew in advance the lengths to which senior White House officials went to discredit Wilson.

In the court filing, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wrote that Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, "testified that he was specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified NIE to [former New York Times reporter Judith] Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the NIE was 'pretty definitive' against what Ambassador Wilson had said and that the Vice President thought that it was 'very important' for the key judgments of the NIE to come out."

"Defendant further testified that he at first advised the Vice President that he could not have this conversation with reporter Miller because of the classified nature of the NIE. Defendant testified that the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE," the filing further states. "Defendant testified that he also spoke to David Addington, then Counsel to the Vice President, whom defendant considered to be an expert in national security law, and Mr. Addington opined that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document. Defendant testified that he thought he brought a brief abstract of the NIE's key judgments to the meeting with Miller on July 8. Defendant understood that he was to tell Miller, among other things, that a key judgment of the NIE held that Iraq was 'vigorously trying to procure' uranium. Defendant testified that this July 8th meeting was the only time he recalled in his government experience when he disclosed a document to a reporter that was effectively declassified by virtue of the President's authorization that it be disclosed. Defendant testified that one of the reasons why he met with Miller at a hotel was the fact that he was sharing this information with Miller exclusively." <April 6, 2006 - more>

Be truthful, Jason! Were you inside the grand jury proceedings? You were also the first journalist to report Cheney’s involvement, the first to report on the 250 emails that were missing, and only one to discover Sealed v. Sealed! - You are beyond Pulitzer! ;)

'Startling moment' at Libby trial as President Bush is referenced - Today's OLD NEWS

"When I Shook Skilling's Hand, It Was Limp..."

Jeffrey & Me
By Jason Leopold

The conclusion to the ongoing Enron saga was anti-climactic. Jeff Skilling, the company's former chairman and chief executive, will spend the next 24 years in a federal penitentiary after being found guilty by a federal court earlier this year of insider trading, wire fraud, conspiracy and other charges related to his involvement in the financial machinations that led to Enron's demise five years ago. The one-time high-flying energy company is now nothing more than a symbol of 1990s/Millennium-era corporate greed and Skilling its public face.

For Skilling, however, the realization that he will be spending the next two decades holed up in an eight-by-six foot cell has yet to set in. A month ago, he was arrested for public intoxication near his wife's home in Dallas. Last year, he was arrested in New York on similar charges. It's sad, really, to watch someone of Skilling's stature, the architect of the company's transformation from a pipeline owner into an energy trading powerhouse, a person who believed so passionately in the power of the free market that at one point in his career he helped an Enron employee develop an idea she had to trade weather derivatives in the open market, to fall so spectacularly and so publicly.

When I met Skilling in December 2001 at the Washington, DC, offices of his law firm O'Melveney & Myers, the firm he hired to represent him in matters before Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission, there were no signs of the meltdown that was to come. But he was certainly knee-deep in the first stage of grief: denial.<more>

On a side note: NEWS JUNKIE has been on the top 50 of Amazon.com's Top 100 books for nearly two weeks and is also a Los Angeles Times Bestseller--without the benefit of mainstream U.S. press coverage.

Jason should be proud particularly happy because his book was published by an independent, Process Media/Feral House Books. This is an amazing accomplishment for them and for independent publishing in general. Bully!

The Lil' Engine That Could...

Indictment Still Sealed, Fitzgerald Still Busy Hunting Evil Doers
By Jason Leopold and Marc Ash

"With Rove cooperating, the probe has once again shifted, and the focus now is on another high-level official in the executive branch: Vice President Dick Cheney."

Keep Pace...

The PACER Service Center is the Federal Judiciary's centralized registration, billing, and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate court records.





Between May 10 and May 17, the grand jury that meets in the leak case returned four sealed indictments. Three of those indictments have since been unsealed and have to do with non-related cases. One indictment remains sealed and is filed in the courthouse as SEALED v. SEALED.

I’m sure you’ve read about this on some blogs and have seen the theories. Most federal prosecutors have never seen a case filed as SEALED v. SEALED. It’s usually US v. SEALED, but this one is very special and there is the screenshot! ;)

Have a GREAT weekend.

Sock Puppet Special...

FYI, Jason Leopold broke some of the first stories about Enron and the company’s manipulation of the energy market, then a fake trading floor set up by Enron that eventually led us to today.

Red Hot..!

Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t Report

Dashingly handsome and very (my edit) Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove.

During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.

Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, did not return a call for comment. Sources said Fitzgerald was in Washington, DC, Friday and met with Luskin for about 15 hours to go over the charges against Rove, which include perjury and lying to investigators about how and when Rove discovered that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative and whether he shared that information with reporters, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said. [continued]

I have never been known as one who spills my candy in the lobby, but Friday was a very long day AND Karl is guilty as sin AND this grand jury hates evil doers as much as I do - so you can draw your own conclusions! Please allow me to go back to enjoying my romantic picnic. ;)

Have a great weekend.

Jason Leopold...

how DO you do it?

Sources Confirm Rove is a Target

Wed Apr 26th, 2006 at 03:54:10 PM EDT :: Fitzgerald Investigation

"On Monday, I had a conversation with several sources close to the CIA leak case who told me that Karl Rove would return to the grand jury Wednesday for the fifth time. Those sources told me that his appearance was the result of a target letter sent to his attorney Robert Luskin by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. The same sources said that Rove's status changed from being a "subject" of the probe to becoming a "target," meaning that Fitzgerald had enough evidence linking Rove to a crime and told that to Luskin. On Wednesday morning, when the news broke that Rove was going to testify for an unprecedented fifth time, I confirmed with sources close to the investigation that Rove did in fact receive a target letter. This was the case, they said. I then immediately called Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, for a comment about the target letter. Luskin didn't respond.

But upon leaving court Wednesday, after Rove testified for four hours, Luskin issued a statement saying that Rove was not a target of the probe. My sources maintain that Rove is a target and that Luskin understood that. I called Luskin again to get his statement. But he did not return the call. Rove's spokesman at the White House also weighed in, specifically denying my report that Rove received a target letter. This is the same White House that has refused to discuss this case for more than two years but decided on Wednesday to break its silence and respond to my story and deny that it's true. That seems odd."

Come to think of it, Jason's picture does resemble the guy who delivers Krispy Creme doughnuts to our office every morning!

Signed, Sealed And Delivered...

Yes, once again, Jason Leopold has scooped everyone. Focus..!

My Target Letter Drives Rove Back to Grand Jury

"Karl Rove's appearance before a grand jury in the CIA leak case Wednesday comes on the heels of a "target letter" sent to his attorney recently by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, signaling that the Deputy White House Chief of Staff may face imminent indictment, sources that are knowledgeable about the probe said Wednesday.

It's unclear when Fitzgerald sent the target letter to Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin. Sources close to the two-year-old leak investigation said when Rove's attorney received the letter Rove volunteered to appear before the grand jury for an unprecedented fifth time to explain why he did not previously disclose conversations he had with the media about covert CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who criticized the Bush administration's use of pre-war Iraq intelligence.

A federal grand jury target letter is sent to a person in a criminal investigation who is likely to be indicted. A "target" of a grand jury investigation is a person who a prosecutor has substantial evidence to link to a crime." [more from Jason Leopold]