96th in continuing blog series on the administration push to war. A busy couple of days, part of a sequence in which the administration apparently tries to sprinkle information about Wilson’s wife through prominent media outlets like someone pushing a hard-boiled egg through a grater. They do not get immediate results, however.
July 7-8, 2003:

 
 

July 7, 2003 – I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, has a farewell lunch with Ari Fleischer in which Libby tells Fleischer, now exiting as White House Press Secretary, about Mrs. Wilson. (Libby trial testimony)

 

Same day (about) – WH Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who is leaving his position, tells NBC reporter David Gregory about Mrs. Wilson’s working at CIA. Gregory does not use the item. Fleischer later takes the Fifth Amendment and tells the grand jury investigating the CIA leak, under immunity, that he learned about the item from Libby and White House aide Dan Bartlett. (Libby trial testimony)

 

Same day – Undersecretaries of State Marc Grossman and Richard L. Armitage discuss the fact that Colin Powell wants the INR memo/report faxed to him aboard Air Force One. (Libby trial testimony)

 

Same day – The White House retracts the Niger claim underlying the “sixteen words” in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union speech that reportedly was inserted into a Dec. 2002 State Department “fact sheet” on Iraq by John Bolton. Bolton later becomes U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., a position once held by George H. W. Bush.

 

Same day – Bush and other senior officials including Powell and Rice take a trip to Africa on Air Force One. Secretary of State Colin Powell receives the INR memo (“Mr. Powell was seen walking around Air Force One during the trip with the memorandum in hand, said a person involved in the case who also requested anonymity because of the prosecutor's admonitions about talking about the investigation.” New York Times, July 16, 2005)

 

July 8, 2003 – Undersecretary of State Richard L. Armitage tells conservative syndicated columnist Robert Novak the information about Mrs. Wilson’s working for CIA.

 

July 8, 2003 – A friend of Wilson’s informs Wilson that Bob Novak believes Wilson’s wife had something to do with his being sent to Niger. Wilson’s friend goes to Wilson’s office directly after the conversation with Novak. 

 

Same day – Libby asks attorney David Addington, counsel to the Office of the Vice President, what paperwork would be involved if a CIA spouse were to take a trip for the Agency.

 

Same day – Lewis Libby meets with Judith Miller for a two-hour private meeting at the Hotel St. Regis in Washington, according to a handwritten note on his daily schedule, and discusses Wilson’s wife with her. According to Miller’s testimony in court, Libby asks to be identified on deep background only as “a former Hill staffer.” (Libby trial testimony)

 

July 8, 2003 or July 9, 2003 – Novak calls Karl Rove. Their conversation includes mentions of Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame. Rove confirms the item that Mrs. Wilson works in CIA.