A Large Regular

President Trump recently quietly (or you'd assume quietly based upon the lack of media coverage this story got) pardoned Scooter Libby. Many people who recognize the name Scooter Libby think he's the guy who leaked the name of CIA employee Valerie Plame. Except that wasn't Libby. That was first Richard Armitage and then Ari Fleisher.

Nothing happened to Armitage. Nothing. He was the reason there was a Special Counsel in the first place but even when the truth was proven nothing happened to Armitage. And Fleisher? That rat got immunity. But Libby faced charges because his recollection of events was different than Tim Russert's. And the other witness against Libby later recanted her testimony. He was railroaded pure and simple.

So was Trump sending a political message with this pardon? Yes absolutely. But he also was pointing how badly Libby was treated and this pardon helps rectify that wrong.

And let's not forget that Valerie Plame is a vile anti-Semite.
 

Donald Was Right

It turns out that Joe Wilson was the first one to "out" his own wife Valerie Plame and he did it to enhance his won credibility.

Given the chronology and Mr. Armitage’s remarks, it seems quite obvious Mr. Wilson outed his wife when he spoke to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and then to the subsequent reporters at the Times, the Post and elsewhere, when he was hawking his story about his trip to Niger.

Wilson’s motivation for bringing up his wife would have been exactly as Armitage suggested to Woodward. Wilson told the panelists and reporters about Plame’s work at the CIA to give his radically new and dangerous story more credibility.

It’s highly probable Wilson used his wife’s position as a WMD analyst at the CIA to bolster his outrageous (and we now know fallacious) claims against a then popular President in a time of war.

Hat tip to The Corner for the link and hats off to frequent ALR visitor Donald who from the very beginning said it would turn out that Wilson was the one who originally "outed" his wife. Kudos Donald for being proved right.