RUSH: The judge in the Lewis Libby case, “the CIA leak case,” which is so misnamed that it ought to be never be referred to as that again, is livid. He is outraged because one of Joe Wilson’s lawyers in his civil suit against Libby and Rove and Cheney went on Hardball the other night. Her name is Melanie Sloan. She’s not supposed to talk about this case in the media. She couldn’t help herself. Chris Matthews said, “The Washington jury sitting in this case is Scooter Libby. If they were to learn that Joe Wilson had somehow put out the word that his wife was an undercover agent before Scooter Libby said anything to anyone, wouldn’t that mitigate against his guilt?”
SLOAN: No, because the issue isn’t anymore what Mr. Libby, uh, may have said regarding, uh, Ms. Wilson. It’s that he lied in court, that he lied to the grand jury, that he lied to the FBI, and that’s what Mr. Libby’s being charged with.
MATTHEWS: Do you think a jury would still find him guilty if it was clear that he was not the first to leak?
SLOAN: I think a jury could easily still find him guilty without being the first to leak because that’s not what he’s been charged with. He’s not charged with leaking.
RUSH: Exactly, and that’s what the case was all about! That’s how absurd all of this is. Libby has been charged in a process crime for lying under oath to the FBI and this sort of thing. There was no crime in the leaking anyway, and Chris Matthews starting to get a little concerned here: Wait a minute, if he calls Joe Wilson in there and it’s discovered that Wilson was the first — which Matthews knows by virtue of the question he asked. So Chris, what the hell the last 20 years of your show been about? If you know that Wilson was the leaker, how in the world can anybody else destroy his wife? At any rate, the judge was fit to be tied. Reggie Walton, I have his order here, and let me just read to you the last four or five lines.
“This court expects that movants and their counsel in any collateral matters, including counsel for Ambassador Wilson, will demonstrate the same restraint as Mr. Libby and counsel for the parties have exercised to date. If this does not occur, this court will not hesitate to take the necessary action to ensure that the ability of the parties to obtain a fair trial is not impaired.” He lowered the boom on this babe, this Melanie Sloan. Isn’t she with CREW? There’s a Melanie Sloan that works with CREW, and I don’t know if it’s the same Melanie Sloan or not. There’s a Melanie Sloan that runs CREW, this stupid little group. But nevertheless, he lowers the boom and made it plain: the next time this happens, there will be severe, severe punishment and then it goes on to… She’s the executive director of CREW, which is the “Committee for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.” They were involved in the Foley leak and the Foley story and keeping that alive, and that’s who Ambassador Wilson’s lawyer is, ladies and gentlemen. So, this was good to see. Alright. There sadly is not enough time to take another phone call, ladies and gentlemen.