As I believed for some time, Ambasador Munchausen blabbed the fact of his wife's employment himself, the government has no proof that Plame was covert within the meaning of the IIPA and no evidence that disclosure of her identity harmed national security. Events in the courtroom today suggest all three of these things are about to be established in court:

Bulletin from the Libby Courtroom [Byron York]

Lewis Libby defense lawyer Theodore Wells told a federal judge a short time ago that the Libby defense team has located 'five witnesses who will say under oath that Mr. [Joseph] Wilson told them his wife worked for the CIA.'

Wells said he expects that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will call Wilson himself to the stand to rebut those accusations.

Today's hearing concerning what evidence Fitzgerald is required to turn over to the Libby defense team turned into an extended discussion of whether jurors will be allowed to assess Joseph Wilson's credibility vs. that of the administration as it concerns the reasons the U.S. went to war in Iraq. Prosecutor Fitzgerald told the court, "We don't want to try the war. The courtroom is not a reasonable place to try the war. Judge Reggie Walton seemed to agree, saying, "I'm not going to let this case end up being a judicial examination of the legitimacy of the war."

In the hearing, prosecutor Fitzgerald suggested that he would offer the Libby defense team some proof that Valerie Plame Wilson's status at the CIA was classified. But as he had said earlier, Fitzgerald again said, "We will not offer any proof of actual damages" caused by the revelation of Plame's identity, although Fitzgerald said "the issue of potential damage will come up several times" in the trial.

Clarice Feldman    5 05 06