Originally Posted By Darkbeer Press Release Valerie Plame Wilson and Ambassador Joseph Wilson Initiate a Civil Action Against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby for Violations of their Constitutional and Other Legal Rights WASHINGTON--July 13, 2006--Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, filed suit in federal court today against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, top Presidential advisor Karl Rove and other unnamed senior White House officials, for their role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status. A copy of the Complaint as filed in court is attached, as is a page with excerpts from the Complaint. The suit accuses the defendants of violating the Wilsons' constitutional and other legal rights as a result of "a conspiracy among current and former high-level officials in the White House" to "discredit, punish and seek revenge against" Mr. Wilson for publicly disputing statements made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address justifying the war in Iraq. The suit was filed nearly three years after Washington columnist Robert Novak disclosed Valerie Wilson's classified CIA employment in a column he wrote on July 14, 2003, based on leaks from senior administration officials. It subsequently was confirmed, during Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's criminal investigation, that several top ranking officials in the White House leaked Wilson's name and status with the CIA to Novak and other reporters. The Complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by the international law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP, whose team is headed by Washington, D.C. litigation partner and privacy law practitioner Christopher Wolf. Noted Constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor of law at Duke University, is of counsel in the case. As a result of Cheney, Libby and Rove's conduct, the suit claims that the Wilsons have suffered violations of their rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution and by laws of the District of Columbia. The Complaint specifies that each of the Wilsons has been deprived of their First and Fifth Amendment rights; each has suffered a gross invasion of their privacy; each has been impaired in pursuing professional opportunities; and that they fear for their safety and the safety of their children as a result of the wrongful public disclosures. In addition, the Complaint alleges that Valerie Wilson was impaired in her ability to carry out her duties at the CIA, and to pursue her career at the agency in further service to her country, as she had planned. While no specific dollar amount is requested, the suit seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys' fees and costs. Coinciding with the filing of the Complaint, the Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust has been established. Funds from the trust will help the Wilsons pay the substantial legal costs forced upon them by the unlawful leaking of Mrs. Wilson's covert CIA status. The objectives of the trust include: -- Counseling them in connection with their potential witness testimony during the upcoming trial of Scooter Libby; and -- Helping them to prepare the civil suit that will uncover the truth surrounding the leak, ensure all relevant public officials are held accountable for actions depriving the Wilsons of their privacy and constitutional rights, and serve as a deterrent to similar wrongdoing being committed in the future. The Trust was established with the Wilsons' approval and provides that should the suit result in a payment to the Wilsons in excess of their legal costs, they will reimburse the Trust for all legal costs paid by the Trust. That money will then be distributed by the trustees to a charitable organization(s) that works to protect the rights of government whistleblowers. Contributions to the Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust can be given at www.wilsonsupport.org or sent to P.O. Box 40918, Washington, D.C. 20016-0918. Neither the Wilsons nor their attorneys will comment on the civil suit today, but they will meet with the news media at 10:00 a.m. Friday at the National Press Club, 14th and F Sts. Excerpts From the Complaint in Wilson v. Libby, et al.: "The lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of one such human source at the CIA, Valerie Plame Wilson, whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer, and who risked her life for her country." "The Defendants reached an agreement to discredit, punish, and seek revenge against the Plaintiffs . . . . Said agreement was motivated by an invidiously discriminatory animus towards those who had publicly criticized the administration's stated justifications for going to war with Iraq." "The Defendants chose not to address publicly, directly, and on the merits why they may have thought Mr. Wilson was wrong or unfair in his statements on the President's misstatements. Rather, they embarked on an anonymous 'whispering campaign' designed to discredit and injure the Plaintiffs and to deter other critics from publicly speaking out." "But for Mr. Wilson coming forward, it is unlikely that the Administration ever would have acknowledged its error. The fact that the administration had to admit its mistake is one likely reason why the Defendants chose to attack the Wilsons" "The Defendants fraudulently concealed the existence of the Plaintiffs' cause of action . . . by, among other things, giving false or misleading testimony to federal law enforcement personnel and/or the federal grand jury empanelled to investigate the unlawful publication of Plaintiff Valerie Plame Wilson's classified CIA employment . . . ."
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I'll withhold comment until we see where this goes. I could file a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for offending me with their yellow smiley dude...but it doesn't mean I'm going to win.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder This will be interesting. If this was one, this case has the potential to expose a cover up and conspiracy at the highest levels. Revenge is often the best medicine.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy LOL, sure.. revenge. The Plames and the Wilsons got exposed yesterday as being full of it. So now they are going to sue so they can save face. Does anyone still think she was undercover or the Bush administration wanted their own revenge for Wilson lying about what he found in Niger? If you do then there is no hope at all for you after hearing Novaks version of events. His version of the story just happend to be what my side has been saying all along. Chalk up another told ya so.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Next " scandal " for the moonbats please. It's fun watchbing their hopes go up in flames while they hate America." Don't EVER wonder why no one takes you seriously.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By HRM >>I could file a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for offending me with their yellow smiley dude...but it doesn't mean I'm going to win.<< hmmmm...
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger As one of the people who criticized SPP for that post, I can say I did so because, whereas his posts are normally informative and insightful, that particular post was tainted by an unusual level of cynicism, which made it difficult to agree with on its face, even though I agreed with the it. He has good reason for his cynicism, it turns out, but his delivery *in that one post* was somewhat marred by it. There are others, however, who can't seem to construct a civil post without playing "broken record" with the same, tired old arguments and blanket insults.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger No, it was an unusual level of cynicicm. A low level of cynicism, like in post #11, can be tolerated without poisoning the message.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy From Captains Quarter Blog who has been blowing up the Plame story for years. -- For those who think that the Wilsons still have any credibility left, please see my omnibus post on the various efforts by Joe Wilson to obfuscate the truth until put under oath by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Undoubtedly, this lawsuit will founder on the same shoals -- and it will give us a splendid opportunity to ask Plame under threat of perjury the following questions: 1. How did Joe Wilson get this assignment? 2. Why didn't the CIA have him sign the standard agreement to keep his findings confidential? 3. Whjy didn't the CIA correct the record when Wilson leaked and then wrote himself false information about his findings? Let's put Plame on the stand and really get to the heart of what she hoped to accomplish by promoting her husband for this task. I'd bet the lawsuit gets dropped in a New York minute -- and if not, the record of Wilson's prevarications should easily sink it.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By gadzuux The CIA states plainly that valerie plame was a NOC. Perhaps they know more than you.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy The CIA never said she was undercover or that she was outed. The people who wrote the law that the libs said was violated say no law was broken. Now get this... because of these facts Fitzgerald after 2 years and thousands of wasted hours didn't charge ANYONE for outing a secret agent. I find it hillarious the left will even talk about it anymore. It is time for them to get a new " scandal " because this one didn't work out so well. The entire conspiracy that the White house tried to get revenge for Joe Wilson being a liar was so far fetched and looney that now anyone who clung to that myth has had reality slap them in the head by Novak telling the real story. I love the fact that the Plames are trying to hang onto their 15 minutes of shame and are going to try and sue. Bring it on!
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "The left who said Rove was going down, that a crime was committed have egg all over their face once again. After a while I almost feel sorry for them." YOU'VE been saying these things all along. You've been quoting the "left" all along. Provide one post where anyone around here ever said that. You couldn't last time you were challenged on this, let's see you try now.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
