VI. Ari Fleischer: “In the West Wing, everything feels like evening.”

Time out. If memory serves…former White House press secretary
Fleischer testified on Monday, January 29th, which was something of a
liberation day for the jury.

As I said, the original 16 jurors – 12 regulars, four alternates,
got along famously with one exception. Let’s call the exception RJ
(Runaway Juror). She broke the first rule by flashing another juror a
page in her notebook during court testimony. Fortunately the message, Look at that eye candy in the third row!
wasn’t top secret stuff. She also bothered Court clerk Mattie about the
lunch menu, and inserted herself into others’ conversations. All that
was easily tolerated. But one day before we were called to court, she
approached three jurors and semi-whispered, “My mother told me that
reporters are writing stories about how we….” Before she could say
more, all three told her to “STOP.”

So this Monday morning, Court clerk Mattie (who hadn’t repeated a
single item of clothing in the first three weeks of the trial,
according to our fashion consultants) calls RJ into the hall. A few
minutes later, she’s collecting her belongings. “It was just something
I heard,” she says. We call goodbyes from a distance. As soon as the
door closes, four jurors pump their fists.

“I thought for sure she’d say something to get me disqualified,” said one juror.

“You told me you didn’t want to be on this jury?”

“I’ve come too far to leave now.”

Okay. Back to Ari Fleischer.

General Impressions? Slick Willie. Not believable.

I’m surprised by that negative reaction. I actually thought he was
brutally honest, especially about his relationship with the press. Said
he leaked the name of Mrs. Wilson and her role in the Niger affair to
David Gregory of NBC and John Dickerson of Time Magazine before Novak’s
column appeared.

And how did they thank him for the scoop? The reaction was “a big so
what?” “Like a lot of things I said to the press, it had no impact.”
“They just don’t take it at face value. When I said 9/11 was connected
to Al Qaeda, a reporter said, ‘Prove it!'”

But we digress. Fleischer’s value to the prosecution (which gave him
immunity for testifying) was a conversation with Libby during a July 7,
2003 lunch in the White House mess. In “an offhand way” he recalled,
Libby told him that “[Wilson’s] wife works for the CIA.” That was the
factoid Fleischer later tried to drop on Gregory and Dickerson in
Uganda.

“I never in my wildest dreams thought this information was
classified. The normal protocol is [for Libby] to say right up front.
‘This is classified. You cannot use it.'”

Inconsistencies? Someone suggests Fleischer got immunity so he
could lie to the Grand Jury. Anya explains, in her gentle way, that
immunity only protects you if you tell the truth. Delia, a most elegant
and charming woman, interrupts.

“My mother had a saying. ‘When you let yourself be led by
emotion, you will usually end up wrong.’ I think we need to keep
emotion out of this.”

We are grateful for the calming words.

We leave the issue unsettled, and remove Grenier from the short
end of our Most/Least believable witnesses to make room for Fleischer.

Exclusive: Inside the Libby Jury Room | The Huffington Post

Okay. Back to Ari Fleischer.

General Impressions? Slick Willie. Not believable.