Matthew Cooper: What Crime?

Matthew Cooper has a column in Time recounting his experience with Scooter, Rove and Fitzgerald that concludes:

I was surprised last week that the Libby indictment even mentioned me. But apparently his recollection of the conversation differed from mine in a way that led the prosecutor to think he was lying. As for me, I still have no idea if Libby or anyone else has committed a crime. (emphasis added)

Here's his recollection of the infamous conversation:

When he finally reached me at around 3 p.m., we spoke for a few minutes as I sprawled on my bed. I had no idea that that brief phone call, along with a conversation with Karl Rove the day before, would leave me embroiled in a federal investigation for more than two years and that Libby would end up facing a five-count indictment. I doubt it occurred to Libby either. That afternoon, we talked a bit on background and off the record, and he gave me an on-the-record quote distancing Cheney from Wilson's fact-finding trip to Africa for the CIA. In fact, he was so eager to distance his boss from Wilson that a few days later, he called to rebuke me for not having used the whole quote in the piece.

And here's the session with Fitzgerald that led to one count against Scoot:

On Aug. 23, I had a tuna sandwich and gave a deposition in Abrams' Washington office about the conversation. The Wilson part that really interested Fitzgerald was tiny, as I told TIME readers. Basically, I asked Libby if he had heard anything about Wilson's wife having been involved in sending him to Niger. Libby responded with words to the effect of, "Yeah, I've heard that too." (h/t Real Clear Politics)

Libby shouldn't have confirmed Plame's job, but it's a teensy crime, and that the Rebels With A Kos Left could spin this and a couple other petty incidents into a scandal worthy of taking down a dozen administration officials, including the vice president, shows what a dark and vicious world they live in.