Breaking: Valerie Plame Files Suit

Valerie Plame has just filed a lawsuit in US District Court against VP Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Lewis Libbey claiming that they conspired to ruin her carreer.

The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby of revealing Plame’s CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration’s motives in Iraq.

Rumors of a lawsuit were flying several months ago.

I quoted Ed Lasky in my post about the rumor since he didn’t think it would happen because Wilson/Plame weren’t stupid enough to subject themselves to the rigors of discovery:

Wilson would have to be really dumb to expose himself and his wife to the rigors of discovery in a civil action. I have always wondered how two civil servants were able to afford an expensive home in one of Washington’s finest neighborhoods, for example. Wilson has gotten kid glove treatment from the press. He may just be stupid enough to expose himself to an adversary equipped with subpoena power.

I guess so.

Update: John Podhoretz can ‘t wait:

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Valerie. Because, you see, if the suit is summarily dismissed, she and Joe will be laughingstocks. And if it goes any further, Dick and Karl and Scooter will have the right to do discovery — and then, I believe, Val ‘n’ Joe will reap the whirlwind.

Update II: Greg Tinti at Outside the Beltway comments:

According to Wilsons’ lawyer, “this lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of [Plame].” And, despite the lower burden of proof in a civil case, there still hasn’t been one shred of evidence that indicates an “intentional and malicious” effort by anyone to specifically “out” Plame.

Lorie adds: I think we have a big promotional move here. Has the movie been cast yet? The thought of all the facts coming out in a court of law is something that I find quite delicious, but something I would be surprised to see. This is all about having a forum in which to repeat the Plame-Wilson accusations against the Bush administration. Since they stand in stark contrast to all the facts coming out this week, the mainstream media coverage should be especially interesting to watch. For those who have not been following the story this week, Wizbang has had the best coverage in the blogosphere. See here, here, here, here, here and here for a primer.

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