Was the November Stone letter used as evidence to get the 1/8/08 wiretap of Spitzer?

Sorry guys, but that's a terrible headline. I understand the temptation, but a fair number of people will simply see the headline, move on, and be left under the impression that the guy is a drug addict to boot.

Not cool.

Did the FBI tape Stone doing biz with call girls and then approach him for dirt on dems? In any case, an abuse of power.

Did the FBI tape Stone doing biz with the call girls before the Spitzer investigation and then lean on him to give up dirt on any Dems? Is the "letter" in response to that possibility?

In any case, it is clearly an abuse of power.

Paul: You are way too dismissive of the possiblity that the letter that Stone's lawyer sent the the FBI WAS the tip the Feds used to work this investigation. The timeline you refer to in your post that you say "makes clear" in fact does nothing of the sort. It is not clear at all based on your own timeline when and how the investigation "started". Even the timeline you use is vague at best in some instances (Fall of 07 for example) and based on the only information available to date (I assume)---the FBI and US Atty's affidavits and leaks to the press. It's their story. TPM did a great job, and a service to the country, by doing the original investigative reporting on the the Bush Administration's destruction of the integrity of the US Justice Dept. by making it their political playground. Thanks to the efforts of TPM that story became common knowledge when the MSM finally caught up with your stories. Now the country knows the US Justice Dept was a very political operation and the facts and research have shown that many decisions were made for political and partisan reasons.

In light of this letter from Stone's lawyer to the FBI (which the Feds NEVER mentioned in any of their leaks or affidavits) it seems that the timelines provided by the Feds appear to be much more manufactured when you read them now.

Regardless of what Spitzer did to himself, this story needs a much closer look by TPM and others in the media. We now KNOW the US Justice Dept was corrupted by politics under this Bush administration so why would we be so dismissive of the possibilty that politics infested the Spitzer case?

Spitzer understandably had many enemies and he incredibly found a way to make it easy for them to take him down. Despite that fact, the motives, behavior, tactics, and yes, politics of this case deserve much more attention and should not be so easily and readily dismissed -- especially by those more responsible than anyone for exposing the political Bush Justice Dept.

Anyone else notice how much Roger Stone looks like Dubya? Seems like there's some kind of family resemblance there to me.

But, apropos to the issue, can there be any doubt that Stone was involved and the GOP once again used the police power of the state for the most ham-handed abuse of power against a political enemy? It's too bad Democrats don't have any balls, because a whole lot of the people involved in the political hit jobs from the White House on down should go to jail for these crimes. But they'll be let off the hook by the cowardly Dems as usual.

The FBI was looking for a reason to bring Spitzer down. Apparently Bush didn't like what Spitzer was uo to...check it out!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

I wouldn't be surprised if Stone and the FBI broke the law. But there will not be an investigation. This isn't intended to provide cover for Spitzer. If he wasn't getting what he needed he could have found less known 'agencys.' Some Stone wouldn't have known about. Did anybody get paid in this?

Yes. But Elliot stepped up on the stool, slipped the noose over his own head and sinched up the rope.