Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Had lunch with Scooter Libby today at the Daily Grill in the Bethesda Hyatt. Hot muggy and sunny day. Has been cold up until now. Scooter looked very worn and down. I gave him a big hug and he looked like he was going to have tears. I asked about the trial and he said that they really expected a not guilty verdict and that is why they did not pull out all of the stops and ask the VP to testify. Also, it was clear that Reggie Walton was “preening” for this since he had the courtroom wired for the press and bloggers which they never do. He proclaimed complete innocence and is hoping that Bush will pardon him. He is sad that he has not been pardoned already and feels that perhaps if it looks like he will go to jail the POTUS will then pardon him. He feels that there are politicos in the WH who do not want the POTUS to pardon him since it will make the Administration look even worse that the 30% approval ratings. I told Scooter that I could not imagine that the POTUS will allow him to go to jail, particularly with the VP pulling so hard for Scooter. I spent the rest of the time briefing Scooter about biodefense updates. Also, had meeting at the White House called by Rajeev Venkayya and Mike Magan on XDR-TB including reps from CDC (Julie G. and Ken Castro), HHS (Craig Vanderwagen, Gerry Parker) DoD, DHS, State, USAID, Mark Dybul. Bottom line was to coordinate the multi-Agency efforts. Good meeting. We (NIAID) has already put together a strategic plan as has CDC and so HHS looked good. Mark Dybul mentioned that the Policy Time with the POTUS on PEPFAR funding did not go well today.