The Daily Background

Hilarious. The first witness in the Lewis Libby trial is a memory expert. She’s trying to defend him and his fake little “memory problem.” Here’s the problem. This supposed memory expert forgot that she had met Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald before going into the courtroom and denied that she had. Further, she forgot what her own books said, and misrepresented her own research (or as she claims- ‘forgot’ what her real findings were).

Pfffft. The Washington Post ripped her testimony apart today and said Fitzgerald handled her testimony with a masterful “Ginsu-like legal performance” yesterday. This, after about an hour of her testimony was dedicated to talking about how qualified and an expert she was. Check it out:

…. when Fitzgerald got his chance to cross-examine Loftus about her findings, he had her stuttering to explain her own writings and backpedaling from her earlier assertions. Citing several of her publications, footnotes and the work of her peers, Fitzgerald got Loftus to acknowledge that the methodology she had used at times in her long academic career was not that scientific, that her conclusions about memory were conflicting, and that she had exaggerated a figure and a statement from her survey of D.C. jurors that favored the defense.

The Post continued “There were several moments when Loftus was completely caught off guard by Fitzgerald, creating some very awkward silences in the courtroom.”

The trial is scheduled to begin in earnest in January.

Filed under: Plame Leak, Z-TDB Blog