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Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Trial
By Michael J. Sniffen and Matt Apuzzo
The Associated Press

Tuesday 06 March 2007

Washington - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.

Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was acquitted on just one of five charges after a trial that focused renewed attention on the Bush administration's claims of evidence about weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Libby had little reaction to the verdict. He stood expressionless as the jury left the room. His lawyer, Theodore Wells, said they were "very disappointed" with the verdict.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said he was gratified by the verdict.

"The results are actually sad," he added. "It's sad that we had a situation where a high level official person who worked in the office of the vice president obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did."

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said that President Bush "respected the jury's verdict" and said he was "saddened for Scooter Libby and his family."

Perino said there will be no more White House comment because it is an ongoing legal case. She said that Bush had watched the verdict on television in the Oval Office with White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and senior adviser Dan Bartlett.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid welcomed the jury's verdict. "It's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics," he said.

Although Libby was the one convicted, Reid said, "his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney's role in this sordid affair. Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct."

Asked about that, Perino said, "I'm not commenting on a hypothetical situation" and added that "I'm aware of no such request."

The verdict was read on the 10th day of deliberations. Libby faces up to 30 years in prison, though under federal sentencing guidelines likely will receive far less.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered a pre-sentencing report be completed by May 15. Judges use such reports to help determine sentences.

Libby faced two counts of perjury, two counts of lying to the FBI and one count of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said he discussed Plame's name with reporters and, fearing prosecution, made up a story to make those discussions seem innocuous.

Libby's defense team said he learned about Plame from Cheney, forgot about it, then learned it again a month later from NBC newsman Tim Russert. Anything he told reporters about Plame, Libby said, was just chatter and rumors, not official government information.

Fitzgerald said that was a lie. But Libby's defense team had argued that it would be unfair to convict Libby in a case where so many witnesses changed their stories or had memory problems.

One of the jurors said the jury had 34 poster-size pages filled with information they distilled from the trial testimony. They discerned that Libby was told about Valerie Plame, wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, at least nine times.

"Even if he forgot that someone told him about Mrs. Wilson, who had told him, it seemed very unlikely he would not have remembered about Mrs. Wilson," said the juror, who was not immediately publicly identified.

Wells said he would ask the court for a new trial by April 13. Such requests are common following criminal convictions.

"Despite our disappointment in the jurors' verdict, we believe in the American justice system and we believe in the jury system," Wells told reporters outside the federal courthouse. "We intend to file a motion for a new trial and if that is denied, we will appeal the conviction. We have every confidence that ultimately Mr. Libby will be exonerated.... We intend to keep fighting to establish his innocence."

Said Fitzgerald: "Any lie under oath is serious. We cannot tolerate perjury. The truth is what drives our judicial system. If people don't come forward and tell truth, we have no hope of making judicial system work."

Libby will be allowed to remain free while awaiting sentencing, which is set for June 5.

As the verdicts were read, Libby's wife choked out a sob and sank her head. Moments later, she embraced the defense attorneys.

The jury acquitted Libby of one count of lying to the FBI about his conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

Libby and his lawyers walked into the courthouse after Wells' statement, holding on to each other by the wrists, apparently so they wouldn't be separated in the crush of reporters and camera crews. They paused briefly when a cameraman fell.

During the trial, prosecutors said Libby made up a ludicrous lie to save his job during the CIA leak investigation by telling investigators he'd forgotten Cheney told him about the CIA status of Wilson's wife. Cheney had passed the information to Libby more than a month before Plame's identity was outed by conservative columnist Robert Novak.

Libby told investigators he learned of Plame's identity from NBC reporter Tim Russert, saying that he'd forgotten at the time he talked to the reporter that he'd been told of it earlier by Cheney.

Russert testified he never told Libby about Wilson's wife, and underwent a grueling cross-examination as Libby's legal team tried to discredit Russert's testimony.

Wells and Fitzgerald clashed over how important Libby and Cheney considered CIA officer Plame.

"The wheels were falling off the Bush administration" in the summer of 2003, Wells argued. How could Libby, serving Cheney as both chief of staff and national security adviser, remember Plame's job when 100,000 U.S. troops were in Iraq and hadn't found the weapons of mass destruction the administration had cited to justify the war? Wells asked.

"And he still had his day job of trying to prevent another 9/11" terrorist attack, Wells said.

Fitzgerald noted that eight witnesses, including an undersecretary of state, two CIA officials, two top Cheney aides, two reporters and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said they discussed Wilson's wife with Libby in a one-month span before Plame's CIA employment was publicly revealed.

Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Case

ceilirose

I really hope Bush doesn't pardon him.

migamoo

I'm sure he will.

sunnykerr

The thing is that a pardon is kinda irrelevant at this point. It doesn't give back to Valerie Plame the ability to do her job. It doesn't change the disgusting way in which her life was put in danger for political gains. And it doesn't change the fact that, apparently, an aide is as high in the hierarchy as this thing is gonna go.

The only thing a pardon would prove would be to show just how callous a disregard this administration has for its own actions and their consequences. If they don't take this any the more seriously than that... That tells you something.

Besides, we all know Libby took the bullet for the entire administration. Perhaps, based solely on the degree of his culpability... perhaps he deserves a pardon.

ceilirose

I think he (Libby) took one for team as they say. But for the integrity of the judicial system I'd really like to see Libby not get that pardon. Oh I know he'll be in one of those "country club" prisons and be out in no time because of good behavior - it's just the principal. That's all we can hope for right now.

I read that the WH still didn't think he had done anything wrong.

*Ledi*

Bush feels saddened for him? I'd personally feel disgusted and say, "Thank God you got what you deserved." I would hope that every normal person (with a brain) would feel that way, but I guess that excludes Bush.

lizzie2000

Libby definately did take one for the team. The thing about the pardon is that he can use the threat of spilling the beans and essentially being the whistle blower for the White House if they dont pardon him

Jacob1983

Libby was the fall guy in my book. I don't see what big deal is though. Sure he lied about things but which politician hasn't? Besides, it's not like someone is dead or physically harmed from his lies. I'm not saying Libby is 100 percent innocent and that he didn't do anything wrong. Of course, he did something wrong but I don't think the guy should go to the slammer for 10. 20, or 30 years.

Historically, presidents usually pardon their buddies at the end of their last term.

sunnykerr

Of course, Libby was the fall guy. He was an aide. No way would he have had the authority to orchestrate this whole thing.

And it's so true that presidents tend to pardon their buddies before walking off into the sunset.

As for whether Libby would have beans to spill about the White House... Let's face it, is there anything left to spill?

Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq—whether it's the lead-up to it or the way it's been conducted since, this CIA leak, the Jack Abramoff scandal, Cheney shooting that guy in the face, the $12 billion intended for Iraq that vanished into thin air, the Abu Ghraib scandal, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center debacle, the would-be sale of six American seaports to Dubai Ports World, the whole Halliburton miasma of issues...

Seriously, is there a secret out there that could actually affect this administration?

migamoo

Sadly, I don't think so.

ceilirose

Oh you have to be married and have an affair and then lie about. Then and only then is there sufficient reason to impeach. That's the ticket.

Plame was a clandestine CIA officer. She was working on the proliferation of WMD in the mid-East. When her cover was blown - the cover of approximately 30 to 40 people were also blown. Due to the nature of the spy business I guess we'll never know what happened to those people.

Jacob1983

Cheney accidentally shooting a person in the face on a hunting trip wasn't Bush's fault. That's done and over.

I still think he'll get pardon by Bush eventually. Mo' money, mo' problems.

lizzie2000

oh he will definately get pardoned by Bush when Bush leaves office and until then he will appeal so he will never serve a day in jail.

sunnykerr

I wasn't talking about things that are Bush's fault. I was talking about scandals and controversies that this administration has faced and that are, indeed, "done and over" with. That was kind of my point. Nothing sticks to this administration, and Cheney's part of the administration, right?

As for Libby, yup, he'll probably get pardoned.

ceilirose

At the time the story broke Bush said that anyone in his Administration involved in the outing of Plame would be fired.

Cheney and Rove are still there.

The Cheney shooting incident was a scandal in the fact that it took over 24 hours for it to make it to the media. It happened on a Saturday and wasn't announced until Sunday night. That way it didn't make the Sunday talk shows. Although they'll never come clean I would think Bush's press, communication's office etc. had a hand in holding back the story.

FWIW I thought it was interesting that at the end of that news cycle Conservatives/Republicans had made Cheney more of a victim than the man who was shot and had a heart attack while recovering.