Libby Trial May Show Cheney's Role in Run-Up to War Cary O'Reilly and Holly Rosenkrantz
Fri Jan 12, 1:06 PM ET



Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, may provide ammunition for Democrats looking to attack the White House for its conduct in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Libby, 56, is charged with perjury and obstruction for lying to a grand jury probing the leak of a CIA agent's name. He faces as many as 30 years in prison if convicted. The trial starts on Jan. 16 in Washington.

Defense lawyers say they'll call Cheney as a witness to bolster claims Libby was too busy with security matters to accurately remember events. His testifying is risky for both men. What Cheney recalls may undermine Libby's too-busy defense while exposing the vice president to probes by Congress of how the Bush administration promoted the war, legal experts said.

``Litigation begets litigation,'' said Stanley Brand, a former U.S. House counsel who specializes in representing public officials accused of wrongdoing. ``Every time you haul someone to court, it makes it more likely someone else is going to haul him to court. It's the Martha Stewart problem. Once you're under oath, people can take pot shots at you about what you said.''

Ted Wells, a Paul Weiss Rifkind attorney representing Libby, told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton during a hearing last month that he plans to call Cheney to the stand. He and co- counsel William Jeffress of Baker Botts did not return telephone calls this week seeking comment.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Ann McBride declined to say whether a subpoena has been received. ``We have cooperated fully with the investigation and will continue to do so,'' McBride said.

Rare Testimony

If Cheney takes the stand, he would be the first sitting vice president to testify in a criminal case in at least 100 years, according to Joel Goldstein, a vice presidential scholar at St. Louis University. Rulings by Walton may limit the scope of Cheney's testimony, though he is likely to discuss events in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the period in which prosecutors say Libby committed perjury and obstruction.

``The suggestion has been that Vice President Cheney's office has really almost created an alternative national security council,'' Goldstein said. ``To that extent, the trial may be indicative in showing how the vice president's office has been involved in the planning and selling of the war.''

Libby was Cheney's closest adviser, having served as the vice president's national security adviser as well as his chief of staff. He worked with Cheney at the Pentagon during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

Not First on Trial

Libby is one of the highest-ranking White House officials ever to be tried, though not the only member of the Bush administration. David Safavian, the former head of the Office of Management and Budget, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October for lying and obstructing justice during the corruption investigation of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now in prison for fraud.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Zeidenberg, who won a conviction of Safavian, is a working with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the chief prosecutor in the Libby case.

Fitzgerald, normally based in Chicago, would probably handle any cross-examination of Cheney. He ``is the special prosecutor in the Libby case, and he is personally responsible and more involved in that case, than in any of his Chicago cases,'' said Robert Kent, a former federal prosecutor in Fitzgerald's office who left two months ago to join the Baker McKenzie law firm.

Fitzgerald's cases include the prosecution of Conrad Black, the former Hollinger International Inc. chairman charged with looting the company.

Plame's Name

Libby was indicted in October 2005 on charges of lying to investigators and a grand jury probing whether Bush administration officials intentionally revealed the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame to reporters, a violation of federal law.

Plame's name was published by syndicated columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003, after her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly accused President George W. Bush of twisting intelligence to justify the Iraq war.

Libby is accused of lying and obstructing the probe. No one has been charged with the leak of Plame's name. In September, ex- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he was the person who first told Novak that Plame was a CIA officer.

Court papers filed in the Libby case portray Cheney as having a central role in events during the period in 2003 that the administration was defending itself against critics of Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Cheney told Libby on June 12, 2003, that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked at the CIA, according to the indictment. Libby told investigators that he believed Cheney learned it from the agency.

`No Control'

Cheney's testimony may undermine Libby's argument that he was too focused on national security matters by showing, for example, how often he discussed Wilson and Plame with his boss, according to Elizabeth de la Vega, a former federal prosecutor.

``This is Libby's trial,'' she said. ``He's on trial for perjury and false statements, so Cheney is not going to be able to control anything. It's not completely wide open, but there's quite a bit of leeway in questioning him on matters leading up to the disclosure'' of Plame's name.

News organizations including Bloomberg News asked Walton Jan. 4 to ensure media access to the jury selection process, and to release audio recordings of the proceedings. Walton denied the latter request in a Jan. 9 order and will allow only two journalists in the courtroom. He said the court has taken extraordinary steps to ensure public access.

Other reporters and members of the public can observe the proceedings in a second courtroom that will have live audio and video of the proceedings, he said.

``At no time in the history of this courthouse have such accommodations been provided to the public and the press in a criminal case,'' Walton said in the order.

The case is U.S. vs. Libby, 05-394, U.S. District Court, the District of Columbia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cary O'Reilly in Washington at [email protected] ; Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington at [email protected]



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