LIBBY'S STORY. Things may be heating up a bit in the Libby trial. The prosecution is moving from testimony of witnesses who spoke with Scooter Libby about Valerie Plame in the weeks and days leading up to Libby's conversation on July 10, 2003, with Tim Russert (which Libby claimed under oath was his source of information about Plame) to testimony and evidence about the events of fall 2003, when the investigation began and when Libby initially told the story for which he is accused of lying under oath.
This is where the dispute arises over whether Libby was trying to save his security clearance, his position, and his job or whether he was an innocent who, scapegoated by a White House eager to save electoral genius Karl Rove, sought the help of his boss, Vice President Cheney, to get the White House to clear him. Meanwhile, Patrick Fitzgerald declared, today, out of the presence of the jury, his view that Libby told his false story to hide the fact that he had gotten information about Plame (which he feared was classified) not from reporters but from official sources. We may be hearing about a series of newspaper articles, which Libby read, talking both about Plame's blown cover and about a purported effort by two top White House aides to disclose Plame's identity to multiple reporters out of revenge. Whether the article, from the Washington Post, making that last claim was in fact true will undoubtedly be vigorously disputed by the defense. Finally, it seems likely that the prosecution will put into evidence Libby's grand jury testimony, which will finally give us (or at least those of us who like reading 6 point font) an extended look at the full scope of the story Libby told.
--Jeff Lomonaco
