12/26/06

Cheney to be defense witness in CIA leak trial

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney will be called to testify on behalf of his former chief of staff in the CIA leak case, defense attorneys said, ending months of speculation over what would be historic testimony.

"We're calling the vice president," attorney Ted Wells said in court Dec. 19. Wells represents defendant I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who is charged with perjury and obstruction.

Separately last week, two news organizations have asked a federal judge to unseal documents in the case, arguing that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald never needed the testimony of reporters because he knew the source of the leak all along.

Sitting presidents, including Clinton and Ford, have testified in criminal cases, but presidential historians said they knew of no vice president who has done so.

William Jeffress, another of Libby's attorneys, would not say whether Cheney is under a subpoena to testify. Issuing a court order to a sitting vice president could raise separation-of-powers concerns, but Jeffress said it was not an issue.

"We don't expect him to resist," Jeffress said.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who said recently he did not expect the White House to challenge his witnesses, said Dec. 19 he did not plan to call Cheney.

Wells immediately said he would.

"That settles that," Fitzgerald said.

Neither Jeffress nor Wells would say whether they expect Cheney to testify in the courtroom or offer videotaped testimony to avoid infringing on the separation of powers.

"We've cooperated fully in this matter and will continue to do so in fairness to the parties involved," said Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for the vice president. "As we've stated previously, we're not going to comment further on a legal proceeding."

Libby is accused of lying to investigators about what he told reporters regarding former CIA operative Valerie Plame. Plame's identity was leaked to reporters around the time that her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly criticized the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Libby says he was focused on more important issues -- including terrorism, Iraq and nuclear proliferation -- and didn't remember his conversations regarding Plame.

Cheney could bolster that argument by testifying about the many other larger issues Libby was responsible for.

In court papers filed last week, The Associated Press and Dow Jones asked for the release of the sworn statements Fitzgerald gave to justify subpoenas for New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

Fitzgerald wanted the reporters' help in his investigation of the leak of Plame's identity to syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

Miller spent 85 days in jail in 2005 for refusing to testify. Cooper testified under a court order.

"Recently the public learned that the special counsel's pursuit of those reporters was entirely unnecessary for him to determine who leaked Ms. Plame's name to Mr. Novak," lawyers for the news services wrote.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has acknowledged being Novak's source but said it was a passing, inadvertent conversation. He also said he told Fitzgerald about the conversation as soon as the investigation began.

Lawyers for the news organizations said the public has the right to know why, despite that knowledge, Fitzgerald testified that he needed the testimony of reporters to continue the investigation. The only way to know that, the lawyers argued, is to unseal Fitzgerald's affidavits and the court's full legal opinion on the issue.

Libby is scheduled to go on trial in January.