Obstruction of Justice-Libby’s Trial Begins

The trial of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby starts Jan. 16 in Washington. ^[1]Libby, 56, is charged with perjury and obstruction for lying to a grand jury regarding the leak of a CIA agent's name.^[2] He faces up 30 years in prison if convicted. ^[3]
Libby was indicted in October 2005 on charges of lying to investigators and a grand jury investigating whether Bush administration officials intentionally revealed the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame to reporters, a violation of federal national security law. ^[4]

Plame's name was published by columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003, after her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly criticized President George W. Bush’s use of intelligence to justify the Iraq war. ^[5]

No one has been charged with the leak of Plame's name.^[6] 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. ^[7]

But the indictment that forced Libby to resign remained because he is charged with impeding the investigation, rather than leaking Plame’s name. ^[8] Libby’s many influential friends and supporters believe that he is an innocent man and the accusations are unjust. ^[9]
Former CIA director Jim Woolsey, who has known Libby for years said, “I would be sympathetic to anyone who was indicted for non-violation of a statute,” referring to a provision of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which makes it a federal crime to reveal the identity of a covert intelligence agent. ^[10] “He was not indicted for any underlying crime.” [11]
Defense lawyers say they'll call Vice President Cheney as a witness to bolster claims Libby was too busy with security matters to accurately remember events.^[12] If Cheney takes the stand, he would be the first sitting vice president to testify in a criminal case in at least 100 years.^[13]
Cheney described Libby as "one of the finest individuals I've ever known" and said, "I believe he's one of the more honest men I know.” ^[14]

Cheney's role is crucial for both the defense and prosecution. Libby has contended he forgot details of his conversations with reporters about Plame because he was so busy with crucial national security matters.^[15]

"The defense will try to use (Cheney) to show that there was so much distraction at the time, that they were so busy that whatever (Libby) may have said to the grand jury was a lapse of memory," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.^[16]

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

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[1] Cary O'Reilly and Holly Rosenkrantz, Libby Trial May Show Cheney’s Role in Run-Up to War, Bloomberg News, January 15, 2007.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Jennifer Hoar,Libby Gets a Little Help from His Friends, CBSNews.com, January 15, 2007.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11]Id.
[12] O’Reilly, supra note 1.
[13] Id.
[14] Bill Nichols,Libby Trial Starts This Week Under Dimmer Spotlight, USA Today, January 15, 2007.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.