Former New York Times reporter contradicts Libby - Testimony focuses on agent's identity
Former New York Times reporter contradicts Libby - Testimony focuses on agent's identity
By David Stout
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: January 30, 2007
WASHINGTON: A former reporter for The New York Times testified Tuesday that I. Lewis Libby Jr. disclosed the identity of a CIA agent to her more than two weeks before he has said he learned of the woman's identity.
The reporter, Judith Miller, said that Libby, who was then the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, made the disclosure in a June 23, 2003, meeting in the Old Executive Office Building near the White House.
Miller described having two conversations with Libby about Valerie Plame, the CIA agent — before Libby told investigators he was surprised to learn about her from a television journalist, Tim Russert.
Libby was "agitated and frustrated and angry" during the June 23 meeting, she testified, because he thought the Central Intelligence Agency was beginning to "back-pedal to try to distance itself" from discredited assessments of Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities in the build-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The CIA was waging "a perverted war of leaks," Miller said Libby told her.
Miller's account could be devastating to Libby, who is on trial for obstruction and perjury and has sworn that he first learned the identity of Plame from Russert on July 10, 2003.
But Miller testified in federal court that, in addition to discussing the CIA agent on June 23, Libby also discussed Plame again on July 8, when she and Libby met at a Washington hotel.
On June 23, Miller said Libby discussed how "a clandestine guy" had gone to Africa in the winter of 2002 to investigate reports that Saddam was trying to buy uranium from Niger to further its nuclear programs. Then Libby began to refer to the "clandestine guy" by name — Joseph Wilson 4th, who is Plame's husband — according to Miller's account.
Miller was asked by Patrick Fitzgerald, the prosecutor who is trying to prove that Libby aimed to impede a federal investigation into who leaked Plame's name, whether Wilson's wife was mentioned at that June 23 session.
"Yes," Miller answered. "He said that his wife — referring to Plame — worked in 'the bureau.'"
"The bureau?" Fitzgerald asked.
Miller said that she thought "bureau" meant the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but that she soon realized "he was referring to the CIA" and that the allusion was to "the nonproliferation bureau" in the spy agency.
Miller spent 85 days in jail in 2005 for refusing to testify about her discussions with Libby, agreeing to do so only after he released her from a pledge of confidentiality, she has said. She left The Times soon afterward.
The June 23 discussion occurred amid a growing controversy about intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq. After his trip to Niger, Wilson wrote in an opinion essay in The New York Times that some of the intelligence used to justify the U.S. invasion was false and that Vice President Dick Cheney should have known it.
Journalism groups have criticized Fitzgerald for calling reporters as witnesses and demanding they discuss conversations with sources. Miller's notes probably will be used as evidence, and Fitzgerald is expected to call two other reporters — Russert and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine.
Earlier Tuesday, David Addington, who served as Cheney's legal counsel during the scandal, described a September 2003 meeting with Libby around the time that an investigation into the leak began.
"I just want to tell you, I didn't do it," Addington recalled Libby saying. "I didn't ask what the 'it' was," Addington added.
By David Stout
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: January 30, 2007
WASHINGTON: A former reporter for The New York Times testified Tuesday that I. Lewis Libby Jr. disclosed the identity of a CIA agent to her more than two weeks before he has said he learned of the woman's identity.
The reporter, Judith Miller, said that Libby, who was then the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, made the disclosure in a June 23, 2003, meeting in the Old Executive Office Building near the White House.
Miller described having two conversations with Libby about Valerie Plame, the CIA agent — before Libby told investigators he was surprised to learn about her from a television journalist, Tim Russert.
Libby was "agitated and frustrated and angry" during the June 23 meeting, she testified, because he thought the Central Intelligence Agency was beginning to "back-pedal to try to distance itself" from discredited assessments of Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities in the build-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The CIA was waging "a perverted war of leaks," Miller said Libby told her.
Miller's account could be devastating to Libby, who is on trial for obstruction and perjury and has sworn that he first learned the identity of Plame from Russert on July 10, 2003.
But Miller testified in federal court that, in addition to discussing the CIA agent on June 23, Libby also discussed Plame again on July 8, when she and Libby met at a Washington hotel.
On June 23, Miller said Libby discussed how "a clandestine guy" had gone to Africa in the winter of 2002 to investigate reports that Saddam was trying to buy uranium from Niger to further its nuclear programs. Then Libby began to refer to the "clandestine guy" by name — Joseph Wilson 4th, who is Plame's husband — according to Miller's account.
Miller was asked by Patrick Fitzgerald, the prosecutor who is trying to prove that Libby aimed to impede a federal investigation into who leaked Plame's name, whether Wilson's wife was mentioned at that June 23 session.
"Yes," Miller answered. "He said that his wife — referring to Plame — worked in 'the bureau.'"
"The bureau?" Fitzgerald asked.
Miller said that she thought "bureau" meant the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but that she soon realized "he was referring to the CIA" and that the allusion was to "the nonproliferation bureau" in the spy agency.
Miller spent 85 days in jail in 2005 for refusing to testify about her discussions with Libby, agreeing to do so only after he released her from a pledge of confidentiality, she has said. She left The Times soon afterward.
The June 23 discussion occurred amid a growing controversy about intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq. After his trip to Niger, Wilson wrote in an opinion essay in The New York Times that some of the intelligence used to justify the U.S. invasion was false and that Vice President Dick Cheney should have known it.
Journalism groups have criticized Fitzgerald for calling reporters as witnesses and demanding they discuss conversations with sources. Miller's notes probably will be used as evidence, and Fitzgerald is expected to call two other reporters — Russert and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine.
Earlier Tuesday, David Addington, who served as Cheney's legal counsel during the scandal, described a September 2003 meeting with Libby around the time that an investigation into the leak began.
"I just want to tell you, I didn't do it," Addington recalled Libby saying. "I didn't ask what the 'it' was," Addington added.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 8:04 AM
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