Reply #19: Cheney aide a key focus in CIA leak probe-lawyers (Reuters)

[highplainsdem]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-10-16T213709Z_01_EIC446318_RTRUKOC_0_US-BUSH-LEAK.xml


Cheney aide a key focus in CIA leak probe-lawyers
Sun Oct 16, 2005 5:38 PM ET

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide could face obstruction charges over whether he tried to shape a New York Times reporter's testimony about the outing of a covert CIA operative, people close to the case said on Sunday.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was likely to decide within days whether to bring charges over the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, with announcements possible later this week. Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, and President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, were among the possible targets, legal sources said.

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Sources said Libby could be in legal jeopardy over one sentence in a September 15 letter he sent to Miller while she was still in jail. In that letter, Libby urged Miller to testify about their conversations and noted that other reporters had made clear to the grand jury that "they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with me."

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Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, has not returned calls seeking comment.