Cheney May Be Called in CIA Leak Case

[Liberal Dose]

By TONI LOCY, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Could Vice President Dick Cheney be a star prosecution witness in the perjury trial of his former chief of staff?

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald suggested in a court filing Wednesday that Cheney would be a logical witness for the prosecution because the vice president could authenticate notes he jotted on a copy of a New York Times opinion column by a critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Fitzgerald said Cheney's "state of mind" is "directly relevant" to whether I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's former top aide, lied to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about how Libby learned CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity and what he later told reporters.

Libby "shared the interests of his superior and was subject to his direction," the prosecutor wrote.

"Therefore, the state of mind of the vice president as communicated to (the) defendant is directly relevant to the issue of whether (the) defendant knowingly made false statements to federal agents and the grand jury regarding when and how he learned about (Plame's) employment and what he said to reporters regarding this issue," according to the filing.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said, "Since the inquiry relates to a case in the courts, I refer you to the Office of the Special Counsel."

In the Times op-ed on July 6, 2003, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson — Plame's husband — accused the administration of twisting intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.

In 2002, the CIA sent Wilson to Niger to determine whether Iraq tried to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger to build a nuclear weapon. Wilson discounted the reports. But a version of the allegation, attributed to British intelligence, wound up in President Bush's State of the Union address in 2003.

Cheney wrote on the article, "Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an ambassador to answer a question? Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?"

Libby told the agents and the grand jury that he believed he had learned from reporters that Plame was married to Wilson and that he had forgotten that Cheney had told him that in the weeks before Wilson's article was published.

More at link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060525/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak

[maddezmom]

1. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2304758