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January 25, 2007
Scooter's In A Pickle
Amid all the hoopla surrounding this week's State of the Union address, more bad news from Iraq, and the start of a new season of American Idol, the trial of a former aide to Vice President Cheney -- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- has been relegated to secondary story status on the American news landscape.
Readers will recall that Mr. Libby was indicted for lying to prosecutors about where he learned the covert identity of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife -- CIA oeprative Valerie Plame Wilson. Libby, who may have leaked that classified information to reporters as part of an effort to smear Joe Wilson (who had the audacity to tell the truth about what his government-sponsored trip to Niger did -- or did not -- uncover about supposed yellow cake uranium there), told prosecutors he learned about Plame from a reporter.
Today, however, a serious flaw in that line of defense emerged. It seems another Cheney staffer -- former spokeswoman Cathie Martin -- has thrown Scooter under the proverbial bus. Ms. Martin testified today that it was she who told Libby and the Vice President of Ms. Plame's identity, days before Libby claims he learned it from a reporter. Whoops.
That Ms. Martin, a loyal Team Bush player who still works in the White House, plunged the knife in must cut especially deep for Scooter. Last we checked perjury was a jailable offense, and after Libby's unwillingness during his testimony this week to absolve administration higher-ups of any guilt in the matter, he may not want to count on that presidential pardon to bail him out of doing time. Sucks for him, huh?
Posted by houtopia at January 25, 2007 08:15 PM