By TONI LOCY, Associated Press Writer
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WASHINGTON - A former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney told a federal grand jury that his superiors authorized him to give secret information to reporters as part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq, according to court papers.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said in documents filed last month that he plans to introduce evidence that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, disclosed to reporters the contents of a classified National Intelligence Estimate in the summer of 2003.
The NIE is a report prepared by the head of the nation's intelligence operations for high-level government officials, up to and including the president. Portions of NIEs are sometimes declassified and made public. It is unclear whether that happened in this instance.
In a Jan. 23 letter to Libby's lawyers, Fitzgerald said Libby also testified before the grand jury that he caused at least one other government official to discuss an intelligence estimate with reporters in July 2003.
"We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors," Fitzgerald wrote.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to comment. "Our policy is that we are not going to discuss this when it's an ongoing legal proceeding," he said.
William Jeffress, Libby's lawyer, said, "There is no truth at all" to suggestions that Libby would try to shift blame to his superiors as a defense against the charges.
Libby, 55, was indicted late last year on charges that he lied to FBI agents and the grand jury about how he learned CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity and when he subsequently told reporters. He is not charged with leaking classified information from an intelligence estimate report.
Plame's identity was published in July 2003 by columnist Robert Novak after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the administration of twisting intelligence about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium in Niger. The year before, the CIA had sent Wilson to Niger to determine the accuracy of the uranium reports.
Wilson's revelations cast doubt on President Bush's claim in his 2003 State of the Union address that Niger had sold uranium to Iraq to develop a nuclear weapon as one of the administration's key justifications for going to war in Iraq.
On Thursday, Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., said Cheney should take responsibility if he authorized Libby to share classified information with reporters.
"These charges, if true, represent a new low in the already sordid case of partisan interests being placed above national security," Kennedy said. "The vice president's vindictiveness in defending the misguided war in Iraq is obvious. If he used classified information to defend it, he should be prepared to take full responsibility."
In the summer of 2003, White House officials "” including Libby "” were frustrated that the media were incorrectly reporting that Cheney had sent Wilson to Niger and had received a report of his findings in Africa before the war in Iraq had begun.
In an effort to counter those reports, Libby and other White House officials sought information from the CIA regarding Wilson and how his trip to Niger came about, according to court records.
Fitzgerald, in his letter to Libby's lawyers, said he plans to use Libby's grand jury testimony to support evidence pertaining to the White House aide's meeting with former New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
During the meeting with Miller on July 8, Libby also discussed Plame, Fitzgerald said. "Our anticipated basis for offering such evidence is that such facts are inextricably intertwined with the narrative of the events of spring 2003, as Libby's testimony itself makes plain," the prosecutor wrote.
Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to discuss her source.
You know, I voted for Bush in the last election, and have not been on here bashing him at all, trying to support him.
But this burns my tail.
But pointing to possible wrong doings& bashing to justbash a man are possibly 2 diffent things i think to.
Teddys pretty funny tho his self
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partisan interests being placed above national security," Kennedy said.
Cuz thres something heknows how to do well himself i think to.
( but he could be good at finding truffles& pig rectums to tho.)Takes one to know one?
Speaking of treason - think billy/willie will ever be investagated for it further?
I kind of doubt it myself- being Georges jr,s new brother& george sr best bud.(and what he knows about others deeds)
__________________
Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.-- Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18)
Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was. ~Will Rogers
Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.
"Shouldn't someone tag Mr. Kennedy's 'bold new imaginative program' with its proper age?" "Under the tousled boyish haircut it is still old Karl Marx—first launched a century ago.
There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother to us all. R.Reagan-1960
Getting tired of this story and that has-been "CIA operative".
Libby's legal team are denying the prosecutor's allegations, so obviously there's more than meets the eye. Let's allow the facts to rise to the top before getting too excited here.
Getting tired of this story and that has-been "CIA operative".
I'd be getting tired of it too, but then that's the rationale ofconservative radicalswhen things go wrong. Might want it to go away before it reaches too close to the top.
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Let's allow the facts to rise to the top before getting too excited here.
I find it amusing how we should wait on the facts when it's an issue that may not bode well for the administration. But if it is something that looks like it may work well for the administration, thenconservative radicalsjump to all kinds of favorable conclusions. For example from WMD Anyone? thread:
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When the committee is finished reviewing this audio, Bush-haters wouldn't be eating crow--they'll be choking on it....
I find it amusing how we should wait on the facts when it's an issue that may not bode well for the administration. But if it is something that looks like it may work well for the administration, thenconservative radicalsjump to all kinds of favorable conclusions. For example from WMD Anyone? thread:
Quote:
When the committee is finished reviewing this audio, Bush-haters wouldn't be eating crow--they'll be choking on it....
No need to wait for the facts here I see.
Yes, we, the American public, should wait for the facts. People here are making conclusions based on some news article. We don't even have the testimony the prosecutor vows Libby gave. When I say we should wait for facts, I mean the most basic facts--not what some reporter thinks.
And what are you talking about regarding WMD? That's a completely different story. There's no grand jury there, no secret testimony. People have visited the sites of the bunkers and heard the tapes of Saddam conferring with his staff about transferring materials for Syria. The only question that remains is whether WMD are still in Iraq or if all have been destroyed or relocated.
Well Like I said, "IF" done by the executive branch.
There is little doubt the leak was done out of spite, and the fact is, even if she had not been active for 5yrsitwas classified information, and when listed as such, it is in fact a crime to leak that information.
Just like those who leaked the NSA information, they commited a crime.
Libby: White House 'Superiors' OK'd Leaks
