http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070306/pl_nm/...nouncement_dc_6

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Former Cheney aide found guilty in CIA leak case By Andy Sullivan
11 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted on Tuesday of four counts of obstructing justice, lying and perjury during an investigation tied to the Iraq war.


Libby, whose attorneys promptly said he would seek a new trial, was acquitted on one count of lying to the FBI in the probe surrounding who leaked the identity of a CIA analyst in 2003.

He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison. Defense attorney Theodore Wells said if Libby was denied a new trial, he would appeal the conviction.

The jury's overwhelming verdict came on the 10th day of deliberations and was hailed by some Democrats as an appropriate rejection of the Bush's administration's case for the four-year Iraq war.

Critics of President George W. Bush had seized on the Libby trial as an example of the heavy-handed way the White House operated.

"The testimony unmistakably revealed -- at the highest levels of the Bush administration -- a callous disregard in handling sensitive national security information and a disposition to smear critics of the war in Iraq," said House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record).

"It's about time someone in the Bush administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics," added Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record).

Libby was found guilty of the most serious of the charges, obstructing an investigation into who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame after her husband accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to build its case for war.

The jury of seven women and four men also determined he lied to the FBI and committed perjury in testimony before a grand jury.

Bush was in the Oval Office when he was informed the jury had reached a verdict and watched the decision being read on television, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"He said that he respected the jury's verdict. He said he was saddened for Scooter Libby and his family," Perino said, declining to comment further and refusing to speculate on the possibility of a presidential pardon.

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said the CIA leak investigation was now inactive.

"I do not expect to file any additional charges," he said. "We're all going back to our day jobs."

Libby's attorneys argued during the trial that he could not accurately recall conversations about Plame when he was interviewed months later.

"We believe, as we said at the time of his indictment, that he is totally innocent, totally innocent and that he did not do anything wrong," Wells told reporters. "And we intend to keep fighting to establish his innocence."

Nobody has been charged with intentionally identifying Plame, the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson.

The CIA leak case erupted after Wilson accused the administration of leaking his wife's identity to punish him for writing in the New York Times that the Bush administration twisted intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2899477

Libby Found Guilty On Four Counts

Vice President's Former Aide Guilty in CIA Leak Trial

By PIERRE THOMAS, JASON RYAN and THERESA COOK

March 6, 2007 — - Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff is now a convicted felon.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been found guilty of four of five charges in the CIA leak case stemming from a three-year investigation and trial that revealed the innermost workings of the top levels at the Bush White House.

A jury found Libby guilty of charges claiming he lied to the FBI and a grand jury, and obstructed justice.

The former White House aide faces as many as 25 years in prison and fines up to $1 million.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino said that President Bush was in the Oval Office and watched reports on the verdict on television.

Perino acknowledged that the President respected the jury's verdict although he is saddened for Scooter Libby and his family.

Libby's wife held back tears in the courtroom as the verdict was read, but outside the courthouse, Libby's defense team was defiant.

Ted Wells, Libby's lead attorney, told reporters gathered outside, "We are very disappointed in the verdict of the jurors," adding later, "We intend to file a motion for a new trial and, if that is denied, we will appeal the conviction and we have every confidence that, ultimately, Mr. Libby will be vindicated."

Wells insisted Libby is "totally innocent" and that "he did not do anything wrong."

Patrick Fitzgerald, the lead federal prosecutor on the case, countered simply, "The jury was obviously convinced beyond a reasonable doubt."

Fitzgerald said it was "sad" that a "high level official in the vice president's office lied."

Jury Convinced Libby Lied

The jury of seven women and four men concluded Libby lied to FBI agents and a grand jury throughout the course of the investigation into the leaked identity of Valerie Plame, a one time undercover CIA operative.

Prosecutors argued Libby helped lead a campaign to refute and discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson.

The defense countered by attacking the credibility of key prosecution witnesses and citing Libby's spotty memory as the cause for any discrepancy in his statements, but the jury was not convinced.

Wilson's criticism of the administration's case for war against Iraq came to a head in July of 2003, when he wrote a blistering opinion piece in the New York Times.

In the article, Wilson stated bluntly, "Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

Following the trial, juror Denis Collins, a former Washington Post writer, told reporters there was a "tremendous amount of sympathy" for Libby and that most of the jury thought, "He was the fall guy."

Collins described, "The belief of the jury was that he was tasked by the Vice President to go and talk with reporters."

Cheney's Role Central to Case, Pardon Rumors Swirl

Libby did not take the stand during his trial, but did acknowledge to a grand jury in March of 2004 that Wilson's article angered Cheney, saying, "I'm sure he was upset. I don't recall the conversation all that clearly, but I'm sure he was upset."

Libby also told the grand jury that Cheney asked him to personally handle the matter with the press, instead of delegating the task to public affairs staff.

Just eight days after Wilson's article appeared, columnist Robert Novak outed Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA officer. Libby was not said to be responsible for that disclosure, but was soon caught up in the FBI Leak investigation, started in September of 2003.

Juror Denis Collins said many on the jury were asking rhetorically, 'Where's Rove, where's Cheney?', as the Libby trial continued.

Colins admitted, "Hearing from Cheney, I think it would have been interesting, I'm not sure what it would have done."

One former Cheney senior aide told ABC News, "It's a very sad day. It's outrageous. The President ought to pardon (Libby) by sundown."

Democrats in Washington, however, pounced on the verdict as a symbol of larger corruption within the White House and demanded the President refuse to pardon Libby.

Shortly after the verdict was read, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., released an e-mail statement saying, "I welcome the jury's verdict. It's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics."

Red quickly added, "Lewis Libby has been convicted of perjury, but his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney's role in this sordid affair. Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., concurred, "Today's guilty verdicts are not solely about the acts of one individual. This trial provided a troubling picture of the inner workings of the Bush Administration. The testimony unmistakably revealed - at the highest levels of the Bush Administration - a callous disregard in handling sensitive national security information and a disposition to smear critics of the war in Iraq."

A White House spokesperson called talked of a pardon "wildly hypothetical".

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald resisted commenting on Vice President Cheney's role instead relying on his closing statement in which he said there was a "cloud" over the White House.

After the trial, Fitzgerald said, "There was a cloud there, not caused by us...sometimes when people tell the truth clouds disappear."

Fitzgerald, a Chicago-based U.S. attorney, said of his team, "We're all going back to our day jobs," indicating, "I do not expect to file any further charges."

The CIA leak investigation toppled Libby from the upper echelons of the Washington power structure, forcing him to resign from the Bush administration when he received the only indictment in the case on October 28, 2005.

Summing up the case, Fitzgerald concluded, "At the end of the day, I think we got a very fair jury."

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Scooter Libby is found guilty of Lying, Perjury, and Obstruction of Justice. :good:

It's a start, but I'm afraid we may never see justice applied to Alberto Gonzales, Dick Cheney or Shrub. :!:

Of course Cheney feels Bush should pardon Libby. Both Libby and Cheney were two of the original signers of the PNAC Statement of Principles which reads like an American plan written by Hilter. Cheney even ran the organization until he became V.P. at which point it might have proven embarrassing for him. Many if not most most of Bush's cabinet and staff are also members of this neoconservative group.

Libby, like North was dropped on his sword. The one's that belong in jail are Bush and Cheney.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Bush pardon Libby...BUT I WOULD BE PISSED just as I am now that the wrong one is going down.

Let me change that from wrong one to the only one!

I agree with you, Al Libby is the fall-guy. Bush and Cheney will get off with nothing, Libby will be pardoned, and that'll be that.

Some system we've got. <_<

It's very possible Libby will take the fall and the shredders will be running full tilt in early January 2009. We could see Libby pardoned. Much like HW Bush pardoned Casper Weinberger to prevent his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal from being revealed. :mad:

But I would not give up all hope just yet. Investigations and oversight by a Democratic Congress have just begun and these things can take some time. Also, let's hope for some good old dumb luck; like Nixon's goons being caught in a burglary at Watergate. There may also be the possibility of right-wing infighting resulting in someone turning on another neo-con. It may not happen, but I try to follow the guidance of Monty Python and "Always look on the bright side of life" :coolwink: :blink:

My husband said that Fitzpatrick is known to work this way, to say things like that he has no more indictments or investigations planned, but now that he's got Libby convicted, he can try to use him to turn state's evidence against Cheney. Many people believe it's Cheney that Fitzpatrick is after anyway, so if he can make things happen in time before Bush can pardon him, he might still be able to get make Libby talk.

Probably not, but maybe.