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Woodward's disclosure could aid Libby
Reporter's testimony on Monday adds new wrinkle to CIA leak investigation

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Washington -- The revelation that the Washington Post's Bob Woodward may have been the first reporter to learn about CIA operative Valerie Wilson could provide a boost to the only person indicted in the leak case: Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Legal experts said Woodward had provided two pieces of new information that cast at least a shadow of doubt on the public case against Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, who has been indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

Woodward testified Monday that contrary to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's public statements, a senior government official -- not Libby -- had been the first Bush administration official to tell a reporter about Wilson and her role at the CIA. Woodward also said that Libby had never mentioned Wilson, also known as Valerie Plame, in conversations they had on June 23 and June 27, 2003, about the Iraq war, a time when the indictment alleges Libby was eagerly passing information about Wilson to reporters and colleagues.

While neither statement appears to factually change Fitzgerald's contention that Libby lied and impeded the leak investigation, the Libby legal team plans to use Woodward's testimony to try to show that Libby was not obsessed with unmasking Wilson and to raise questions about the prosecutor's full understanding of events. Until now, few outside of Libby's legal team have challenged the facts and chronology of Fitzgerald's case.

"I think it's a considerable boost to the defendant's case," said John Moustakas, a former federal prosecutor who has no role in the case. "It casts doubt about whether Fitzgerald knew everything as he charged someone with very serious offenses."

According to the statement Woodward released Tuesday, he did not appear to provide any testimony that goes specifically to the question of whether Libby is guilty of two counts of perjury, two counts of providing false statements and obstructing justice. The indictment outlines what many legal experts describe as a very strong case against Libby, because it shows the former Cheney aide learned about Wilson from at least four government sources, including the vice president -- and not a reporter, as he testified before the grand jury.

Randall Eliason, former head of the public corruption unit for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington D.C., said he doubted the Woodward account would have much effect on Libby's case and dismissed such theories as "defense spin."

"Libby was not charged with being the first to talk to a reporter, and that is not part of the indictment," he said. "Whether or not some other officials were talking to Woodward doesn't really tell us anything about the central issue in Libby's case: What was his state of mind and intent when he was talking to the FBI and testifying in the grand jury?"

Eliason added: "What this does suggest, though, is that the investigation is still very active. Hard to see how that is good news for (White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl) Rove or for anyone else in the prosecutor's crosshairs."

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Rove's legal team, said Rove was not the official who had talked to Woodward. Rove was referred to, but not by name, in Libby's indictment as having discussed Wilson's identity with reporters.

Since December 2003, Fitzgerald has been probing whether senior Bush administration officials illegally leaked classified information -- Wilson's identity as a CIA operative -- to reporters to discredit allegations made by her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. Robert Novak revealed Valerie Wilson's identity in a July 14, 2003, column, eight days after her husband publicly accused the administration of twisting intelligence to justify the Iraq war. Rove is still under investigation.

Libby's attorneys have asked whether Fitzgerald will correct his statement that Libby was the first administration official to leak information about Wilson to a reporter. Fitzgerald's spokesman, Randall Samborn, declined to comment. At a news conference Oct. 28, Fitzgerald specifically said that Libby was the "first official known" at that time to have provided such information to a reporter.

The White House declined to comment.

In October 2003, President Bush pledged cooperation with the investigation, and investigators requested and subpoenaed all records of contacts with reporters.

Chronicle news services contributed to this report.