Libby perjury trial

NBC newsman Tim Russert, who drew the biggest audience of Washington's hottest new courtroom reality drama when he took the stand on Wednesday, testified against former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on a key part of his defense. The host of "Meet the Press" was to be the final government witness in a trial that for three weeks has provided a rare glimpse into the Bush administration and occasionally offered entertainment and gossip for news and political junkies.

Speaking before a packed courtroom, Russert said he never discussed a CIA operative during a July phone conversation with Libby. Libby has testified that, at the end of the call, Russert brought up war critic Joseph Wilson and mentioned that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

Unlike previous witnesses who discussed the tense atmosphere inside the West Wing and revealed some of the administration's press strategies, Russert offered little in the way of fireworks. But the discrepancy between his account and Libby's is at the heart of the perjury and obstruction trial.

Libby is accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters regarding Wilson's wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame. During Libby's grand jury testimony, he said Russert told him "all the reporters know" that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Libby now acknowledges he had learned about Plame a month earlier from his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, but says he had forgotten about it and learned it again from Russert as if new.

Libby subsequently repeated the information about Plame to other journalists, always with the caveat that he had heard it from reporters, he has said. Prosecutors say Libby concocted the Russert conversation to shield him from prosecution for revealing information from government sources.

The controversy over the faulty intelligence was a major story in mid For Teachers. NewsHour Shop. About Feedback Funders Support Jobs. Close Menu. Email Address Subscribe.

Yes Not now. She also claimed she could not recall whether she tape-recorded any part of the session, although she had described using a tape recorder in a radio interview. Miller wrote about the interrogation of Salah in a article for the Times , although she concealed the fact that she had actually been present at the session.

Menu Search. Latest Profile. Contact About. Contact us. Related Topics. North America. Former White House press spokesman Ari Fleischer dealt a severe blow to the defense with testimony about his conversations with Libby, in which Libby volunteered information about Valerie Plame Wilson at least a week before he claims to have found out her CIA identity in the conversation with Tim Russert.

Two days after that conversation, Fleischer himself relayed the information on Ms. These witnesses confirm both the cynical skullduggery of the Bush administration and the complacent collaboration of the major media outlets. The process of jury selection revealed the deep and widespread popular hostility to this government and the war in Iraq. Dozens of prospective jurors declared that they could not be impartial, had nothing but distrust or contempt for the Bush administration and Cheney in particular, and strongly opposed the war in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the ultra-right press has found it difficult to determine an effective axis for attack, as all the main players in the Libby case are Bush-Cheney loyalists, now divided by the prospect of felony conviction and jail terms. Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, which are serious offenses. Menu Search.