Trial of Scooter Libby

The following are external links related to the trial of Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney who "allegedly committed perjury before a federal grand jury when he testified" about how he learned that Valerie Plame, the wife of Joseph Wilson, a Bush administration and Iraq War critic, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. [1]

Also see:

• Bush administration scandals
• prewar intelligence
• The U.S. v. I. Lewis Libby
• Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove

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Summary

"Libby told the grand jury it was NBC News's Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, who told him about Valerie Plame, the wife of Joseph Wilson," Frank James wrote February 9, 2007, in the Chicago Tribune.

"Wilson was one of the Bush Administration's most high-profile critics after the start of the Iraq War, accusing the Bush Administration of misusing intelligence to launch the war.

"But Russert testified that was untrue. And a string of other witnesses, including former New York Times journalist Judith Miller, said it was Libby who told them Wilson's wife was at the CIA.

"The only strategy that appears left to the defense is to convince the jury that Libby had faulty recall because of his superheated schedule as a top White House official," James wrote. "But that's going to be a hard sell."

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who has prosecuted Libby's case, "has '"methodically constructed a wall of witnesses who all testified to what a significant issue Plame and her husband were,' said Henry E. Hockeimer Jr., a Philadelphia lawyer and former federal prosecutor. 'It's going to be hard for the jury to believe Libby simply was too busy at the time of his grand jury testimony to remember his conversations'," Greg Miller and Richard B. Schmitt wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

Guilty on four of five counts

Libby was convicted Tuesday, March 6, 2007, on one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury, and one count of lying to the FBI and was acquitted of one count of lying to the FBI.

"The verdict came on the 10th day of deliberations by a panel of seven women and four men. The announcement was made by Randall Samborn, a spokesman for special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. It was read in the courtroom where jurors heard 19 witnesses during the five-week trial.

"Libby is the only person charged in the case, which grew out of an investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity." [2]

Legal case

• United States v. Libby in the Wikipedia.

Libby Legal Defense Trust

The URL for the Libby Legal Defense Trust is SCOOTERLIBBY.COM.

The domain name SCOOTERLIBBY.COM was registered December 19, 2005, to Annulet, Inc. (Annulet.com), with Blank Rome LLP / Barbara Comstock in Washington, D.C., as owner, administrative, and technical contacts.

The list of Trust Advisory Committee Members can be accessed here.

Weblogs

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "Diary on Libby Trial," Daily Kos Blog.
• Jeralyn Merritt, "Lewis Libby Trial Coverage" (main page) at Talk Left Blog.

Trial live blogging

January 22, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "Libby Voir Dire, the Never-Ending Story."
• "Jury Instructions" and "Jury Instructions 2."
• "Peremptory Challenges."

January 23, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "Instructions."
• "Fitzgerald's Opening Statement."
• "Well's Opening Statement", Parts One and Two.
• "Other Issues."

January 24, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "Wells Cross-Examines Grossman." re Marc Grossman
• "Robert Grenier": One and Two.
• "Craig Schmall."

January 25, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "Craig Schmall Two."
• "Cathie Martin" Parts One, Two, and Three.

January 29, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "Cathie Martin": Part Four.
• "Ari Fleischer": Parts One, Two, and Three.
• "David Addington" (re David S. Addington): Part One.

January 30, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "David Addington": Parts Two, Three, Four.
• "Judy" (re Judith Miller): Parts One, Two, and Three.

January 31, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "Judy": Parts Four and Five.
• "Matt Cooper One." re Matthew Cooper

February 1, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), Firedoglake:

• "FBI Agent Bond": Parts One, Two, Three, and Four.

• Swopa, Firedoglake:

• "FBI Agent Bond": Part Five.

February 5, 2007

• Swopa, Firedoglake:

• "Assorted Legal Jousting."
• "FBI Agent Bond": Parts Six and Seven.
• "Libby Grand Jury Testimony" Part One.

February 6, 2007

• Swopa, Firedoglake: "Libby Grand Jury Testimony" Parts Two, Three, Four, and Five.

February 7, 2007

• Swopa, Firedoglake:

• "Libby Grand Jury Testimony": Parts Six, Seven, and Eight.
• "Tim Russert" Parts One and Two.

February 8, 2007

• Swopa, Firedoglake: "Tim Russert" Parts Three; Four; Five; and Six.

February 12, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "Libby Live", Firedoglake:

• "Mystery Witnesses."
• "Pincus One." re Walter Pincus
• "Woodward One." re Bob Woodward
• "Some Thing to Chew On for Lunch."
• "David Sanger." re David E. Sanger
• "Novak One" and "Novak Two." re Robert Novak
• "A Gaggle of Journalists (and Others) One."

February 13, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "Libby Live", Firedoglake:

• "Jill Abramson."
• "John Hannah One" and "John Hannah Two." re John Hannah
• "Tedious Legal Arguments."

February 14, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "Libby Live", Firedoglake:

• "Craig Schmall for the Defense."
• "More Stuff from Libby's Defense."
• "The Defense Rests (Almost)."

February 15, 2007

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "Libby Live", Firedoglake:

• "Wrangling Over Jury Instructions One."
• "The Witnesses Not Called" posted at The Next Hurrah.

February 20, 2007

• Jeralyn Merritt, The Huffington Post:

• "Afternoon Closings, Part 1" and "Part 2."
• "Government Closing Argument Part 1."
• "Defense Closing, Part One."

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "Libby Live", Firedoglake:

• "Zeidenberg's Prosecution Summation One" and "Zeidenberg's Prosecution Summation Two."
• "Wells' Defense Summation."
• "Jeffress' Defense Summation Two."
• "Wells' Defense Summation Three."
• "Fitzgerald's Rebuttal" and "Fitzgerald's Rebuttal Two."

• Jeralyn Merritt, "Fitz' Final Closing," The Huffington Post, February 20, 2007.
• Jane Hamsher, "Big Close," Firedoglake, February 20, 2007.

Continuing coverage

• "CIA leak trial: At-a-glance"; "Q&A: The CIA leak case"; and "CIA leak probe: Key players," BBC News.
• "The Trial of Scooter Libby" in the New York Sun.
• Complete coverage on Slate.

Video

• "Witness: VP was concerned by Hardball coverage," Hardball with Chris Matthews and David Shuster/MSNBC, January 25, 2007. re testimony by Catherine Martin

Resources and articles

External articles

2006

• "Armitage admits to CIA disclosure," BBC News, September 8, 2006.
• "Cheney to testify over CIA leak," BBC News, December 19, 2006.

June 2007

Pre-sentencing

• Matt Apuzzo, "Libby Learns Sentencing Outcome Tuesday. Ex-White House Aide Scooter Libby Learns Sentencing Outcome Tuesday; Might Bush Pardon Him?" Associated Press (ABC News), June 2, 2007.
• "Libby Sentencing on Tuesday -- Will Bush Pardon Him?" Editor & Publisher, June 3, 2007.
• Elizabeth de la Vega, "Sentencing for Dummies," Truthdig, June 3, 2007; TomPaine.com; ZNet, June 4, 2007.
• Reynolds Holding, "How Much Time Will Libby Get?" TIME Magazine, June 4, 2007.
• Matt Apuzzo, "Libby Seeks Leniency at Sentencing," Associated Press (Washington Post), June 5, 2007.
• "CIA Leak Case Timeline," Townhall.com, June 5, 2007.
• Carol D. Leonnig, "Libby Jurist's Career Built on Toughness," Washington Post, June 5, 2007.
• Laura McGann, "Scooter Libby To Be Sentenced Today," TPMmuckraker, June 5, 2007.
• Chrisy Hardin Smith, "Sentencing for Libby today," Firedoglake Blog, June 5, 2007.

Live blogging during sentencing

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "Libby sentencing," Firedoglake Blog, June 5, 2007: Parts One; Two; Three; Four: Libby Speaks; Five; Six; Seven; and Eight.

Post-sentencing

• "Breaking: Libby Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison, $250,000 Fine," Think Progress, June 5, 2007.
• Christy Hardin Smith, "Evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated Mr. Libby's Culpability," Firedoglake Blog, June 5, 2007.
• Cary O'Reilly and Nadine Elsibai, "Libby, Ex-Cheney Aide, Gets Prison Term in CIA Case (Update3)," Bloomberg News, June 5, 2007.
• Andy Sullivan, "Libby sentenced to 30 months," Reuters UK, June 5, 2007.
• "FACTBOX-Facts on former Cheney aide Lewis Libby," Reuters, June 5, 2007.
• Dan Froomkin, "No Remorse, No Mercy," Washington Post, June 5, 2007.
• Mark Silva, "Bush won't 'intervene' for Libby, says spokeswoman," The Swamp Blog, June 5, 2007.
• Editorial: Pardon Him," National Review Online, June 5, 2007.
• William Kristol, "Who, Me? Bush evades his responsibility with respect to Libby," The Weekly Standard, June 5, 2007.
• Nico Pitney, "Conservative Presidential Candidates Back Libby Pardon," Think Progress, June 5, 2007.
• Peter Baker, "In the West Wing, Pardon Is A Topic Too Sensitive to Mention," Washington Post, June 6, 2007.
• Andy Sullivan, "Libby must begin perjury prison sentence: judge," Reuters, June 14, 2007.
• Carol D. Leonnig and Amy Goldstein, "Libby Loses Bid to Stay Out of Jail For Appeal," Washington Post, June 15, 2007.
• Matt Apuzzo, "Time Runs Short for Libby; Prison Looms," Associated Press (Fox News), June 15, 2007.
• Edwin Chen, "Bush Faces `No-Win' Pressures to Pardon Convicted Cheney Aide," Bloomberg News, June 29, 2007.

July 2007

• Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake Blog, July 2, 2007:

• "BREAKING: Libby Motion for Release on Bond Pending Appeal—DENIED"
• "BREAKING: MSNBC Reports Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence"
• "BREAKING: Bush Commutes Libby Sentence—The Bush Statement"

• Faiz Shakir, "Wilson: Proponents Of Libby Pardon Are ‘Accessories To An Ongoing Crime’," Think Progress, July 2, 2007.
• Digby, "A Man Like This," Hullabaloo Blog, July 2, 2007.
• Jane Hamsher, "Fitzgerald's Statement," Firedoglake Blog, July 2, 2007.
• Ewen MacAskill, "Saved from prison by Bush's favour: the White House aide who lied to a grand jury," The Guardian (UK), July 3, 2007.
• Sidney Blumenthal, Opinion: "Bush and Cheney walk, too. Even as the president confesses that Scooter Libby engaged in a cover-up -- after all, that was the verdict -- he completes the ultimate obstruction of justice in the Plame affair," Salon, July 3, 2007.
• Marcy Wheeler, "Just another obstruction of justice. There are lots of unanswered questions surrounding the Valerie Plame saga, but Scooter Libby's commutation ensures they won't be answered," comment is free... Blog/The Guardian (UK), July 3, 2007.
• Christy Hardin Smith, "Obstruction of Justice" and "I Agree with Marcy," Firedoglake Blog, July 3, 2007: "The bottom line: continued obstruction of justice to protect all those lies, to protect George Bush and Dick Cheney. And Republicans are cheering them on — disgraceful."
• "Legal complications following Bush's commutation," Sentencing Law and Policy Blog, July 3, 2007.
• Jane Hamsher, "Birth of a Talking Point," Firdoglake Blog, July 3, 2007.
• Adam Liptak, "Bush Rationale on Libby Stirs Legal Debate," New York Times, July 4, 2007.
• Jeralyn Merritt, "Life on Supervised Release," Firedoglake Blog, July 5, 2007.
• Digby, "Very Close to the Tree," Hullaballoo Blogspot, July 5, 2007.
• Michael Kinsley, Opinion: "The Lying Game," New York Times, July 5, 2007.
• Joseph Cannon, "Getting Rich," Cannonfire Blog, July 7, 2007.
• "Kristol: Bush Timed Clemency To Get Political Cover By Attacking Clinton," Think Progress, July 8, 2007.
• Marcy Wheeler, "Conyers Hearing on Libby Commutation," The Next Hurrah Blog, July 9, 2007.

• Live blogging "the use and misuse of Presidential pardon", House Committee on the Judiciary, July 11, 2007
• Marcy Wheeler, Firedoglake Blog, July 11, 2007:

• "HJC Hearing on Libby’s Get Out of Jail Free Card, One"