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Wash Post: Woodward Could Save Libby
Who would have thought a Watergate-era Washington Post reporter – now editor - might indirectly come to the aid of an indicted White House official? Bob Woodward's belated admission that a senior government official - not Scooter Libby - was the first Bush administration official to tell a reporter about Valerie Plame and her role at the CIA, could prove to be a lifesaver for Libby. According to the Thursday edition of the Washington Post, legal experts told the newspaper that the Post's Woodward provided two pieces of new information that cast at least a shadow of doubt on the public case against Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, who was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. Woodward dropped a bombshell earlier in the week when he testified that - contrary to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's public statements - it was an unnamed senior government official, not Libby, who was the first Bush administration official to tell a reporter about Plame - wife of former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson - and her role at the CIA. Woodward also said that Libby never mentioned Plame in conversations they had on June 23 and June 27, 2003, about the Iraq war. The conversations occurred at a time, the Post says, when the indictment alleges Libby was eagerly passing information about Plame to reporters and colleagues.
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In an editorial Thursday, the Post wrote that "Bob Woodward's just-released statement, suggesting that on June 27, 2003, he may have been the reporter who told Scooter Libby about Joseph Wilson's wife, blew a gigantic hole in Patrick Fitzgerald's recently unveiled indictment of the vice president's former chief of staff." A former federal prosecutor and other legal experts agreed. "I think it's a considerable boost to the defendant's case," John Moustakas, a former federal prosecutor who has no role in the case told the Post. "It casts doubt about whether Fitzgerald knew everything as he charged someone with very serious offenses." Moustakas said Woodward also has considerable credibility because he has been granted "unprecedented access" to the inner workings of the Bush White House. "When Woodward says this information was disclosed to me in a nonchalant and casual way - not as if it was classified - it helps corroborate Libby's account about himself and about the administration," Moustakas said. In the Post editorial it was argued "the heart of his perjury theory was predicated upon the proposition that Mr. Libby learned of Valerie Plame's identity from other government officials and not from NBC's Tim Russert, as claimed by Mr. Libby. Indeed, Mr. Fitzgerald seemed to have a reasonable case because Mr. Russert, a respected and admired journalist, with no vested interest of his own, denied that he discussed the Wilson matter with Mr. Libby. "However, given Mr. Woodward's account, which came to light after the Libby indictment was announced, that he met with Mr. Libby in his office - armed with the list of questions, which explicitly referenced "yellowcake" and "Joe Wilson's wife" and may have shared this information during the interview - it is entirely possible that Mr. Libby may have indeed heard about Mrs. Plame's employment from a reporter." The Post reported that Libby's lawyers want to know if Fitzgerald will correct his statement that Libby was the first administration official to leak information about Plame to a reporter. A spokesman for Fitzgerald, Randall Samborn, declined to comment and a source close to the probe told the Post there is no reason for the prosecutor to correct the record because he specifically said at his Oct. 28 news conference that Libby was the "first official known" at that time to have provided such information to a reporter. Libby's lawyers however, have seized on Woodward's testimony, calling it a "bombshell" with the potential to upend Fitzgerald's case. Libby attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr. said in a statement that "Woodward's disclosures are a bombshell to Mr. Fitzgerald's case" that show at least one accusation to be "totally inaccurate." The Post added that Libby's legal team plans to call a number of journalists to testify in part to show Libby was not determined to blow Plame's cover. Given the apparent shakiness of Fitzgerald's case, the Post editorial concluded, "Mr. Fitzgerald should do the right thing and promptly dismiss the indictment of Scooter Libby."
Editor's note:
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