The LA Times had a fascinating article today on the audiotape played during Scooter Libby’s trial, in which jurors heard about Cheney and Libby crafting their own secret plan to leak previously classified intelligence — but wouldn’t tell other senior White House officials.
As Libby sat silently in the courtroom, jurors heard his recorded voice describe how he was instructed to leak intelligence secrets to select reporters, even as other White House officials were expressing concern over the leaks and debating whether the administration should formally declassify intelligence reports on Iraq to combat criticism of the case for war.
At one point, Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald can be heard on the tapes expressing disbelief that Libby would take part in those meetings without disclosing that the president had effectively already declassified key portions of one of the main prewar pieces of intelligence on Iraq, a national intelligence estimate on Saddam Hussein’s alleged banned weapons programs.
“Was that unusual for you to have the national security advisor, the director of Central Intelligence, the White House chief of staff among others in the dark as to something that you had done regarding declassification?” Fitzgerald asked.
“It is not unusual for the vice president to tell me something which I am not allowed to share with others,” Libby replied.
Think about that — the “others” Libby referred to included his boss and the top two intelligence officials in the federal government.
Indeed, it’s quite a picture, isn’t it? There were apparently two White House operations working at the same time in the same place, with the VP’s operation working independently from the president’s. During key White House meetings, top officials would express concerns about the leaks, but Cheney and Libby would just sit there, knowing they had their own leak strategy in place, and refusing to tell anyone else.
As Dan Froomkin put it, the revelations give “credence to the widespread view that Vice President Cheney oversees his own intensely secretive, highly defensive and sometimes ruthless operation within the White House — and that he does so with President Bush’s approval, but often outside the view of Bush’s top aides.”
I’ll never forget my favorite Scott McClellan quote of all time: “I’m telling you, flatly, that that is not the way this White House operates.” What a classic.
By the way, speaking of the trial, many trial watchers have been anticipating the high-profile showdown when Dick Cheney takes the stand, but apparently, it may not happen.
Attorneys for former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby are backtracking on their plans to call Vice President Dick Cheney and Libby himself to testify in the CIA leak trial.
Libby’s attorneys seemed certain in December when they announced that Cheney would testify at his former aide’s perjury and obstruction trial.
But with prosecutors close to resting their case, attorneys are quietly backing away from that claim.
In documents filed in federal court this week, Libby’s attorneys said Cheney was “potentially” a witness. Such hesitation is common but it’s a big step back from attorney Theodore Wells’ declaration: “We’re calling the vice president.”
Defense attorneys appeared even less committed to calling Libby. For months, they said Libby planned to testify and used that assertion to get access to a series of classified documents, such as his morning CIA briefing topics, so they could be entered into evidence.
“We emphasize at this point that Mr. Libby has not decided whether he will testify,” lawyers wrote Monday night.
They’re going to spoil all the fun, aren’t they.