CIA Leak Case Watch: Woodward Claim on CIA Leak Disputes Charge

I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, walks to the U.S. District Court in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005, accompanied by his attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr., at rear. Libby, who is charged with lying to the FBI and a grand jury about his conversations with reporters in the CIA leak investigation, was at the courthouse to research documents related to his case.

The ASSociated Press has Woodward Claim on CIA Leak Disputes Charge

Bob Woodward’s version of when and where he learned the identity of a CIA operative contradicts a special prosecutor’s contention that Vice President Dick Cheney’s top aide was the first to make the disclosure to reporters.

Attorneys for the aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, described Wednesday’s statement by the Washington Post’s assistant managing editor as helpful for their defense, although Libby is charged with lying to a grand jury and the FBI, not with disclosing the CIA official’s name.

Previosuly on Flap:

CIA Leak Case Watch: Charges Don’t Directly Address CIA Leak


CIA Leak Case Watch: Lack-Of-Memory Defense for Libby?

“Hopefully, as information is obtained from reporters like Bob Woodward, the real facts will come out,” lawyer Ted Wells said Wednesday.

Woodward, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, said he had not told his bosses until last month that he had learned about Valerie Plame’s identity and her work at the CIA more than two years ago from a high- level Bush administration official.

When Woodward learned Plame’s name, he told The Associated Press Wednesday, he was in the middle of finishing a book about the administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and didn’t want to be subpoenaed to testify.

“The grand jury was going and reporters were being jailed, and I hunkered down more than I usually do,” Woodward said, explaining why he waited so long to tell Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. what he knew about the Plame matter.

Because his source in the leak case has refused to be identified publicly, Woodward said his hands are tied. “We can’t tell the whole story. I would like to. It’s one that will be told some day,” he said.

This late in the case revelation deeply hurts the Special Prosecutors case.

Fitzpatrick should drop the charges or offer some lesser misdemeanor plea before the government is embarassed in court.

Great waste of taxpayer funds………..