Columnist who reported CIA leak testifies in trial
Source: Reuters
(Corrects spelling of Glenn Kessler, paragraph 16) By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The columnist who touched off a criminal investigation when he disclosed the identity of a CIA analyst testified on Monday that defendant Lewis "Scooter" Libby was not the one who blew her cover. As Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, watched from the defense table, conservative columnist Robert Novak said other government officials leaked him the identity of CIA analyst Valerie Plame after her diplomat husband criticized the Iraq war. "I had no help or confirmation from Mr. Libby," said Novak, the first journalist to disclose Plame's identity. Novak said White House adviser Karl Rove confirmed Plame's identity later. Both Novak and Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, best known for his role uncovering the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's downfall, testified they learned about Plame from former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Other reporters have said they learned about her from Karl Rove or former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. No one has been charged with blowing Plame's cover, a potential felony, but Libby resigned as Cheney's chief of staff after he was charged with lying to investigators. Prosecutors have called government officials and reporters to testify that Libby knew about Plame up to a month before he says he did. Cheney has said he expects to testify on behalf of Libby. Woodward's taped interview with Armitage was played in court and jurors heard him tell Woodward that Plame was married to Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador who accused the White House of inflating fears of Iraq's nuclear ambitions before invading the country in 2003. "His wife is in the agency (CIA) and is a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) analyst. How about that?" Armitage said on the audiotape. Armitage has expressed regret for revealing Plame's identity, a move that compromised her career at the CIA. But his reputation as an Iraq war skeptic undercut accusations she was outed to punish her husband for speaking out against the war. Prosecution witnesses have portrayed a White House focused on discrediting Wilson at a time when the public was beginning to question the rationale for the Iraq war. President George W. Bush declassified intelligence reports to show the CIA believed Iraq was seeking weapons of mass destruction, while other White House officials described Wilson's trip to Africa to investigate these claims as a junket arranged by his wife. Libby's lawyers argue that he did not lie to investigators on purpose but simply suffered from a spotty memory. Monday's testimony by prominent Washington reporters could undercut the scenario set out by the prosecution that Libby was obsessed with discrediting Wilson. Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler said he was surprised to read about Plame in Novak's column, two days after he spoke on the phone with Libby. "This is news,'" Kessler testified.
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