WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Lawyers for former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby rested their defense in his perjury trial on Wednesday after a judge blocked them from calling their final witnesses.

Judge Reggie Walton ruled that because Libby did not take the witness stand, his lawyers could not call CIA employees to detail his daily top-secret briefings when he was Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

Libby is charged with lying to investigators as they sought to determine who blew the cover of a CIA analyst in July 2003 after her husband emerged as an Iraq war critic.

Libby's lawyers hope to convince a jury that he was so preoccupied with national security matters that he could not accurately recall any conversations he might have had with reporters about CIA analyst Valerie Plame.

Closing arguments are scheduled for next Tuesday.

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