Fleischer and Addigton Testify at Libby Trial

By Laurie Asseo

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told a jury that ex-vice presidential aide Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby disclosed a CIA operative's identity to him three days before Libby has testified he learned it.

Fleischer, testifying in the second week of Libby's perjury trial in Washington, said Libby told him during lunch on July 7, 2003, that Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson was sent to Africa by the Central Intelligence Agency the previous year at the instigation of his wife. Wilson's wife worked for the CIA in its counter-proliferation division, Fleischer said Libby told him.

`I think that he told me her name,' which is Valerie Plame, Fleischer told the jury today. Libby also said `something on the lines of `This is hush-hush. This is on the QT. Not very many people know about this,''' he told the jury. Fleischer testified for prosecutors under a grant of immunity from prosecution.

Libby, 56, is accused of lying to investigators probing whether U.S. officials deliberately leaked Plame's identity to retaliate against Wilson for attacking the administration's Iraq war claims. Libby told investigators he learned about Plame for the first time from NBC journalist Tim Russert on July 10, 2003, three days after his lunch with Fleischer.

Libby's lawyers say he was so focused on national security in 2003 that he confused the facts surrounding the Wilson episode. It is a federal crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert CIA agent. No one has been charged with the leak.

`New to Me'

Fleischer said Libby's disclosure about Wilson's wife was ``new to me.'' Fleischer said he thought the point of bringing up Wilson's wife was ``nepotism at the CIA.''

Fleischer said he left later that day with President George W. Bush on a trip to Africa. Several days later on Air Force One he overheard White House communications director Dan Bartlett say he couldn't believe someone was saying Vice President Dick Cheney ``sent Ambassador Wilson to Niger; his wife sent him, she works at the CIA.''

While in Uganda, Fleischer said, he told NBC reporter David Gregory and Time magazine reporter John Dickerson that Wilson had been sent to Africa by his wife at the CIA, not by Cheney's office.

"I never in my wildest dreams would have thought this information was classified,'' he said under questioning from prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg. Fleischer said he wanted to show that Cheney had no reason to know about Wilson's report on his trip to Niger because he hadn't requested the trip. (no, he just lived at Langely, riding the CIA to support his nutty ideas.)

State of the Union

Wilson has said that during his trip he found no evidence that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger, as Bush said during his State of the Union message in January 2003. Wilson wrote in a New York Times column on July 6, 2003, that the administration distorted intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion. Eight days later, syndicated columnist Robert Novak revealed that Wilson's wife was a CIA operative.

Fleischer said he was "horrified'' when he learned in September 2003 that the CIA was seeking a criminal investigation into the leak of Plame's identity. He said that although he didn't think he had done anything wrong, he got an attorney and refused to testify before a grand jury until after he was granted immunity, he said.

Libby is charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of obstruction, the most serious charge. Libby resigned after he was indicted in October 2005.

David Addington

Later today, David Addington, who succeeded Libby as Cheney's chief of staff, testified that Libby asked him after Wilson's July 6 New York Times article whether the president had the authority to declassify information.

Addington was Cheney's counsel at the time. He said Libby also asked whether the CIA would have records to show if it sent a CIA official's spouse on an assignment. The two were alone in Addington's office in the White House, he said, and Libby motioned with his hands for Addington to keep his voice down.

Addington said he wondered if the questions were related to Wilson, though he didn't know about Plame at the time.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said Judith Miller, a former New York Times reporter, will be the next witness called after Addington completes his testimony tomorrow.

The trial is expected to last four to six weeks. Walton said today that one juror had been removed "so everybody else has to stay healthy.'' He didn't explain why the juror was removed. That leaves a panel of 12 jurors and three alternates.

The case is U.S. vs. Libby, 05-394, U.S. District Court, the District of Columbia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurie Asseo in Washington at lasseo1@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 29, 2007 17:03 EST


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