2008 Woodie Awards
Lewis Libby Indicted in CIA Leak Investigation
The Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney is charged.
Kelsey Field
Issue date: 11/4/05 Section: News
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Last Friday, Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted in the CIA leak investigation. Libby has been accused of lying about his efforts to gather information on Joseph C. Wilson IV, a critic of the Bush administration's use of intelligence to justify the Iraq War. He has since been charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and false statements, but the prosecution definitely has its work cut out.
In order to prove perjury, a prosecutor not only has to show a grand jury that a falsehood was made but also that it was made knowing it was a lie. If it is proven that the lie was made due to an error in poor memory, it is not considered perjury. However, a leading investigator, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has amassed a large collection of details regarding the case against Libby, according to the New York Times. According to the indictment, Libby had discovered sometime in May or June that Valerie Wilson, an employee of the CIA whose employment was classified information, and then continued on to discuss her identity with other governmental officials.
In addition to the indictment of Lewis Libby has also come sharp criticism of Vice President Dick Cheney, whose role in the perjury charges are beginning to unravel. If the indictment proves to be true, Libby and Cheney knew that Valerie was a covert agent and that they then used that information in their campaign to hinder the discrediting by the Wilson's of the war in Iraq.
Notes taken by Libby during a conversation with himself and Cheney on June 12, 2003, place Dick Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House Office to discover information about Valerie's husband Joseph. These notes show that Cheney knew that Wilson worked for the CIA more than a month before her identity was made public. Although it is not illegal for Cheney and Libby to know of a CIA member's identity as they are top governmental officials, any effort by Libby to steer investigators away from his conversations between Cheney and Libby is considered impeding the inquiry, which is illegal.
In order to prove perjury, a prosecutor not only has to show a grand jury that a falsehood was made but also that it was made knowing it was a lie. If it is proven that the lie was made due to an error in poor memory, it is not considered perjury. However, a leading investigator, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has amassed a large collection of details regarding the case against Libby, according to the New York Times. According to the indictment, Libby had discovered sometime in May or June that Valerie Wilson, an employee of the CIA whose employment was classified information, and then continued on to discuss her identity with other governmental officials.
In addition to the indictment of Lewis Libby has also come sharp criticism of Vice President Dick Cheney, whose role in the perjury charges are beginning to unravel. If the indictment proves to be true, Libby and Cheney knew that Valerie was a covert agent and that they then used that information in their campaign to hinder the discrediting by the Wilson's of the war in Iraq.
Notes taken by Libby during a conversation with himself and Cheney on June 12, 2003, place Dick Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House Office to discover information about Valerie's husband Joseph. These notes show that Cheney knew that Wilson worked for the CIA more than a month before her identity was made public. Although it is not illegal for Cheney and Libby to know of a CIA member's identity as they are top governmental officials, any effort by Libby to steer investigators away from his conversations between Cheney and Libby is considered impeding the inquiry, which is illegal.