White House reeling as 'Scooter' Libby is charged
The White House was today left reeling from the indictment of one of its most senior aides, Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, charged with lying to the FBI and a grand jury under oath.
Mr Libby, 55, resigned as Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff after he was charged with five counts of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice.
He faces up to 30 years in jail if convicted.
The indictment stems from a two-year investigation into the leaking of a CIA agent’s identity.
The scandal began in July 2003 when syndicated columnist Robert Novak blew the cover of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Plame was an expert on weapons of mass destruction whose husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, cast doubt over President Bush’s Iraq policy in an opinion piece printed in the New York Times just a few days earlier.
The couple believe that Plame’s cover was deliberately blown by the Bush administration in order to punish Wilson.
It is a federal crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert agent.
However, it was not the actual crime but the subsequent cover-up that landed the White House in hot water.
Libby was charged with lying to FBI agents and a grand jury about his conversations on the subject with reporters.
He insisted he had made an honest mistake and acted “honourably and truthfully” and expressed confidence that his name would be cleared.
“Today is a sad day for me and my family,” he said in a statement. “I am confident that at the end of this process I will completely and totally exonerated.”
President George Bush described the charges and ongoing investigation as “serious” but stressed that Libby must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
He is believed to be the first president in 135 years to have a senior White House aide indicted.
The charges capped a grim week for Mr Bush that saw the 2,000th US military death in Iraq and the withdrawal of his Supreme Court nomination Harriet Miers.
Libby was one of the main architects in making the case for war in Iraq.
His trial will almost certainly throw a spotlight on the Bush administration’s use of pre-war intelligence and the various justifications it put to the American public.
But things could have been worse for the White House. Karl Rove, Mr Bush’s own right hand man, escaped potential charges, at least in the short term.
He appeared before the grand jury investigating the leak four times and had faced perjury charges for failing to testify that he had spoken to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper about Plame, despite later correcting himself.
Rove remains under investigation.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald (pictured here) told a news conference that the inquiry was substantially complete, but not yet over.
He said: “A CIA officer’s name was blown and there was a leak and we needed to figure out how that happened, who did it, why, whether a crime was committed, whether we could prove it, whether we should prove it.
“Given national security was at stake, it was especially important that we find out accurate facts.”
Fitzgerald accused Libby of lying to FBI agents when the probe began in October 2003 with a “compelling story” about “passing gossip from one reporter to another”.
Libby told the FBI and the grand jury investigating the leak that he had been told of Plame’s identity by reporters.
The probe found he had actually learned about her weeks earlier through a CIA official.
He subsequently discussed Plame’s identity with several reporters. New York Times journalist Judith Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify about her discussions with Libby.
Mr Cheney said he had accepted Libby’s resignation “with deep regret”.
“Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and talented individuals I have ever known,” he said.
“He has given many years of his life to public service and has served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction.”
Mr Cheney also insisted that Libby must be presumed innocent until proven guilty by a jury.
President Bush said he was “saddened” by the indictment but in a brief statement outside the White House he gave a clear message that the show must go on.
“Scooter has worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people and sacrificed much in the service of this country,” he said.
“He served the vice president and me through extraordinary times in our nation’s history.”
Mr Bush insisted he remained focused on the issues facing the country.
“I’ve got a job to do and so do the people who work in the White House,” he said.
