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Cheney aide pleads not guilty in CIA leak case
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-04 08:56
Vice President Dick Cheney's former aide, Lewis Libby, pleaded not guilty on
Thursday to charges in the CIA leak probe, and his lawyer promised to fight it
out in a public trial that could put a spotlight on how the White House made its
case for the Iraq war.
Former chief of
staff and national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, Lewis
Libby (C), arrives at Federal Court in Washington, D.C., November 3, 2005
for the CIA leak case trial. [Reuters] |
| "With
respect, your honor, I plead not guilty," Libby told federal Judge Reggie Walton
during his 10-minute arraignment.
Walton, who did not schedule a trial date, set Libby's next court appearance
for February 3. But the case could get bogged down for months in a fight over
classified documents underpinning the criminal charges.
Cheney and top officials could be summoned to testify at an eventual trial.
Libby, 55, resigned as Cheney's chief of staff on Friday after he was
indicted on five counts of obstructing justice, perjury and lying in the
two-year investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's
identity. If convicted, Libby faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Plame's identity was leaked to the media in July 2003 after her diplomat
husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence
on weapons of mass destruction to justify the war in Iraq.
Libby's newly hired defense lawyer, Theodore Wells, promised a vigorous court
battle.
"He (Libby) has declared that he intends to fight the charges in the
indictment and he has declared that he wants to clear his good name and he wants
a jury trial," Wells said after Libby was fingerprinted and had his picture
taken by marshals at the federal courthouse.
Before any trial, Libby could still try to cut a deal with special counsel
Patrick Fitzgerald to plead guilty to lesser charges and cooperate in the
investigation, although Wells sought to play down that possibility.
President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not indicted
on Friday along with Libby. But lawyers involved in the case said Rove remained
under investigation and may still be charged.
Fitzgerald spoke earlier this week with Time magazine reporter Matthew
Cooper's attorney about Cooper's conversations with Rove, a source involved in
the case said. Fitzgerald is expected to inform Rove of his decision on charges
in the coming weeks.
Libby's indictment was a damaging blow to a White House already reeling from
the mounting U.S. death toll in the Iraq war, the bungled response to Hurricane
Katrina and the withdrawal of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers under
fire from Bush's conservative power base.
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