Washington – Neither Vice President Dick Cheney nor his former aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby will testify at Libby’s perjury and obstruction trial in the CIA leak case, Libby’s lawyer said Tuesday.
Defense attorney Theodore Wells said he advised Cheney’s lawyer over lunch that the vice president’s testimony would not be needed. Wells also said he planned to rest his case this week without calling Libby.
In December, Wells had announced he would call Cheney as a defense witness. Historians said it would have been the first time a sitting vice president would have sat as a witness in a criminal case.
Libby is accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. Plame is married to former ambassador and prominent war critic Joseph Wilson.
Attorneys said Cheney was willing to testify and, as recently as two weeks ago, Cheney said in an interview that he planned to be a witness. Libby, too, once seemed a likely witness. Pretrial documents said he would testify about his busy schedule and the national security issues that weighed on his mind.
But when U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton asked Libby in court Tuesday whether he was sure he did not want to testify. Libby responded: “Yes, your honor.”
Defense attorneys say they plan to rest their case after they question three CIA briefers about Libby’s daily intelligence briefings. Prosecutors say those briefers shouldn’t be allowed to testify now that Libby isn’t going to take the stand.
Libby is accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters regarding Plame. Prosecutors say Libby learned Plame’s identity from Cheney and other officials, relayed that information to reporters, then concocted a story to cover it. Libby says he was preoccupied with national security intelligence and honestly forgot details about Plame. He says he learned her identity from Cheney, forgot it, and learned it again a month later from NBC’s Tim Russert and believed it was new information.
With Cheney and Libby off the witness list, attorneys said they planned to rest their case today. That schedule could be derailed if snow and freezing rain continued in Washington. Closing arguments will be held next week, Walton said.
