Libby Contradicted by Cheney Staffer at Trial

Jan. 26, 2007 — -- Vice President Dick Cheney's director of communications testified Thursday that she had told former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby about the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame several days before Libby said he first had learned about it.

Catherine Martin is the first White House employee to testify at the trial and contradict what Libby told federal investigators.

On the stand, she said that she could not place it to an exact date, but that she knew she had the conversation with Libby between June 11, 2003 and July 6, 2003.

On July 6, 2003, an Op-Ed piece criticizing the White House was written by Plame's husband, former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson, and published in The New York Times.

Libby told the FBI and a federal grand jury that he did not learn about Plame's identity from Tim Russert of NBC News on July 10, 2003.

The heart of the perjury case lies on statements made by Libby when he testified, "Mr. Russert said to me, 'Did you know that Ambassador Wilson's wife, or his wife, works at the CIA?' And I said, 'No, I don't know that.' And then he said, 'Yeah -- yes, all the reporters know it.'"

Plame's identity was published by political columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003, and Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate the matter later that year.

Fitzgerald's investigation centered on a plot to discredit Wilson, who disputed claims made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Niger.

Fitzgerald sharply questioned Martin about internal White House deliberations on the Iraq-Niger controversy and about how the administration would respond to media inquires about claims made in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union.

"His name is Joe Wilson. … His wife works over here," Martin testified, referring to a conversation she had with CIA spokesman Bill Harlow.