Dick Cheney: No Longer Libby Defense Witness
Feb. 13, 2007 — -- The decision of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's defense lawyers not to call Vice President Dick Cheney as a witness disappointed those looking forward to courtroom drama in the nation's capital. The prospect of Cheney on the witness stand tantalized official Washington ever since it became known that he might be called as a witness in the trial of his former chief of staff.
Having any vice president "swear to tell the truth" would grab the nation's attention, and possibly even more so in Cheney's case. He has an aversion to discussing the inner machinations of the Bush administration publicly. A former White House aide, who does not want to be identified, said Cheney sees no value in showing "how sausage is made."
"What's important to Cheney," said the aide, "is the sausage."
Cheney has already spoken in a private deposition to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. But that was secret testimony to use in the grand jury proceedings. So, Fitzgerald had a good idea of what Cheney would say in the current trial. Presumably, if Cheney's testimony would have greatly bolstered the prosecution's case, then Fitzgerald would have called him to the stand. But he did not.
Instead, if Cheney had been called, he would have been a witness for his onetime top aide, Libby, who was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice during the grand jury's investigation into the outing of Valerie Wilson, an undercover CIA officer. She is the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had written an op-ed piece in The New York Times disputing administration claims that Saddam Hussein tried to purchase uranium in the African nation of Niger.
How could Cheney have helped Libby? Lawyers following the case offered several possibilities. He could have served as a character witness praising Libby's virtues. Cheney might also have bolstered the defense team's case that Libby was so overworked and consumed by affairs of state that he simply forgot his conversations with journalists about Wilson and his wife.
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