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.'"

Op-Ed Buzz at White House

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.

The prosecution has shown in the trial's first days of testimony that Libby was collecting information from State Department and CIA officials about an unnamed ambassador in a column published in early May 2003.

Libby was eventually told by Marc Grossman, then undersecretary of state for policy, and Robert Grenier, Iraq issues manager at the CIA, that the ambassador was Wilson and that his wife worked at the CIA.

Martin was directed by Libby and told by officials at the National Security Council to investigate claims made in the media that the vice president had directed Wilson's trip to Niger.

Martin testified that after Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, had a June 11, 2003, telephone call with an official at the CIA, she was in communication with Harlow to work on the issue.

After The New York Times published Wilson's Op-Ed piece, Martin testified, she drafted talking points and spoke with Libby and Cheney about the issue.

Cheney, she said, "dictated" talking points to her from his Capitol Hill office the following day, which included the notes, "Not clear who authorized the travel. … He did not travel at my request. … Don't know him."

"VP was unaware of Joe Wilson, his trip, or any conclusions he may have reached," Martin recalled Cheney dictating to his aide.

'Nagging Mr. Libby'

After speaking to CIA spokesman Harlow again on July 7, 2003, Martin surmised that two other reporters had been working on stories about the Iraq-Niger controversy. After consulting with Cheney, "It was decided that 'Scooter' would call them," she said.

"Whose decision?" Fitzgerald said.

"The vice president's," she said.

Martin felt sidelined by her superiors who were dealing with the issue.

"I was also aggravated that Scooter was calling reporters and I wasn't," she said.

Under cross-examination by Libby's defense attorney Ted Wells, Martin described a June 12, 2003, phone call that Libby had with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Libby called Cooper to respond to questions on a story he was working on about the Iraq issue. Libby made the call from Andrews Air Force Base when Cheney and his staff returned from a trip to Norfolk, Va.

Although it was his son's birthday, Wells argued, Libby called Cooper because Martin wanted to have the side of the vice president included in the Cooper piece.

"You were nagging Mr. Libby," he said to Martin.

The trial and the defense's cross-examination of Martin will continue Monday. The prosecution is also expected to call former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.