I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s trial unfolded Tuesday as a classic Washington potboiler involving the president, the vice president and the CIA, played out within blocks of the White House and drenched with tension.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald opened the trial by telling the jury of 16 Washingtonians that Libby, in an effort to deflect accusations that Vice President Dick Cheney allowed President Bush to mislead the country into war, revealed the identity of a CIA agent to reporters and then lied to authorities investigating this leak.
No one has been charged with the leak. Libby is accused of perjury and obstructing the investigation.
Theodore Wells, Libby’s lawyer, argued that his client was fearful of being made a scapegoat to protect Karl Rove, Bush’s political adviser.
Wells said Libby was being set up in order to protect Rove, “the lifeblood of the Republican party.”
It’s unclear how an attempt by the White House to protect Rove would explain Libby’s innocence, but Wells’ revelation offered a rare look at the inner struggle of the Bush administration in the beginning months of the Iraq war.
Wells said Libby complained to Cheney that the White House was setting him up after Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told the media that Rove wasn’t involved with the leak, but wouldn’t say the same for Libby.
Cheney wrote a note to the White House that Libby was not going to be the fall guy for Rove, Wells said. Wells revealed a portion of the contents of the note.
“Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others,” Cheney wrote.
