Former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby is fighting to keep his grand jury testimony about the leak of a CIA operative’s name from being released and broadcast.
Libby’s grand jury testimony–the sworn statements he gave investigators about his conversations with Vice President Dick Cheney and journalists–is at the heart of his perjury trial. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald plans to play hours of recordings of that testimony in court next week to bolster his case that Libby lied and obstructed the investigation.
Trial evidence is normally public, and all exhibits in Libby’s case have been made public so far. Even though Fitzgerald successfully fought to get Libby’s full grand jury testimony admitted into evidence, Libby’s attorneys say the audiotapes should not be released outside the courtroom.
Libby defense attorney William Jeffress, who successfully argued a Supreme Court case that kept the Watergate tapes from being released, said in court Thursday that grand jury tapes are never meant to be made public.
In the tapes, Libby discusses conversations he had regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson. Plame’s identity was leaked to reporters in 2003.
If the tapes are released, they could be broadcast on television news programs, radio stations and the Internet. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he worried that would sensationalize an already public trial.
Last week, we endured Libby’s lawyers arguing against playing Scott McClellan lying for Libby because it might be "prejudicial." Now, they’re saying that we shouldn’t see the tapes of his Grand Jury testimony. It might be "broadcast on television news programs, radio stations and the Internet."
They’re so used to controlling information that they think it’s okay! You bet your sweet ass it will be "broadcast on television news programs, radio stations and the Internet." I hope it gets put up on billboards and painted on the sides of old barns. The Administration didn’t have any problem broadcasting their outing of Valerie Plame, or their pre-war campaign of lies about Iraq, or the State of the Union fantasies.
There’s an old saying, "Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time"…
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