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Libby pleads not guilty in CIA name leak scandal

Julian Borger

Ominous milestone for Bush administration

Washington: Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, the vice-presidential adviser who helped build the U.S. case for the Iraq war, stood before a judge on Thursday, then had his fingerprints and mugshot taken as a long-simmering intelligence leak scandal arrived in court.

Mr. Libby pleaded not guilty to five counts in total, including lying to a grand jury, making false statements to federal investigators, and obstruction of justice. Later his lawyers vowed he would not strike a plea deal but would fight to clear his name. However, the appearance in court of a top neo-conservative who only a few days ago was one of the most powerful men in the White House marked an ominous milestone for the embattled Bush administration.

Mr. Libby was the first White House official to be indicted while in office since Orville Babcock, President Ulysses Grant's secretary, who was charged 130 years ago for a whisky tax scam. High-placed miscreants since then, including the Watergate defendants, have chosen to resign before being charged. Mr. Libby stuck to his post as Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff until last week's indictment, for lying about his role in the 2003 outing of a CIA agent, Valerie Plame, the wife of a critic of the Iraq war.

This affair is threatening to take a great toll on the Bush White House. Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's closest adviser, is still under active investigation by Special Prosecutor in the case, Patrick Fitzgerald, and there were signs that the strain was beginning to show.

``Top White House aides'' quoted in the Washington Post said Mr. Rove's future was being privately discussed, and argued he may have become too heavy a burden on an already distracted administration.

Mr. Cheney is almost certain to be a witness in Mr. Libby's case and could be in legal jeopardy himself if he turns out to be one of the unnamed officials mentioned in the indictment who discussed Ms. Plame on Air Force Two in June 2003.

Sensitivity of the trial

The case will also delve deeply into the building of the White House case for war in Iraq, based largely on alleged weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to exist. It was an argument Mr. Libby, a former lawyer himself, took a lead role in assembling on his boss's behalf. The sensitivity of the coming trial was clear in Thursday's proceedings as lawyers discussed the declassifying of thousands of documents and seeking security clearance for defence lawyers to hear secret evidence, which will take up to six weeks.

The next hearing will not be until February 3. In a sign of its nervousness the White House has issued a memo to its staff ordering them not to communicate with Mr. Libby.

When his turn to answer to the charges came, Mr. Libby said: ``With respect, your honour, I plead not guilty.''

It was all over in minutes. He was released without bail, ``under his own cognisance,'' and left his legal team and his wife waiting in a corridor while he was photographed and fingerprinted in the marshal's office in the basement.

It is not clear what Mr Libby plans to do now. He once voiced a longing to get away from it all in Crete to drink ``odd-named wines'' and pursue his other vocation as a novelist.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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