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Cheney not to testify

WASHINGTON: U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney will not testify in defence of his former chief of staff, ewis ``Scooter'' Libby, in the CIA leak trial, CBS Newshas reported.

Mr. Libby's lawyer, Ted Wells, said, ``we have released the Vice-President as a potential witness.'' Otherwise, Mr. Cheney would have been the first sitting Vice- President to testify in a criminal case in at least 100 years.

As Mr. Libby's former boss, Mr. Cheney's role in the case had been seen as a pivotal one. In December 2003, special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald began investigating whether senior administration officials illegally provided information about Ms. Plame to the press.

The Vice-President's friends have donated generously to a special defence fund that two Cheney allies created last year to pay Mr. Libby's legal bills.

Xinhua

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