WASHINGTON -- Former Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testified today that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told him he had "heard" that the wife of a Bush administration war critic had been involved in sending the critic on a CIA-backed trip to Africa.
Cooper said at Libby's perjury and obstruction trial that the conversation with the former vice presidential aide occurred on Saturday, July 12, 2003, two days before the identity of operative Valerie Plame was disclosed in a column by syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
Cooper also testified that the day before he spoke to Libby he talked to White House political strategist Karl Rove, asking questions about a column that war critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, Plame's husband, had written a few days earlier in the New York Times.
Cooper testified that Rove cautioned to "don't get too far out on Wilson," and that among other things, told him that his wife worked at the CIA.
"He said she worked on [weapons of mass destruction] for the agency," Cooper said. "By that, I took it to mean the Central Intelligence Agency, not the Environmental Protection Agency. We talked about it a bit more. He said words to the effect, 'I've already said too much, I've got to go.'"
Cooper also described a phone conversation with Libby the next day. He said Libby was concerned about an implication in the Wilson article that his then-boss — Vice President Dick Cheney — was involved in dispatching Wilson to Africa to assess claims that Iraq was seeking nuclear material there. Wilson found the claims baseless, and attacked the Bush administration in the New York Times on July 6, 2003.
Cooper said Libby returned a call he had placed, on his cell phone.
"He called me, and said he had a statement to read that was on the record. The gist of it was that the vice president did not know about the Wilson trip, that he had made an inquiry as he had often did about things, and that this trip had gone on without his knowledge.
"Toward the very end of the conversation, I asked what he had heard about Wilson's wife being involved in sending him to Niger," Cooper continued.
"He said, words to the effect, 'Yeah, I've heard that, too.'"
Libby is charged with lying to investigators about conversations he had with Cooper and two other reporters about how he came to know about the identity of Plame. Libby has said that he heard about Plame through other journalists rather than dispensing the information to them. The government claims the alleged lies obstructed an investigation into whether Plame was illegally outed.
Libby was the only person charged in that investigation; Rove testified repeatedly before a federal grand jury but was not charged with a crime.
Cooper is expected to resume testifying after lunch.
Another journalist with whom Libby spoke, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, concluded her testimony this morning.
rick.schmitt@latimes.com
Cooper said at Libby's perjury and obstruction trial that the conversation with the former vice presidential aide occurred on Saturday, July 12, 2003, two days before the identity of operative Valerie Plame was disclosed in a column by syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
Cooper also testified that the day before he spoke to Libby he talked to White House political strategist Karl Rove, asking questions about a column that war critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, Plame's husband, had written a few days earlier in the New York Times.
Cooper testified that Rove cautioned to "don't get too far out on Wilson," and that among other things, told him that his wife worked at the CIA.
"He said she worked on [weapons of mass destruction] for the agency," Cooper said. "By that, I took it to mean the Central Intelligence Agency, not the Environmental Protection Agency. We talked about it a bit more. He said words to the effect, 'I've already said too much, I've got to go.'"
Cooper also described a phone conversation with Libby the next day. He said Libby was concerned about an implication in the Wilson article that his then-boss — Vice President Dick Cheney — was involved in dispatching Wilson to Africa to assess claims that Iraq was seeking nuclear material there. Wilson found the claims baseless, and attacked the Bush administration in the New York Times on July 6, 2003.
Cooper said Libby returned a call he had placed, on his cell phone.
"He called me, and said he had a statement to read that was on the record. The gist of it was that the vice president did not know about the Wilson trip, that he had made an inquiry as he had often did about things, and that this trip had gone on without his knowledge.
"Toward the very end of the conversation, I asked what he had heard about Wilson's wife being involved in sending him to Niger," Cooper continued.
"He said, words to the effect, 'Yeah, I've heard that, too.'"
Libby is charged with lying to investigators about conversations he had with Cooper and two other reporters about how he came to know about the identity of Plame. Libby has said that he heard about Plame through other journalists rather than dispensing the information to them. The government claims the alleged lies obstructed an investigation into whether Plame was illegally outed.
Libby was the only person charged in that investigation; Rove testified repeatedly before a federal grand jury but was not charged with a crime.
Cooper is expected to resume testifying after lunch.
Another journalist with whom Libby spoke, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, concluded her testimony this morning.
rick.schmitt@latimes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment