Russert testified about a July 2003 phone call in which Libby complained about a colleague's coverage. Libby has said that, at the end of the call, Russert brought up war critic Joseph Wilson and mentioned that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.
\"That would be impossible,\" Russert testified. \"I didn't know who that person was until several days later.\"
That discrepancy is at the heart of Libby's perjury and obstruction trial. During Libby's 2004 grand jury testimony, he said Russert told him \"all the reporters know\" that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Libby acknowledged later he had learned about Plame a month earlier from Vice President Cheney, but says he had forgotten about it and learned it again from Russert as if it were new. ";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Feb. 6","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby's grand jury audiotapes continued to be played to the jury at the Scooter Libby trial.
Libby said he learned about CIA officer Plame, the wife of former ambassador Wilson, from Vice President Cheney during a phone conversation on June 2003. He said he then forgot about it, but learned it again from NBC's Tim Russert a month later.
Libby said Russert asked him, \"Did you know that ambassador Wilson's wife works at the CIA?\" Libby added, \"And I was a little taken aback by that. I remember being taken aback by it.\"
Libby's grand jury testimony conflicts with testimony at his trial by a former White House press secretary, a former New York Times reporter, a recent vice presidential spokeswoman, a former CIA official and a former State Department undersecretary.
All testified Libby discussed Wilson's wife with them. Libby said in grand jury testimony he did not remember Mrs. Wilson coming up in any of those conversations.
Russert is expected to testify on Wednesday that Plame never came up in his conversation with Libby.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Feb. 5","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Jurors Monday began listening to an estimated eight hours of audio recordings of I Lewis \"Scooter\" Libby's grand jury testimony. Three of the five perjury and obstruction of justice counts against Libby stem from his grand jury testimony.
Libby told a grand jury in 2004 that he largely \"could not recall\" several details of conversations he had with Vice President Dick Cheney and others regarding former ambassador Joseph Wilson, the war critic who accused the administration of twisting intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq, according to audio tapes played in court this afternoon. Libby said he did remember his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney telling him in June 2003 that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. But Cheney said it in \"sort of an offhand manner, as a curiosity,\" Libby said. Presiding U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that after the grand jury tapes are heard in his courtroom, they will be released to the media.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Feb. 1","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
FBI agent Deborah Bond testified Thursday about two interviews she conducted with Scooter Libby in October and November 2003.
Bond said that Libby acknowledged in one interview that he and Vice President Dick Cheney \"may have talked\" on July 12, 2003, about telling the press that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Bond testified that Libby said he was \"not sure\" the conversation took place.
Libby told the FBI investigator that after he talked to Cheney, he called reporters. Libby claimed that when he spoke to Time's Matt Cooper, he told Cooper other reporters were telling him that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Libby told the FBI he was simply relaying that rumor to Cooper.
Also, excerpts of two October 2003 White House briefings were played to jurors. Then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan answered questions about the leak of a CIA operative's identity. Prosecutors had to read to jurors the questions that McClellan was asked because the judge did not want the jury to hear the charged atmosphere in the briefing room, which he thought would be prejudicial to Libby.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 31","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Former Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper testified he thought Libby had confirmed that a prominent war critic's wife worked at the CIA but acknowledged he never asked the White House aide where he'd heard that.
Cooper said White House advisor Karl Rove first told him the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA.
Rove, Cooper said, told him, \"she works on WMD at the Agency.\"
Cooper said he took that to mean, \"the Central Intelligence Agency, not the Environmental Protection Agency,\" he said.
Cooper, Time's White House reporter at the time, became the second reporter to testify at the CIA leak trial and the eighth prosecution witness.
Former New York Times reporter, Judith Miller finished her testimony early on Wednesday and said she had conversations with other government officials and could not be \"absolutely, absolutely certain\" she first heard about an outed CIA official from Libby.
Libby's attorneys seized on the hesitation and tried to portray Miller as someone who selectively remembers some conversations and not others.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 30","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
In an unusual and sometimes dramatic exchange, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified Tuesday that former vice presidential aide I. Lewis \"Scooter\" Libby identified a CIA operative to her during each of her three conversations with him in June and July 2003.
She spent 85 days in jail for not revealing the confidential source of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. But after Libby gave her a waiver, Miller testified before a grand jury.
But Miller's memory of the first meeting she had with Libby on June 23rd became an issue. Fitzgerald brought out that Miller did not mention the June 23 meeting in Libby's office during her first grand jury testimony -- after she finally decided Libby had freed her from a promise not to discuss their conversations.
Miller testified that at Fitzgerald's request she went back and found notes of the June 23 meeting and then described it in a later grand jury appearance.
Libby attorney William Jeffress came back at her again and again over her memory of the June 23 meeting and her memory in general.
Their exchanges occasionally became testy.
In his most telling foray, Jeffress asked how she could testify that Libby was agitated on June 23 when she couldn't even remember the meeting in her first grand jury testimony.
Miller mostly held firm. Acknowledging her memory \"is mostly note-driven,\" she insisted that rereading the notes \"bought back these memories\" of the June 23 meeting.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 29","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer testified I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby told him about Valerie Plame's job at the CIA over a lunch on July 7, 2003.
Libby has told investigators he first learned about Plame on July 10 or 11 from NBC's Tim Russert.
Fleischer, testifying under an immunity agreement, insisted he believed the information was not classified.
Fleischer said he again heard about Plame four days later, from White House communications director Dan Bartlett, who was displeased reporters kept writing Cheney had sent Wilson to Niger. Fleischer recalled Bartlett saying, \"His wife sent him\" and \"She works at the CIA.\"
Fleischer said he relayed the Plame information in a casual conversation to John Dickerson of Time magazine and David Gregory of NBC News.
Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller is expected to take the stand as a witness for the prosecution on Tuesday.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 25","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Vice President Dick Cheney's spokeswoman Cathie Martin testified she told I. Lewis \"Scooter\" Libby and the vice president that former ambassador Joe Wilson's wife was a CIA employee weeks earlier than Libby has said he first learned it from NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert.
Also Thursday, there were new details about just how deeply involved Cheney was in coordinating a plan to deflect criticism by Wilson that the administration \"twisted\" some intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities.
It was revealed by Martin that it was Cheney who was calling the shots on the media campaign in the wake of Wilson's blistering op-ed in the New York Times July 6, 2003, and his appearance the same day on \"Meet the Press.\"
Martin testified that Cheney \"dictated\" media talking points to her, including direct quotes from the National Intelligence Estimate, which had been declassified without her knowledge.
And jurors learned that Libby was directed by Cheney to speak directly to reporters, bypassing the normal communications staff in the office of the vice president.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 24","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Prosecutors paraded a roster of former government officials before the jury testifying they had informed Libby about the identity of CIA operative Valerie Wilson, contrary to Libby's claim he had learned about her weeks later from reporters.
Former CIA senior official Robert L. Grenier testified he received an anxious phone call from Libby on June 11, 2003, asking about reports a former ambassador had made a trip to Africa to check on reports Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium in Niger for Iraq's weapons program.
Libby, Grenier said, seemed irked by accounts the former ambassador, Joseph C. Wilson IV, the husband of Ms. Wilson, was telling reporters he had been sent on a fact-finding mission to Niger at the behest of the vice president's office.
Grenier said he promised to look into the matter, but before he could speak with Libby again, he was summoned out of a meeting with the director of the C.I.A. by Libby seeking answers.
Craig Schmall, a CIA. employee whose job was to brief Libby and Cheney, testified his notes showed Libby had spoken to him on June 14, 2003, and he was annoyed by Mr. Wilson's trip to Niger.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 23","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Prosecution and defense lawyers made opening statements.
Libby's defense attorney, Ted Wells, said top White House officials tried to blame vice presidential aide Libby for the 2003 leak and decided to protect President Bush's political strategist, Karl Rove.
Wells told jurors Karl Rove \"was viewed as a political genius\", \"Mr. Libby was just a staffer\" and \"Karl Rove was the life blood of the Republican Party.\"
After Libby complained \"they want me to be the sacrificial lamb,\" Vice President Dick Cheney personally intervened to get the White House press secretary to publicly clear Libby in the leak.
Cheney wrote a note to senior Bush advisors saying that it was wrong \"to protect one staffer\" - meaning Rove - and \"sacrifice the guy who stuck his neck in the meat grinder\" - referring to Libby who was \"ordered\" by Cheney to refute negative stories.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 22","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
A jury was seated consisting of nine women and three men, including an art historian, an investment banker, an attorney, a retired postal employee, a retired math teacher, and a former reporter for the Washington Post who once had the Post’s Bob Woodward as his editor and was a neighbor of NBC’s Tim Russert - both of whom are to be witnesses in the case.
The jury also includes four critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policies.
Three women and one man were seated as alternates.
Tuesday, Judge Walton will deliver detailed instructions to the jury, then Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald will spend 90 minutes on opening remarks followed by Libby's defense attorney, Ted Wells, who will use some audio and visual props to bolster his case.
Depending on how long Wells takes, the jury may hear their first witness Tuesday as well.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 19","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
At a motions hearing Friday afternoon, attorneys for \"Scooter\" Libby said they planned to call NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell as a defense witness during his perjury and obstruction trial. Opening arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.
NBC News has been advised that defense request for Mitchell's notes of a conversation in July 2003 with I Lewis \"Scooter\" Libby has been withdrawn, and a Monday hearing on the issue has been canceled at this time.
In court, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton had ordered attorneys for NBC to be in court Monday to discuss the notes.
He added: \"I don't see how I can deprive the defense of it.\" The request for Michell's notes could be renewed later in the trial if they become relevant.
There were no prospective jury candidates interviewed on Friday.
";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 18","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Again Thursday there was testament to just how small a town Washington really is, with more juror candidates telling of their unique connections to some of the principals in the Libby trial.
Also, delays continued in seating a jury as more prospective jurors expressed criticism of the Bush administration. The latest estimate, a jury might be seated by Monday afternoon.
Jury selection started with a management consultant telling Libby's attorney Ted Wells, \"Iraq was a tremendous, terrible mistake.\" She said, \"I feel betrayed by going to war.\" When asked if any of her opinions could leak into her oath of being impartial as a juror, she said, \"I think it could.\" The candidate was excused.
The next prospective juror, who worked for the Department of Homeland Security, said she was inherently skeptical of politicians and their motives. She too was excused after nearly one hour of questioning.
Ten jury candidates were excused Thursday, and only six made it to the \"qualified\" list. Of those excused, only two were asked not to come back for reasons other than their strong negative feelings about the Iraq war, Vice President Dick Cheney or the agendas of certain political figures.
Another possible juror told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton that he has a friend who is a long-time friend of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and that they talked about the case regularly. He told the judge, \"I have strong negative feelings about this current administration and the war.\" Wilson may be called as a witness.
And a woman who worked for the CIA for 19 years said she was called by an agency attorney, who told her that the case which she could serve on as a juror was about the \"blowing the cover\" of Valerie Plame. After several long bench conferences, she, too, was excused.
There was the lawyer who said his fiancée, also an attorney, represents Washington Post editor Bob Woodward in this matter. Asked about his opinion of Vice President Cheney, the jury candidate said, \"He is certainly not my favorite politician.\"
Surprisingly he was admitted to the qualified list of jurors. Woodward may be a witness. A tape recording he made of his interview with former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who admitted he first leaked Plame's name, is likely to be played to the jury.
Since jury selection began, 49 prospective jurors have been brought forward for questioning. Thirty have been accepted as qualified to serve. Nineteen have been rejected, most of those for expressed bias toward the Bush administration and the vice president, particularly concerning the Iraq war.
Six more qualified jurors are needed. Then the two sides can exercise \"strikes\" before a jury of 12 plus four alternates is seated.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 17","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
On Wednesday a total of 24 potential jurors were approved by attorneys on both sides of the perjury trial of former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, I. Lewis \"Scooter\" Libby.
The goal by Thursday is to approve 36 jurors. Then presiding judge Reggie Walton will order background checks for that narrowed pool and attorneys will be able to further cut the pool to a total of 16 jurors. The defense will be able to eliminate 12 from the 36 and the prosecution can cut six. Only 12 jurors will decide the fate of Libby who faces five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the FBI who was investigating who leaked the name of undercover CIA employee Valerie Plame to reporters in the summer of 2003.
There will be four alternate jurors selected who will sit with the final 12, not knowing that they will be excused once the jury is asked to reach a verdict.
Of note, seven critics of the Bush administration and the Iraq war were approved Wednesday as potential jurors.
Wednesday's session illustrated some difficulties in picking a jury in the nation's capital. Lawyers spent about an hour questioning one former Washington Post reporter who had worked for Bob Woodward, lived near NBC reporter Tim Russert and written a book on spying.
Even though Woodward and Russert are to testify, he was qualified to serve after he said to \"give someone a pass goes against everything I was taught.\"
The courtroom erupted in a rare moment of laughter when a retired math teacher, asked his views of Cheney, replied: \"I'm not sure I'd like to go bird hunting with him.\"";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 16","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Jury selection begins.
All the prospective jurors were asked 38 questions by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, in an effort to narrow the pool. Then, in the process known as voire dire, lawyers and the judge began posing questions to individual potential jurors. Nine were asked about their feelings toward the Bush administration and the media - six of those jurors were asked to return, three were dismissed from the case. ";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","2006","","","","", "sub", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Sept. 7","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage admits he leaked Plame's identity to Novak and to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post. Armitage says he did not realize Plame's job was covert. Woodward taped his June 13, 2003, interview with Armitage.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","2005","","","","", "sub", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Oct. 28","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby is indicted on five counts
obstruction of justice and two counts each of false statement and perjury.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","2004","","","","", "sub", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","March 5 and March 24","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby testifies before the grand jury.
";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","January","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
A grand jury begins investigating possible violations of federal criminal laws.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","2003","","","","", "sub", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Dec. 30","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in Chicago, a tough and aggressive career prosecutor, is named to head the leak investigation after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft takes himself out of the case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Oct. 14 and Nov. 26","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby is interviewed by FBI agents.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Sept. 26","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
A criminal investigation is authorized to determine who leaked Plame's identity to reporters. Disclosing the identity of CIA operatives is illegal.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","July 14","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Syndicated columnist Robert Novak reports that Wilson's wife is a CIA operative on weapons of mass destruction and that two senior administration officials, whom Novak did not name, said she suggested sending her husband to Niger to investigate the uranium story.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","July 12","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby speaks to Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and confirms to him that he has heard that Wilson's wife was involved in sending Wilson on the trip. Libby also speaks to Miller and discusses Wilson's wife and says that she works at the CIA.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","July 8","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby meets with Miller again and tells her that he believes Wilson's wife works for the CIA.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","July 7","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby meets with then-White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. Libby notes that Wilson's wife works at the CIA and that the information is not widely known.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","July 6","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
The Times publishes an opinion piece by Wilson titled \"What I Didn't Find in Africa\" and he appears on NBC's \"Meet the Press.\" Wilson said he doubted Iraq had obtained uranium from Niger recently and thought Cheney's office was told of the results of his trip.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","June 23","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby meets with Times reporter Judith Miller. During the meeting he tells Miller that Wilson's wife might work at a bureau of the CIA.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","June 14","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby meets with a CIA briefer and discusses \"Joe Wilson\" and his wife, \"Valerie Wilson.\"";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","June 12","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Cheney advises Libby that Wilson's wife works at the CIA.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","June 11 or 12","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Grossman tells Libby that Wilson's wife works at the CIA and that State Department personnel are saying Wilson's wife was involved in planning the trip. A senior CIA officer gives him similar information.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","May 29","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
Libby asks Marc Grossman, an undersecretary of state, for information about the ambassador's travel to Niger. Grossman later tells Libby that Joseph Wilson was the former ambassador.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","May 6","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof reports that a former ambassador, whom he does not name, had been sent to Niger in 2002 to investigate the uranium report. The column says the ex-ambassador reported to the CIA and State Department well before Bush's speech that the uranium story was unequivocally wrong and was based on obviously forged documents.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","March 19-20","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq begins.";
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i++] = new Array("","Jan. 28","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_Libby_Day_By_Day[i-1].body = "
President Bush asserts in his State of the Union address
\"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.\"";
// END editorial data