White House rallies behind Cheney By Adam Entous
23 minutes ago
The White House on Tuesday sidestepped questions about whether Vice President Dick Cheney told his chief of staff about the CIA officer at the center of the leak probe as investigators wrapped up interviews with witnesses ahead of indictments expected as early as Wednesday.
Marc Lefkowitz, who lives across the street from CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, said he was questioned by two FBI agents on Monday night about whether he knew about Plame's work at the CIA before her identity as a covert operative was leaked to the press in 2003.
"They just asked me if I knew what my neighbor (Plame) did before it came out in the press," Lefkowitz told Reuters. He said he told the agents: "I didn't know."
Two lawyers involved in the case said the line of questioning could be a sign that federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald intends to charge administration officials for the leak itself, in addition to possible charges for easier-to-prove crimes like perjury and obstruction of justice.
The last-minute round of interviews, conducted by FBI agents and Fitzgerald, came as attention shifted to Cheney's role in the leak case.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan would neither confirm nor deny a report in The New York Times that Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, first learned about Plame in a conversation with the vice president on June 12, 2003, weeks before her identity became public in a newspaper column by Robert Novak on July 14, 2003.
Fitzgerald appears close to bringing indictments against top administration officials. Lawyers close to the case said the most likely targets are Libby and President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove. An announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, when the grand jury is scheduled to reconvene.
White House officials were anxiously awaiting the outcome of the leak probe since officials who are indicted are expected to resign immediately. In the event of indictments, Bush is likely to make a public statement to try to reassure Americans he was committed to honesty and integrity in government.
2003 CONVERSATION
Plame's identity was leaked after Wilson accused the administration of twisting prewar intelligence on Iraq. Wilson based the criticism in part on a CIA-sponsored mission he made to Africa in 2002 to check out an intelligence report that Iraq sought uranium from Niger.
The New York Times report about the previously undisclosed conversation on June 12, 2003, put a spotlight on Cheney and raised questions about assertions the vice president made in a September 2003 television interview that he did not know Wilson or who sent him on the trip to Niger.
Administration officials had sought to cast Wilson's trip to Niger as a boondoggle arranged by his wife, and in talking about the trip, they revealed her identity, people close to the case said. Wilson said the CIA sent him on the mission after Cheney's office sought more information about the uranium deal.
Asked if Cheney always tells the truth to the American people, McClellan said: "Yes." He dismissed as "ridiculous" a question about whether Bush stood by Cheney's account of his role in the matter. "The vice president, like the president, is a straight-forward, plain-spoken person," McClellan said.
Earlier, the spokesman said: "The vice president is doing a great job as a member of this administration."
The Times account of the June 12, 2003, conversation also appeared to run counter to Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he first learned about Wilson's wife from reporters.
Fitzgerald is said by lawyers to be considering bringing charges against Libby for making false statements and possibly obstruction of justice.
Libby's notes indicate that Cheney got his information about Plame from George Tenet, who was then the CIA director, according to The Times.
The notes did not show Cheney knew the name of Wilson's wife. But they did show Cheney knew and told Libby she was employed by the CIA and that she may have helped arrange her husband's trip to Niger.
A Republican source with ties to Cheney said there was nothing illegal about Cheney and Libby discussing Wilson and his wife since they have security clearances.
But Fitzgerald could still charge administration officials if they knowingly outed Plame, or for making false statements, obstruction of justice and disclosing classified information.
Lefkowitz, Plame's neighbor, said Monday was the first time he was questioned by the FBI in connection with the case. The agents told him they were talking to other neighbors as well. |
