Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff intends to load up his criminal trial with information about nine national security matters, the names of foreign leaders and details about various terrorist groups, according to court filings in the Valerie Plame leak case.
The papers filed this week hint at what has been taking place behind closed doors as Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald tries to limit the amount of classified data that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is permitted to use at his trial, scheduled for January.
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton is asking whether classified evidence would overlap with what Libby is likely to say in his testimony. Libby's attorneys have said he will take the witness stand to deny lying to the FBI in its investigation of the disclosure of Plame's identity to the media.
Even if prosecutors agreed ahead of time about the importance of the "nine national security matters" he wants to disclose, Libby would be entitled to introduce additional evidence, the lawyers wrote.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100601499.html