CIA Leak Judge Says No to Secret Arguments

[kpete]

CIA Leak Judge Says No to Secret Arguments

Thursday April 6, 2006 2:01 AM


By PETE YOST

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge barred prosecutors in the CIA leak case Wednesday from making arguments that would be kept secret from the defendant, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

Lawyers for I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby are seeking a substantial amount of highly classified documents from the government so that the former White House aide can defend himself against five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI.

Libby is accused of making false statements about how he learned of the CIA employment of covert officer Valerie Plame and what he told reporters about her connection to the agency. Plame's identity was publicly disclosed in 2003, eight days after her husband accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.

In trying to scale back the amount of information they have to turn over to Libby, prosecutors said they should be allowed to argue their case in secret, out of the presence of the defendant and his lawyers, a request that U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton rejected.

more at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5736611,00.html

[David Dunham]

1. All trials should be open and public, even Libby's trial.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Libby might view this as a victory

Fitzgerald might see it as a reason to go to the Grand Jury with the cases against Hadley and Rove immediately, rather than have them further obstruct justice once they see what he has.

[peacetalksforall]

3. A UK paper tells us something about our former asst to the VP???? And

then leaves me confused. Who is the prosecutor and who is the government here?

[Lilsarah]

4. When is the last time that this was a story in the regular media?