Reporters testify Libby did not mention Plame

NY Times:

Lawyers for I. Lewis Libby Jr. opened their case today with a parade of prominent Washington reporters who testified that Mr. Libby never mentioned the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency operative when they interviewed him during the period the officer’s identity was leaked to the press.

One by one, the reporters from The Washington Post, The New York Times and Newsweek took the stand and recounted their conversations with Mr. Libby in the summer of 2003 about the issue of unconventional weapons and Iraq. They briskly and unhesitatingly said Mr. Libby, then the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, did not speak about the C.I.A. employee, Valerie Wilson.

The jury also heard from Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist who first disclosed Ms. Wilson’s identity to the public on July 14, 2003, and set off the investigation that resulted in the five felony charges for which Mr. Libby is being tried. Mr. Novak told the jury that he learned about Ms. Wilson from Richard L. Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, and had her identity confirmed by Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser. But as to whether Ms. Wilson came up in his conversation with Mr. Libby on July 8, 2003, he said: “I got no help from Mr. Libby on that issue.”

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In a sense, the defense opened its case today with an indirect approach — appealing to the jurors to believe Mr. Libby’s account that he did not discuss Ms. Wilson with Ms. Miller and Mr. Cooper because he did not discuss her with the six other reporters who testified Monday. In addition to Mr. Novak, the other reporters were Bob Woodward, Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, David E. Sanger of The New York Times and Evan Thomas of Newsweek. It was unclear if or how the cumulative impact of those reporters saying Mr. Libby had not discussed Ms. Wilson with them would lead jurors to discount the testimony of the two reporters who said earlier that he had, in fact, discussed her with them.

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I think this helps the defenses case and it appears the prosecution did little to any effective cross examination of these witnesses.