[Mb-civic] Libby May Rely on Faulty-Memory Defense - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Libby May Rely on Faulty-Memory Defense
Presidential Adviser Rove Awaits Decision on Status in CIA Leak Prosecution

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 30, 2005; Page A14

I. Lewis Libby and Karl Rove, one facing indictment, the other hoping to 
avoid one, are pursuing a similar strategy to prove their innocence in 
the CIA leak case: showing they are guilty of memory lapses, not lies.

Libby, indicted Friday on five counts of lying and obstructing justice, 
contends that any misleading information he provided to the grand jury 
or federal investigators was the result of a hectic schedule and foggy 
recollections, according to people familiar with his thinking.

"Mr. Libby testified to the best of his recollection on all occasions," 
Joseph A. Tate, Libby's lawyer, said in his first statement on the case, 
released Friday. Libby's friends plan to set up a legal defense fund 
soon to help him fight the charges, according to one person familiar 
with the effort.

Rove, who sources said narrowly escaped indictment through last-minute 
negotiations, is working privately to convince Special Counsel Patrick 
J. Fitzgerald that he did not lie to a grand jury about his role in the 
disclosure of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. With Fitzgerald 
threatening to indict Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff 
provided him with new information last week that prompted Fitzgerald to 
rethink charging him with making false statements, according to two 
people close to the case.

A source close to Rove said President Bush's closest adviser stands 
ready to provide the prosecutor with anything else he needs in the days 
ahead, and remains optimistic an indictment is not forthcoming. Rove 
expects a decision soon.

Fitzgerald "understands what is at stake here," said a source close to 
Rove. "We are going to find out if we are going to get good or bad news."

Fitzgerald has largely completed the 22-month investigation into whether 
any Bush administration official leaked Plame's name, without charging 
anyone with violating the laws that make such actions illegal in some 
circumstances.

Instead, the grand jury indicted Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of 
staff, on two counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury 
and one count of obstructing justice. Fitzgerald has not concluded his 
investigation of Rove, which people close to the case say focuses on at 
least one misleading statement Rove made to the grand jury.

While some Republicans dismissed the charges against Libby, who resigned 
Friday, as technicalities unrelated to deliberately unmasking a CIA 
agent, allegations of lies put Libby -- and possibly Rove -- in serious 
legal jeopardy and are creating a new set of political problems for the 
Bush White House.

"Libby is tripped up over the investigation, not over the crime, and I 
think that is significant," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). Still, "the 
impression you get is he was a good foot soldier for many years, but he 
stepped over the boundary in his job, and no one is above the law."

Republicans close to the White House said Bush was relieved on Friday 
that Rove and other White House officials were not implicated in the 
leak case but plans to say little about the Libby indictment at least 
until Rove's situation becomes clear.

The administration is bracing for a barrage of criticism about the Libby 
indictment and its flawed case for invading Iraq. Yet, White House aides 
believe they escaped a much more damaging and demoralizing outcome when 
Fitzgerald's grand jury did not charge officials with exposing Plame or 
conspiring to do so, saying pointedly at his news conference Friday that 
war critics should draw no conclusions from his findings, the Republican 
sources said.

(continued)...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/29/AR2005102901220.html?nav=hcmodule
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