Libby pleads not guilty in CIA leak inquiry

US Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff today pleaded not guilty in the CIA leak scandal, marking the start of what could be a long road to a trial in which Cheney and other top Bush administration officials could be summoned to testify.

Once the charges were read and US District Judge Reggie Walton asked for his response, Libby said: “With respect, your honour, I plead not guilty.”

Libby, who is recovering from a foot injury, leaned his crutches aginst a podium from which lawyers normally question witnesses or address the court.

He stood with his recently expanded legal team at the table reserved for the defence during trials as the charges were read.

A short time later, they left the courtroom.

Cheney’s top aide signalled his determination to fight the charges after last Friday’s grand jury indictment, which has provided more fuel to the political debate over the White House’s possible misuse of pre-war intelligence on Iraq and the failure by Senate Republicans to promptly investigate the issue.

The Libby indictment has put the Bush administration on the defensive at a time when the president’s popularity rating is at an all-time low after a week in which his Supreme Court nominee was forced by conservations to withdraw, casualties in Iraq passed the 2,000 mark and a question mark hangs over whether his closest political adviser, Karl Rove, will be indicted in the case.

Libby bolstered his defence team this week with two well-known criminal trial lawyers, Ted Wells and William Jeffress, both with good acquittal records.

Libby was charged with lying to investigators and the grand jury about leaking to reporters the CIA identity of the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson. Valerie Plame’s name was published by conservative columnist Robert Novak after Wilson accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence in the run-up to the war to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.

The Libby indictment has put the Bush administration on the defensive, focusing attention on the possible manipulation of pre-war intelligence on Iraq and the failure by Senate Republicans to promptly investigate the issue. President George Bush’s popularity is at an all-time low after a week in which his administration fumbled a Supreme Court nomination and casualties in Iraq passed the 2,000 mark.

The indictment says Libby got information about Plame’s identity in June of 2003 from Cheney, the State Department and the CIA, then spread it to New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper. Libby told FBI agents and a federal grand jury that his information had come from NBC reporter Tim Russert.

Russert says he and Libby never discussed Wilson or his wife.

Miller, who never wrote a story, said Libby told her about the CIA connection of Wilson’s wife. Cooper said Libby was one of his sources for a story identifying the CIA connection of Wilson’s wife.

Libby attorney Joseph Tate said inconsistencies in recollections among people regarding long-ago events should not be charged as crimes.

Libby is accused of one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of lying to FBI agents and two counts of perjury before a federal grand jury.

The judge handling Libby’s case is an appointee of three Republican presidents.

Early in his career, Walton was a highly respected trial lawyer for the US attorney’s office in the District of Columbia.

When President Ronald Reagan appointed him to Superior Court in Washington, Walton became known as a no-nonsense judge who was tough on sentencing street criminals.

He served as the senior White House adviser for crime in the administration of President Bush’s father before returning to Superior Court. In 2001, the current president nominated Walton to the US District Court.

Senate Democrats seized on the Libby indictment to press its intelligence committee to promptly investigate possible pre-war intelligence manipulation.

Democrats are pressing for the intelligence committee to examine:

:: The administration’s strongly worded pre-war statements on the Iraqi threat and whether they match up with the actual intelligence.

:: The role of the pro-war Iraq National Congress, an exile group run by Ahmad Chalabi, in feeding information from defectors to the Pentagon and to Cheney’s office.

:: The intelligence activities of the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans, which fed policy-makers uncorroborated pre-war intelligence on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, particularly involving purported ties with the al Qaida terror network.

:: The pre-war intelligence assessment and its failure to predict the post-war insurgency.