Discovery Phase

The CIA leak case isn't over by a long shot -- and Cheney is still at the center of the story.

By Jeff Lomonaco
Web Exclusive: 10.13.06

Behind closed doors at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia this week, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton is considering what classified information I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff and national security adviser, will be able to use to defend himself against charges of obstruction of justice, false statements, and perjury. To bring Libby to trial, the special prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has to avoid the risk of graymail -- the defense strategy of forcing the prosecution to drop the case because of classified information the defense would reveal at trial. Jury selection in Libby’s trial is scheduled to begin January 16.

Nonetheless, in the wake of the recent disclosure that Richard Armitage, Colin Powell’s deputy in the State Department, was syndicated columnist Robert Novak's initial source for his July 2003 column identifying Valerie Plame Wilson as an undercover CIA officer, the conventional wisdom -- typified by The Washington Post’s editorial page -- is that the case is effectively over, and that it amounts to very little. “One of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Plame's identity to ruin her career and punish Wilson -- is untrue," according to The Washington Post.