Libby testimony details plot to discredit critic

Libby can be heard describing in a low voice how Cheney was "upset" when Wilson went public with allegations that the White House had twisted intelligence to make the case for war. In an op-ed article, Wilson said he had been sent to investigate a key claim -- that Iraq was seeking uranium from the African nation of Niger -- and found it untrue months before Bush included the assertion in his 2003 State of the Union speech.

"It was a serious accusation," Libby said. "It was a very serious attack." It also quickly became a "topic that was discussed on a daily basis" in the White House.

Libby said that Cheney "thought we should get some of these facts out to the press. He then undertook to get permission from the president to talk about this" to reporters.

Libby said that Cheney's lawyer, David S. Addington, had advised him that merely getting such permission from the president rendered the intelligence declassified. Bush has publicly acknowledged doing so.

Libby's subsequent conversations with reporters and other White House officials are at the center of the perjury trial. Prosecutors have produced a series of witnesses over the last week, including former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, to say that they learned of Plame's identity from Libby.

Libby has testified that he learned about Plame from Cheney in June 2003, but then forgot that detail and didn't share it with others until he heard it from NBC News reporter Tim Russert in a phone call on July 10 or 11.

Recounting that conversation, Libby said in taped testimony that Russert asked him, " 'Did you know that Ambassador Wilson's wife works at the CIA?' and I was a little taken aback by that.... And I said, 'No, I don't know that,' intentionally because I didn't want him to take anything I was saying as in any way confirming what he had said."

Russert, who is expected to testify this week, has said he did not tell Libby about Plame.

Libby's testimony also puts him at odds with other former White House officials. At one point, Fitzgerald asks if he recalled sharing Plame's name with Fleischer, as the former press secretary testified.

"Isn't it a fact, sir, that you told Mr. Fleischer over lunch that this was hush-hush or on the Q.T.?" Fitzgerald asked.

"I don't recall that," Libby replied.

Prosecutors are expected to continue playing remaining portions of Libby's taped testimony today.

greg.miller@latimes.com

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