Scooter Libby’s attorneys are planning to call Dick Cheney as a defense witness next month. That’s assuming they can find the undisclosed location and serve the subpoena.
Libby is accused of lying to investigators about what he told reporters regarding former CIA operative Valerie Plame. Plame’s identity was leaked to the news media around the time that her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly criticized the Bush administration’s handling of prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Libby says he was focused on more important issues — including terrorism, Iraq and nuclear proliferation — and didn’t remember his conversations regarding Plame.
Putting Cheney on the witness stand sends a message to the jury, said Robert J. Bittman, a former deputy independent counsel who investigated President Clinton.
…”Was I concerned? Yes,” Bittman expected Cheney to say. “Was it my primary issue? No. My primary issue was making sure a nuclear weapon was not detonated in the United States.”
The strategy is not without risk and, until Tuesday, it seemed Cheney might be called as a prosecution witness.
I’d think forcing Cheney to do anything could be risky, but that’s just me. It will be fun to watch the lawyers attempt to pry testimony from his clenched jaw.