[Mb-civic] Miller's Lawyer Says Aide May Face 'Problem' in Probe - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Miller's Lawyer Says Aide May Face 'Problem' in Probe
Attorney for Reporter Cites Possibility of Conflicting Testimony

By Walter Pincus and Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 17, 2005; Page A03

Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, has "a 
problem" in the investigation of the leak of a CIA operative's identity 
if his testimony conflicts with information given to the grand jury by 
New York Times reporter Judith Miller, her lawyer said yesterday.

Robert S. Bennett, speaking on the ABC program "This Week" on the day 
the Times disclosed new information about three conversations Miller had 
with Libby about the CIA employment of a White House critic's wife, said 
that "much would depend upon what Mr. Libby said to the grand jury.

"If he said that he had not talked to Judy about these things or didn't 
talk about the wife, then he's got a problem," Bennett said, referring 
to CIA operative Valerie Plame, the woman at the center of the leak 
investigation. Miller told prosecutors that "to the best of her 
recollection she did not know of" Plame's employment at the CIA "before 
she spoke to Mr. Libby," he said.

Bennett would not speculate whether Libby was trying to steer Miller's 
eventual testimony -- an action that could be considered an attempt to 
obstruct justice, through an alleged suggestion by his lawyer and 
language in a personal letter sent to her last month that encouraged her 
to testify.

But he did call Libby's reference to part of the Sept. 15 letter to 
Miller "very troubling."

"Our reaction when we got that letter, both Judy's and mine, is that was 
a very stupid thing to put in a letter because it just complicated the 
situation," Bennett said.

The details of Miller's exchanges with Libby come as special prosecutor 
Patrick J. Fitzgerald appears to be winding up his 22-month 
investigation of whether any government official leaked Plame's name to 
retaliate for criticism of the administration by Plame's husband, former 
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The grand jury's term will expire Oct. 28.

Fitzgerald's investigation began in December 2003 as an inquiry into 
whether disclosure of Plame's identity as a CIA operative to columnist 
Robert D. Novak by two senior administration officials was a violation 
of federal law. Novak, in his column of July 14, 2003, disclosed the 
name of Wilson's wife, described her as a CIA "operative," and described 
her alleged role in arranging Wilson's trip to Niger to determine 
whether Iraq was seeking uranium from that country.

But over the past year, Fitzgerald's inquiry has apparently broadened. 
Some people familiar with the case believe he is trying to determine 
whether the leak of Plame's identity was part of a conspiracy within the 
Bush administration to discredit Wilson for his statements critical of 
the White House's use of intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/16/AR2005101601228.html
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