Libby Gets A Little Help From His Friends

More Than $3M Donated To Legal Fund For Indicted Former Cheney Aide

(CBS)  By CBSNews.com's Jennifer Hoar

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I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby won't lack powerful friends or financial resources when he goes on trial on Tuesday. A private fund set up to pay the legal bills of the former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney has collected more than $3 million since Libby's indictment 14 months ago.

Libby is charged with obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into who disclosed the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame to Robert Novak. Novak outed Plame in his nationally syndicated newspaper column in July 2003.

Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, has claimed that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence in order to justify the invasion of Iraq, and that the outing of his wife was payback from an angry White House.

It was widely believed that Libby was Novak’s source, but the case took a dramatic turn last August when it was learned that the conservative columnist’s primary source was then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

“I screwed up,” Armitage told CBS News’ David Martin.

But the indictment that forced Libby to resign as Cheney’s right-hand man remained in place because he is charged with impeding Fitzgerald’s investigation, rather than leaking Plame’s name to reporters.

Nevertheless, the Armitage disclosure further strengthened the belief among Libby’s many influential friends and supporters that he is an innocent man whose life has been turned upside-down by unjust accusations.

One of those friends is Dick Carlson, a former ambassador and Republican stalwart who has headed the Voice of America and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (Carlson’s son is Tucker Carlson, the conservative TV pundit.)

Like many of Libby’s well-heeled friends, Carlson wasted no time in coming to his aid. On the day the indictment was announced in October 2005, Carlson said: “I sent a check by courier to Scooter’s house in McLean with the assumption that he’d need it.”

That check was the impetus for what quickly morphed into The Scooter Libby Legal Defense Trust. A source close to the trust said more than $3 million has been collected to pay Libby's legal bills. The public face of the defense fund is a cadre of Republican heavyweights that include Mary Matalin, Steve Forbes and Jack Kemp.

Another Libby stalwart is former CIA director Jim Woolsey, who has known Scooter for years.

“I would be sympathetic to anyone who was indicted for non-violation of a statute,” Woolsey explains, referring to a provision of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which makes it a federal crime to reveal the identity of a covert intelligence agent. “He was not indicted for any underlying crime,” Woolsey says.

Matalin has called the case against Libby a "grave injustice."

Following the Armitage disclosure, Matalin began an online missive to donors by saying, "We now know who disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame. We now know that Scooter had nothing to do with it."

Because the defense fund is privately administered and has been set up for someone who is no longer a public official, there is no requirement to disclose the identity of donors.

“There is no law requiring disclosure,” says former House counsel Stan Brand, “there is no advantage [for Libby] to be more transparent unless he wanted to get back into public life.”

Brand estimates that Libby will need an eye-popping $5 million to cover his legal costs, which also include a civil suit filed against him.

Despite this mountain of legal bills, Libby is lucky to keep the company he does. Some in the Clinton administration who came under investigation during the Whitewater era, like then-White House communications director George Stephanopoulos, weren't as fortunate.

They had huge legal bills, Brand said, but they didn't have the luxuries of defense funds to foot those costs.

People like Stephanopoulos either “weren’t high-profile enough” at the time, or they “didn’t have friends with either the money or the inclination” to form a defense fund, Brand said.

[bluestardad]

This guy is never going to see a day in Jail Bush will pardon him!

[feelfree1]

Re: "Libby Gets A Little Help From His Friends"

"Scooter" to Israel: thanks!

susan2589 wrote:

"What hatred! He was not the one to leak the name, Richard Armitage did. So now he has alot of legal bills. Thanks to being tried in the media. Good for his friends. And while you all condemn his legal defense fund, how did you feel about Clinton's? I think he raised over 8 million."

Libby isn't facing court for releasing the name - he's facing court for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Something Republicanazis fail to understand.

[cruzn66]

So I guess the people who made up the grand jury which agreed to indict Scooter was just a group of Democratic puppets. Look... the man is being held accountable for statements in which the prosecuter felt were false. There is a reason we have a legal system in this country. Let him face that system and present his case. Don't blame the media, the Democrats, or anyone else for the fact that this administration has opted to operate at an extremely secretive level. And in this country, we still have the right to follow up when we feel that ANYONE is operating outside the law of the land. The system may not be perfect, but its all we have unless we become a nation of chaos, similar to what we see in Iraq. If he lied, he will have to face the music, if not, maybe he needs to pick his friends more wisely. He's not the first person in politics to suffer from guilt by association.

dallison7 wrote:

"FOR SALE: ONE GEORGE W. BUSH DOLL
It runs in circles, falls on it's face then points at the Clinton doll."

lol.

[rafterman1]

j-whitman,

I think you misunderstood. The first part of my last post was a quote from someone else, not mine. The second part I meant that when Clinton lied he got impeached but when Libby lied, he gets the "oh what a poor victim he is" treament.

[dallison7]

FOR SALE: ONE GEORGE W. BUSH DOLL
It runs in circles, falls on it's face then points at the Clinton doll.

[skyk-2009]

In our brush with Fascism American's have paid a very high price indeed. This slimy Fascist is just one example of the corruption and hatred of the American People held by the Bush Gang. Anyone who thinks these people actually care about or freedom and our country are living in a dream world and know nothing of history. Disgusting bunch headed by Sir Lies-A-Lot!!

[j-whitman]

Ratterman,,,, Bush's lies also destroys our National Security

[j-whitman]

Ratterman,,,, Clintons lie was over a BJ -- Bush's lies cost American lives - Big difference don't you think ?

[rafterman1]

"I thought the issue was who leaked a CIA employee's name and legal defense funds."

It was. But the Bush administration put up a wall of silence so powerful, the best they could get was obstruction and perjury.

[rafterman1]

What hatred! He was not the one to leak the name, Richard Armitage did. So now he has alot of legal bills. Thanks to being tried in the media. Good for his friends. And while you all condemn his legal defense fund, how did you feel about Clinton's? I think he raised over 8 million.

Funny you should mention Clinton. Libby isn't being tried for leaking her name, he is being tried for perjury - which was what Clinton was impeached for, no? Oh, I forgot. Rules and laws about lying are different for Dems than they are for Repubs.

[susan2589]

I thought the issue was who leaked a CIA employee's name and legal defense funds.

[j-whitman]

Susan,,,,
Clinton isn't the one who destroyed America's National Security & disrupted the entire Middle East Region
Clinton isn't the one who keeps giving our troops plans destined for failure
Clinton isn't the one now waging war on Iran with our troops spread out elswhere.

Clinton isn't the one telling us "Congress and American People Can't Stop Me"

[susan2589]

What hatred! He was not the one to leak the name, Richard Armitage did. So now he has alot of legal bills. Thanks to being tried in the media. Good for his friends. And while you all condemn his legal defense fund, how did you feel about Clinton's? I think he raised over 8 million.

[luvny-2009]

I hope Libby get's nailed and takes Cheney and Dumbya with him to prision and Big Bubba decides to make the 3 of them his new girlfriends.

[j-whitman]

Valendug --
During WW 2, Evangelists, Methodists, Lutherans all believed Jew's where the cause of World Problems both in Germany & America... Go figure

[oleander8]

"Once he realizes that his so-called friend who raised the money for him are NOT the ones who'll be bent over in a shower in prison by rapists with really large organs..."
Posted by RandalDS at 02:36 PM : Jan 15, 2007

Libby will never be bent over in any shower in any prison. If he gets ANYTHING it will be country-club-prison. And all his financial supporters will be assured that he will keep his mouth shut.

His trial should never have been postponed this long simply because his lawyers said they had previous committments. Politics as usual.

[valendug]

lieberwoman, just go away. next, instead of trying to be an independant, you'll align with the republiKKKcons. You'd be like McCain: too *** old and croak in office. Just go away!

[j-whitman]

Scooter's just a typical republican,, Only with lawyers more powerefull than OJ's... When faced with truth & accountability - They lie to protect thier own ***