Tim Russert Contradicts Libby's Testimony

"Meet The Press" Anchor Tells Courtroom He Never Discussed CIA Operative With Former Cheney Aide

(CBS/AP)  NBC newsman Tim Russert testified Wednesday he never discussed a CIA operative with vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, contradicting Libby's version to a grand jury in the CIA leak investigation.

The testimony came as prosecutors prepared to rest their perjury case against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

The courtroom testimony so far has provided a rare view inside a White House under fire during the lead-up to the war in Iraq, reports CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger. It's not pretty: top advisers squabbling in the West Wing, leaked secrets and faulty memories — all part of a full-blown damage control operation apparently led by the vice president himself.

Russert, the host of "Meet the Press," testified about a July 2003 phone call in which Libby complained about a colleague's coverage. Libby has said that, at the end of the call, Russert brought up war critic Joseph Wilson and mentioned that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

"That would be impossible," Russert testified Wednesday. "I didn't know who that person was until several days later."

That discrepancy is at the heart of Libby's perjury and obstruction trial. He is accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters regarding Wilson's wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame.

During Libby's 2004 grand jury testimony, he said Russert told him "all the reporters know" that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Libby now acknowledges he had learned about Plame a month earlier from Cheney but says he had forgotten about it and learned it again from Russert as if new.

Libby subsequently repeated the information about Plame to other journalists, always with the caveat that he had heard it from reporters, he has said. Prosecutors say Libby concocted the Russert conversation to shield him from prosecution for revealing information from government sources.

Plame's identity was leaked shortly after her husband began accusing the Bush administration of doctoring prewar intelligence on Iraq. The controversy over the faulty intelligence was a major story in mid-2003.

Given that news climate, defense attorney Theodore Wells was skeptical about Russert's account.

"You have the chief of staff of the vice president of the United States on the telephone, and you don't ask him one question about it?" Wells asked. He followed up moments later with, "As a newsperson who's known for being aggressive and going after the facts, you wouldn't have asked him about the biggest stories in the world that week?"

"What happened is exactly what I told you," Russert replied.

Russert originally told the FBI that he couldn't rule out discussing Wilson with Libby but had no recollection of it, according to an FBI report Wells read in court. Russert said Wednesday he did not believe he said that.

Wells spent a considerable amount of time in cross-examination Wednesday undermining Russert's general recollection of past events, reports CBSNews.com's Jennifer Hoar.

Wells seized upon a 2004 interview that Russert had granted to a Washington Post reporter in which he failed to mention a phone call he had made to a different reporter, from Russert's hometown paper, The Buffalo News. Russert was later lambasted for not remembering the call in an article titled, "Tim, Don't You Remember?"

Russert was also grilled about whether or not he had told the NBC News President Neal Shapiro that he had discussed his 2003 phone call with Libby with an FBI agent. Russert said he didn't recall if he had mentioned that to Shapiro, Hoar reports. Wells appeared troubled by this as Russert indicated that he and Shapiro were close.

Russert will be back on the stand on Thursday; Wells says he has about two more hours with his cross-examination.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has spent weeks making the case that Libby was preoccupied with discrediting Wilson. Several former White House, CIA and State Department officials testified that Libby discussed Plame with them — all before the Russert conversation.

Fitzgerald has said Russert would be his final witness. Prosecutors spent the past few days playing audiotapes of Libby's grand jury testimony in court. In the final hours of those tapes Wednesday, Libby described a tense mood in the White House as the leak investigation began.

Though President Bush was publicly stating that nobody in the White House was involved in the leak, Libby knew that he himself had spoken to several reporters about Plame. He said he did not bring that up with Bush and was uncertain whether he discussed it with Cheney.

Libby did remember one conversation with Cheney, however, in which the vice president seemed surprised when told by his aide where Libby had learned Plame's identity.

"From me?" Cheney asked, tilting his head, Libby recalled.

Libby said he had forgotten that Cheney was his original source until finding his own handwritten notes on the conversation. The notes predated the Russert phone call by more than a month.

Vice President Cheney is likely to take the stand in Libby's defense, adds Borger. But he may need to answer some questions about himself and whether he directly controlled a White House effort to discredit a political enemy.

[bm6005]

and yes I still hate Bush. Lyin', draft dodging, silver spoon up his nose, east coast, rich guy!!

[bm6005]

re read the documentation...there was zero damage done...again completely political...this whole issue is political...rafterman..again.. I repsond when I see idiocy...to claim treason...again shows a severe and utter lack of intellence..don't let hatred blind rationality...the left Hates Bush and claims all kinds of heinous things he's done..
golfkt

I'm still waiting!!!

[bm6005]

So golfkart; I'm still waiting for the web location of the documentation that will make me see that everyone's wrong but you regarding the outing of Plame & Brewster Jennings.

[clemenhagen1]

HUSKER ARMY: Go Big Red!
Frankly 6: Truth to power!
Dallison, Rafterman, BM 6005: Attention all.

I don't know any of you folks. It is just so good to read posts by intelligent people; makes the current situation seem a little less bleak. Having been raised in the west I know all about rednecks. By and large they love their country and mean well, but have a vicious streak of ignorance and intolerance because of provincialism and xenophobia. The Golfkt and Liebermans of the world scare the bejesus out of me; I truly appreciate those who rally to the defense of reason and sanity. It makes the world seem just a bit less lonely. Thanks to all of you for your funny, insightful and open-minded posts.

[talkingham]

NO DAMAGE DONE-- YOUR'RE PATENTLY STUPID IF YOU BELIEVE THAT!!!! It's already been reported that that the people she recruited and the exposure of the company that was created for her cover has resulted in serious damage to "assets" of the CIA.

Russert is a deep cover Bush-Cheney neocon!!! He knew in advance what not to ask Libby because it would have hurt Cheney and Bush. Why didn't Russert ask Libby any questions about Plame when Libby called Russert. Pretty strange for a reporter not to ask Libby about the major story of the day when he had him on the phone. Russert's story is phoney- designed to cover Cheney.
Bush and his crowd have damged the CIA, damaged the military and damaged this nation's interests with what appears to be intentional bungling and lies - IMPEACH these people!

[skyk-2009]

Russert remembers now that he didn't remember then what he forgot he thought he was told by the person he forgot told him.

Libby recalls that he forgot he told someone after the person he forgot reminded him that he was told by someone else.

Lets' face it, Russert has an ax to grind and Libby is covering his tracks. They're all a bunch of liars!
Posted by diverinnl at 12:11 PM : Feb 08, 2007

I'd suppose all the rest of those witness's in the administration of Sir Lies-A-Lot are lying too? LOL Man you fascist just can't seem to see the forest for the tree's. LOL It's so obvious what went down here that you 6 year old Grandson can figure it out and we have a Brain Dead Fascist here coming down on Russert! What's with you losers? You ALWAYS attack the messenger and NEVER address the message... IF you don't do that we have a LOT of our young people alive today. Think about it... no scratch that. If you had the ability to think for yourself you don't post this tried drivel.

[diverinnl]

Russert remembers now that he didn't remember then what he forgot he thought he was told by the person he forgot told him.

Libby recalls that he forgot he told someone after the person he forgot reminded him that he was told by someone else.

Lets' face it, Russert has an ax to grind and Libby is covering his tracks. They're all a bunch of liars!

[hillaryin08]

Why not impeach Libby like Clinton, same crime?

It doesent matter, Libby is going to walk anyways.

[rafterman1]

"Only a fool would believe Russert would tell the truth.."

Only a fool would believe Cheney and Libby would tell the truth.

[huskerarmy]

"She was NOT covered...she was not outed....re read the documentation...there was zero damage done..."
golfkt,
Brewster Jenning was a brass plate operation. In outing Plame, they outed this operation and an unknown number of covert informants. There is no way to estimate the potential for future intelligence that would have been garnered through this operation, but anyone with a grain of intelligence would presume that damage was done... Want to talk about "stupid." To assert that ther was "no damage" is just stupid, stubborn loyalty. In fact, it's quite reasonable to presume that lives were probably lost as a consequence of this treason.

[frankly6]

golfkt

Better head back to the shallow end of the pool. You clearly can't swim.

[bm6005]

golfkt; I'm still waiting for the location of any official documentation. You know something other than Hannity's Liesite or Limbaugh's Hindsite!

[dallison7]

Hey, golfkart, are you feeling a little light headed from all the reality? You might want to go to the 'airplane' story about the speaker of the house. Man that thread is full of right wingnuts like yourself spewing stupidity.

[frankly6]

golfkt

Read slowly this time for comprehension.

[bm6005]

golfkt; Could you please try to spell and get your syntax a bit clearer my dog can't follow your thread(S)? If you can read try "Hubris", the authors do a good job of revealing the sequence of events. Now you say "read the documentation" OK fine, what docs are you referring to Limbaugh's script or official docs that I can access? I love to read so give me something other than the talking heads notoriously inaccurate (read lies) websites. And yes I do hate Bush. Apparently not going to Viet Nam caused him to repeat that gangbang!!

[frankly6]

golfkt

Ok, I'll repost this for you. Since you didn't get it the first time.

You are the one that looks like an idiot paroting other peoples lies. I don't know where you got your information but here are the facts of the case.

The CIA demanded that a criminal investigation be done because not only was a covert agent outed but one of their front companies (Brewster Jennings) was exposed. They considered this a very serious threat to their ability to protect the security of the U.S.

Ironicly Plame, through Brewster Jennings, was collecting intelligence on WMD proliferation in the Middle East. When she and the front company were exposed, the whole operation had to be rolled up overnight. Anyone who worked with or cooperated with this company had to either go into hiding or risk arrest and worse.

You shame yourself and your country by spreading lies and attempting to justify treasonous acts. The facts of this case are readily available to everyone. You are either willingly ignorant or intentionaly lying.

[bm6005]

golfkt; Could you please try to spell and get your syntax a bit clearer my dog can't follow your thread(S)? If you can read try "Hubris", the authors do a good job of revealing the sequence of events. Now you say "read the documentation" OK fine, what docs are you referring to Limbaugh's script or official docs that I can access? I love to read so give me something other than the talking heads notoriously inaccurate (read lies) websites. And yes I do hate Bush. Apparently not going to Viet Nam caused him to repeat that gangbang!!

[bm6005]

golfkt; Could you please try to spell and get your syntax a bit clearer my dog can't follow your thread(S)? If you can read try "Hubris", the authors do a good job of revealing the sequence of events. Now you say "read the documentation" OK fine, what docs are you referring to Limbaugh's script orofficial docs that I can access? I love to read so give me something other than the talking heads notoriously inaccurate (read lies) websites. And yes I do hate Bush. Apparently not going to Viet Nam caused him to repeat that gangbang!!

[golfkt]

Again: wrong..very wrong...The plame issue is completely and utterly political...She was NOT covered...she was not outed....re read the documentation...there was zero damage done...again completely political...this whole issue is political...rafterman..again.. I repsond when I see idiocy...to claim treason...again shows a severe and utter lack of intellence..don't let hatred blind rationality...the left Hates Bush and claims all kinds of heinous things he's done..

be intelligent...disagree without be and idiot...I will racket up the acrimony when I see idiocy...and call an idiot and idiot...
This case is a non case...Fitzgerald is NOW prosecuting a crime (of pejury) where there is no underlying crime...

[frankly6]

Rafterman

There seems to be only one principle that they won't abandon: Absolute Power at Any Cost