Leopold: "Bush Administration Is Focus of Leak Inquiry"

Fleischer cringed when he read the news. Worse, the story said that whoever was responsible for the leak might have violated an obscure 1982 federal law that carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and tens of thousand of dollars in fines "for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified information." (The law actually states that officials who "knowingly" disclose information about an undercover agent could be prosecuted under this statute. The Washington Post incorrectly characterized the law.)

By the time he finished reading the story, Fleischer's heart "went into his throat."

The next morning, according to Peter Zeidenberg, an assistant US attorney working with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald on the CIA leak case, Fleischer immediately contacted his lawyer.

Zeidenberg disclosed Fleischer's nervous reaction to the Post story at the end of the third day of testimony in the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, who is accused of lying about when and how he learned Valerie Plame Wilson was employed by the CIA and whether he disclosed the information to journalists. The jury, which will decide Libby's fate, was dismissed while Zeidenberg discussed Fleischer with US District Court Judge Reggie Walton and Libby's defense team.


Last week, the public learned for the first time that there were many people inside the White House responsible for leaking Plame's identity to reporters. Flesicher, who resigned as White House press secretary in July 2003, it turns out, was one of the leakers. In September of 2003, the month the Justice Department started to investigate whether any laws were broken as a result of the Plame leak, the White House was in full defense mode. President Bush and White House press secretary Scott McClellan publicly denied that any member of the administration was involved in the leak or took part in a campaign to discredit Wilson - despite the fact that one of the individuals responsible for the leak was White House political adviser Karl Rove.


Believing he may have broken the law by discussing Plame with reporters, Fleischer asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and would answer questions before a grand jury only if Fitzgerald promised he would not prosecute him.

"Mr. Fleischer is going to testify that he did seek immunity, and he would not talk to the government before he obtained immunity," Zeidenberg told Walton. "And the reason he wanted immunity is because, on the morning - actually the evening - of September 27 [2003], he found the story ... he read a newspaper article, which indicated that there was a criminal investigation into the possible unauthorized disclosure of a covert agent. And he read that, and he knew that he had conveyed information about that woman, Valerie Wilson, to reporters. And he realized ... it was one of those moments where your heart goes into your throat, and you think, I could be in very big trouble here."

Walton agreed with Zeidenberg, saying that the September 28, 2003, Post story can be admitted into evidence by the prosecution regardless of the inaccuracy because it establishes the reasons Fleischer sought immunity. Furthermore, the October 12, 2003, article is relevant for the jury to hear about as well.

"If Mr. Libby has an article of this nature in his possession and he's underlined information that would tend to suggest that he had concerns about whether he committed a crime by having revealed this information, obviously, it seems to me that does become relevant because it may relate to what his state of mind was when he talked to the FBI and when he ultimately appeared before the grand jury," Walton said. "So, even if the article is wrong in that respect as it relates to Mr. Libby, if he's got it in his possession, and he's got it underlined, that would suggest that, well, maybe he had a motive to lie, from the government's perspective, because he felt that he had committed a crime by revealing the information and therefore had to seek to cover it up."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012907J.shtml