Libby's guilt puts focus on White House

WASHINGTON - Four guilty verdicts against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby yesterday made him the highest-level White House official convicted of a crime since the Iran-contra scandal 20 years ago and marked the latest fallout from the administration's handling of the run-up to the war in Iraq.

Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, was convicted by a jury on four counts, including perjury and obstructing the investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity; he was acquitted on one false-statement count. Under sentencing guidelines, he is expected to receive as few as two years of prison time; he also could be fined up to $250,000 for each guilty count when he is sentenced June 5.

Top Democrats called on President Bush to pledge not to pardon Libby. The White House, which said only that Bush was "saddened" for Libby and his family, did not say what the president might do.

Libby, 56, remained free on a personal recognizance bond, and his lawyer said he would appeal.

"We have every confidence that ultimately Mr. Libby will be vindicated," said the lawyer, Theodore Wells, who had argued in court that Libby had not lied but merely had a faulty memory. "We believe that he is totally innocent, and we intend to keep fighting."

Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald said he was "gratified" by the verdict, which came after almost 10 days of deliberations. "Any lie under oath is serious," he said, especially "in a national security investigation."

Libby was charged with lying to investigators about his role in a White House campaign to discredit a critic of the administration, an effort that led to the exposure of the critic's wife, undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson.

Juror Denis Collins, who acted as spokesman for the 11-member panel, said jurors regarded Libby as a decent man, and wondered why he was being singled out. "There was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury," said Collins, a former Washington Post reporter.

But he said the panel did not believe Libby's assertion that he had learned of Wilson's identity from a journalist, when evidence showed he had discussed her in several White House meetings before that.

"The primary thing that convinced us was his conversation with [NBC journalist Tim] Russert," Collins said. "Libby was told nine times about Plame before he talked to Russert."

Collins said jurors spent a week charting the testimony and evidence on 34 poster-size pages. "There were good managerial-type people on this jury who took everything apart and put it in the right place," he said. "After that, it wasn't a matter of opinion. It was just there."

The verdicts appeared to close the book on the case, in which no one was ever charged with the actual leak of Wilson's identity. Fitzgerald said he did not expect to file any additional charges.

"We're all going back to our day jobs," he said.

The conviction of such a high-ranking White House official was one more setback for the Bush administration, already laboring under low approval ratings, public impatience with the war in Iraq, and a new Democratic majority in Congress.

Libby displayed little emotion as the verdict was read. When the first "guilty" was uttered, Libby blinked rapidly but otherwise maintained a blank face. After the full verdict was rendered, Libby turned toward his wife, Harriet Grant, with a stoic smile.

The trial was the first of a senior White House official in more than a decade, and the first conviction since the 1980s Iran-contra scandal.

"A conviction at that high level within the White House is almost unheard of in our history," said Guy Singer, a former Justice Department prosecutor.

The verdict was a measure of vindication for Fitzgerald, whose three-year probe drew complaints that he was straying far from his charge of finding out who leaked Valerie Wilson's identity to the public. Libby was neither the first nor the only administration official who discussed her with reporters.

Fitzgerald said "the seriousness of the lies" that Libby made more than justified the prosecution.

"We could not walk away from that," he said to reporters on the courthouse steps. "It's inconceivable that any responsible prosecutor could walk away and say, 'There's nothing there.' "

Douglas Berman, a sentencing expert and professor at Ohio State University law school, said a new federal law gives victims the right to be involved in the sentencing process. That could mean that Wilson, who retired from the CIA after her cover was blown, could be a witness in any sentencing proceeding.

The verdict culminated an investigation that began with a single sentence, which Bush uttered in his 2003 State of the Union address, declaring that Saddam Hussein had recently sought nuclear material in Africa. That roused Joseph Wilson, who had been sent by the CIA to Niger in February 2002 to assess the assertion about Iraq; he found it baseless.

Joseph Wilson began talking to reporters, and went public July 6, 2003, accusing the administration in a New York Times op-ed piece of twisting the prewar intelligence. Eight days later, his wife and her CIA employment were cited in a Robert Novak column

Libby was indicted in October 2005, accused of covering up his participation in the pushback against Joseph Wilson. Libby's lawyers argued that he did not lie but might have misspoken to investigators because he was immersed in his work.

[President Bush] respected the verdict, he respects the jury, and we're just not going to be able to comment beyond it.

- White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino

I am very disappointed.... I am saddened for Scooter and his family. As I have said before, Scooter has served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction through many years of public service.

- Vice President Cheney

The entire Wilson team is pleased by [the] verdict and believes that justice has been served in this case. The Wilsons will continue to pursue the civil case against Vice President Cheney, Mr. Libby, Mr. Rove and Mr. Armitage because it hinges on additional and different facts from those underlying the criminal case.

- Statement issued on behalf

of Joseph and Valerie Plame Wilson

[Cheney and key Bush political adviser Karl Rove] are the ones who made the decision . . . to say that Joe is lying. . . . He [Joseph Wilson] reported the truth and my daughter was caught in a bind.. . . Her career was slashed and there was nothing she could do.

- Valerie Wilson's father, Samuel Plame,

formerly of Huntingdon Valley

There was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. It was said a number of times: What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? Where are these other guys? I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as [defense attorney Theodore] Wells put it, he was the fall guy."

- Juror Denis Collins, a former Washington Post reporter

Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby.

- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.)

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