The indictment of Scooter Libby is now available online at the Web site of the special prosecutor's office.
The highlights:
Obstruction of justice and false statements: Libby was interviewed by investigators in the Valerie Plame case in October and November of 2003. During those interviews, the indictment says, Libby told investigators (1) that NBC's Tim Russert had told him on July 10 or July 11 that Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA; (2) that he had told Time's Matthew Cooper on July 12 that the administration was hearing from reporters that Joseph Wilson's wife worked at the CIA but that he didn't know if it was true; and (3) that he hadn't discussed Plame with the New York Times' Judy Miller during a meeting on or about July 8.
The indictment alleges that all of those statements were false: At the time of his conversations with reporters, Libby had already learned -- from an undersecretary of state, from a senior CIA official and from Dick Cheney himself -- that Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Moreover, the indictment says, Libby shared that information with Miller and confirmed it for Miller.
Perjury: Libby appeared before Fitzgerald's grand jury at least twice in 2004, and he repeated, under oath, his story about his July 2003 conversation with Russert. Once again, Libby claimed that Russert had told him about Wilson's wife -- and that he did not recall at the time of that conversation whether he knew about Wilson's wife or not. The indictment alleges that this statement is false: that Russert didn't tell Libby about Wilson's wife's employment during that conversation, and that Libby wouldn't have been surprised by the information if he had.
The indictment says that Libby also testified under oath that he told Matthew Cooper and other reporters that the information he had about Plame's employment was information that the administration was hearing from reporters. "I was very clear to say, 'Reporters are telling us that,' because in my mind I didn't know it as fact," he said. "I thought I was -- all I had was this information coming from reporters." Pressed repeatedly if he was certain of this recollection, Libby testified that he was. Again, the indictment says that Libby's testimony was false -- that he had obtained information about Wilson's wife not from reporters but from the State Department, the CIA and the vice president, and that he provided Cooper with "unqualified" confirmation that she worked at the CIA.
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