WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff plans to take the stand at his upcoming trial to tell jurors that he never lied to investigators in the CIA leak case, defense attorneys said Friday. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is charged with perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about his conversations in 2003 with reporters regarding Valerie Plame's CIA job.
Prosecutors say Libby is trying to torpedo the criminal case by demanding the use of classified information that is too sensitive to be released at trial. It's a tactic known as "graymail" and the goal is to get a case dismissed.
Libby plans to testify about President Bush's daily terrorism briefings and other classified information to persuade jurors that he had more important things on his mind at the time and didn't remember his discussions with reporters, attorneys said in court papers filed Friday evening.
"Mr. Libby must be able to discuss classified information to give the jury an accurate picture of his state of mind during the relevant time period and to show the jury that any errors he made in his statements and testimony were the product of confusion, mistake and faulty memory rather than deliberate misrepresentations," defense attorneys wrote.
The documents were filed as part of Libby's bid to use classified information at his trial in January. Prosecutors oppose the use of many documents, saying sensitive government secrets will get out.
Plame believes her CIA status was revealed as retribution for her husband's accusation that the Bush administration had twisted prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, discounted reports that the regime of Saddam Hussein had an agreement with the African nation of Niger to buy uranium yellowcake as part of a nuclear weapons program.
Documents regarding Wilson's trip to Niger are among those Libby wants to use at trial, attorneys wrote.
