Fitz Alleges New Motive for Libby to Lie
By Jeralyn, Section Lewis Libby Trial Coverage
Posted on Fri Jan 26, 2007 at 06:20:00 AM EST
Tags: Libby Trial (all tags)
It must be true that trial lawyers never sleep when they are in trial. Check out the motion (pdf)
http://www.talkleft.com/LibbyTrial/trialpleadings/fitzmtnagreements.pdf Team Fitz filed yesterday alleging a new motive for Scooter Libby to lie to investigators and the grand jury. Shorter verson:
Libby knew that he had signed non-disclosure agreements in connection with his employment and was afraid that by telling the truth that he disclosed Valerie Wilson's employment with the CIA to reporters, he was in violation of his agreement and would be fired and lose his security clearances.Fitz alleges:
The government intends to prove that, at the time he made the charged false statements, defendant was aware that, if Ms. Wilson’s employment status was in fact classified, or that Ms. Wilson was in fact a covert CIA officer, in addition to potential criminal prosecution under a number of statutes, defendant faced the possible loss of his security clearances, removal from office, and termination from employment as a result of his disclosures to New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.
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The nondisclosure agreements executed by defendant tend to establish that defendant undoubtedly fully understood the serious obligations imposed by the nondisclosure agreements – and the severe potential consequences of violating them. Given other evidence that will establish that defendant was also aware at the time he made the charged false statements that Ms. Wilson’s employment may have been classified, and that the FBI and grand jury were investigating possible crimes arising from the disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s CIA employment to reporters, the nondisclosure agreements are directly relevant to the issue of whether defendant lied intentionally about his role in receiving and disseminating information concerning Ms. Wilson’s employment. Thus, the agreements should be admitted.
more at:
http://www.talkleft.com/LibbyTrial/trialpleadings/fitzmtnagreements.pdfedit to include:Documents From The Trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
http://wid.ap.org/documents/libbytrial/index.html