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Revision as of 14:47, 31 January 2006
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I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr. (born August 22, 1950) is the former Chief of Staff and assistant for National Security Affairs to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential advisor. Republican strategist Mary Matalin, a former counselor to Cheney and a friend of Libby, describes him as someone who did "for the vice president what the vice president does for the president. He's exceedingly analytical, detailed, strategic, bright; and he's discreet."
On October 28, 2005, Libby resigned his government position, hours after being indicted by a grand jury.
On January 6, 2006, the Hudson Institute announced that Libby had joined that organization as a senior advisor, with a focus on "issues relating to the War on Terror and the future of Asia. He also will offer research guidance and will advise the institute in strategic planning."
Career
Libby was born into a Jewish family in New Haven, Connecticut, and raised in Florida. After graduating from Andover, an exclusive New England boarding school, Libby graduated from Yale University in 1972, where one of his professors was Paul Wolfowitz. Libby received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Columbia University Law School in 1975.
After graduating Columbia Law School, Libby practiced law in Philadelphia.
Libby first entered government service in the United States Department of State in 1981, as a member of the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the Secretary. From 1982 to 1985 he served in that department as director of special projects in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. During the George H. W. Bush administration (1989-1993), Libby served in the United States Department of Defense as principal deputy under secretary (Strategy and Resources), and later was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as deputy under secretary of defense for policy. Libby co-authored the draft of the "Defense Planning Guidance" with Wolfowitz for the then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in 1992.
Libby has also, at various times in his career, held positions with the American Bar Association, been on the board of the RAND Corporation, and been a legal advisor to the United States House of Representatives. He has consulted for the defense contractor Northrop Grumman. He has also been active in the Defense Policy Board of the Pentagon while it was chaired by Richard Perle. (Reference )
Libby was a founding member of the Project for the New American Century. He joined Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, and others in writing its 2000 report titled, "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century."
In his work as a private lawyer, Libby's most famous client was billionaire commodities trader Marc Rich, a fugitive accused of tax evasion, racketeering and breaking the US trade embargo on Iran. Libby represented Rich from 1985 until 2000, during which time Libby's firm received more than $2 million from Rich for representing him. Rich was pardoned by President Clinton in January 2001, during the last hours of the Clinton administration, a pardon that drew heavy criticism from Republicans. At a Congressional hearing to review Clinton's pardons, Libby denied that Rich had violated any tax laws.
The Plame affair, Libby, and Judith Miller
Further information: ]In 2003 and 2004, intense speculation about Libby centered on the possibility that he may have been the administration official who "outed" Valerie Plame, a CIA officer whose identity was classified.
In July of 2005, Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper revealed that Libby and Karl Rove were the first to disclose Wilson's wife had suggested sending Wilson on the mission to Niger and that she was a CIA officer without mentioning her name. The American Prospect magazine revealed in August 2005 that Libby had testified that he met with Judith Miller on July 8, 2003 and discussed Wilson's wife with her at that time. It was later learned Miller's notes indicated the name "Flame" rather than Plame.
Miller was jailed on 7 July 2005 for contempt of court after refusing to testify to the grand jury about this meeting despite a signed blanket waiver from Libby allowing journalists to discuss their conversations. Miller has argued that Libby's waiver to all journalists could have been coerced and that she would only testify if given an individual waiver, which Miller received after serving most of her sentence.
The waiver was offered "voluntarily and personally" by Libby, accompanied by a letter which has raised eyebrows because of his hinting as to what he expects from her testimony, and a poetic and cryptic ending which has been the subject of much speculation.
"As noted above, my lawyer confirmed my waiver to other reporters in just the way he did with your lawyer. Why? Because as I am sure will not be news to you, the public report of every other reporter's testimony makes clear that they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with me, or knew about her before our call.
...
"You went to jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover -- Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats, bird flu and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work—-and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers.
"With admiration, Scooter Libby."
Miller was released on 29 September 2005 after agreeing to testify. She appeared in front of the grand jury on September 30.
Indictment and resignation
On October 28, 2005, Libby resigned from his position in the White House, immediately after he was indicted on criminal felony charges by a grand jury. He was charged with:
- one count of obstruction of justice;
- two counts of perjury; and
- two counts of making false statements.
Each count carries a $250,000 fine, so, if convicted, he could face up to $1.25 million in fines. The charges also carry a maximum prison term of thirty years. The case is United States of America v. I. Lewis Libby.
Neither Libby nor nor any other Bush Administration officials have to date been charged with the crime of revealing the identity of a covert CIA agent, the original focus of the investigation. Rather, all charges to date are for allegedly lying to investigators and to the grand jury and for obstructing justice - all of which are felony charges. Supporters have pointed to the lack of indictments on the underlying matter as vindication that no laws relating to the "outing" of a CIA agent were broken. Detractors have pointed out that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald made clear in a press conference that he believed that the actions of Libby in lying to federal investigators and the grand jury had hindered his investigation into the matter he had set out to investigate, using the analogy of someone having kicked sand in the umpire's eyes - making it difficult to see what happened.
Libby allegedly told investigators that he first heard of Plame's CIA employment as a rumor from journalist Tim Russert; or, alternatively, that he mistakenly thought Russert was his first source because he had forgotten a single prior notification; that he did not know whether this rumor was true; and that he told other reporters he did not know whether it was true. The indictments charge that these statements were false in that Libby had numerous conversations about Plame's CIA employment prior to speaking to Russert; Russert did not tell Libby about Plame's CIA employment; Libby knew for a certainty that Plame was employed by the CIA; and Libby told reporters that Plame worked for the CIA without any disclaimer that he did not know whether this was true or not. The 'false statements' charges stem from making these claims to the FBI, the 'perjury' charges from repeating them to the grand jury, and the 'obstruction' charge from the view that Libby made these statements in an effort to prevent the investigation from uncovering the truth.
Libby has stated that he is completely innocent of the charges and that he will be exonerated. He has not publicly commented on the testimony of the four White House officials and three national reporters whose testimony directly contradicts his testimony.
Libby has retained attorney Ted Wells of the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to represent him in the case. Wells is known for successfully defending Clinton Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy against a 30 count indictment, and participating in the successful defense of former labor secretary Raymond Donovan.
On November 16, 2005, Washington Post senior editor Bob Woodward, who helped uncover the Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon revealed that he had just given testimony that another senior Bush administration official had given out information about Valerie Plame prior to and in addition to Mr. Libby. Fitzgerald had called Libby the first "known" official to do so - thus Woodward's revelation does not counter Fitzgerald's specific and carefully-worded characterization at that time.
Personal
Libby is married to Harriet Grant, a former staff lawyer for the Senate Judiciary Committee when the committee was chaired by Democratic senator Joe Biden. Libby and Grant have two school-age children. The couple lives in McLean, Virginia, a Washington suburb, and Libby is a member of Temple Rodef Shalom, a Reform Jewish congregation in nearby Falls Church.
Trivia
- Libby's former office in the Old Executive Office Building was formerly the office of Theodore Roosevelt when he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
- Libby is apparently unwilling to disclose what the "I" stands for in his name. NPR reported "Irve". This was discovered after looking through yearbooks at Libby's alma mater, Yale. Moreover, LexisNexis archives found two references to Libby's father, whose first name is also Irve. However, Brian Williams and Al Franken have recently stated that his name is Irving on the late-night talk show circuit.
- For unexplained reasons, Libby has offered differing accounts of how he acquired his nickname. On some occasions Libby has claimed that his nickname, "Scooter", was due to a childhood comparison to "the Scooter" Phil Rizzuto and on other occasions he has claimed that it was given to him by his father who, upon seeing him move quickly across his crib, apparently described him as "a scooter."
- Libby sustained an apparent foot injury during the final days of the grand jury investigation, and has employed the use of crutches as of October 26th.
- After his indictment, a novel Libby wrote in 1996 (The Apprentice) gained new attention. In the book, Libby tells the story of a group of travelers stranded in Japan's Northern Honshu province in the winter of 1903 during a smallpox epidemic. A New Yorker columnist reprinted passages describing extremely graphic pedophilia, bestiality, rape and incest. . An autographed copy of the book went on sale at Amazon.com for $2400, and unsigned hardcover copies went on sale for $1000.
- During the 2001 - 2002 timeframe, Libby was nicknamed "Germ-Boy" at the White House, for insisting on universal smallpox inoculation.
References
- ""October 28, 2005 Indictment: US v Libby"" (PDF). US Attorney General's Office. November 29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=and|year=/|date=mismatch (help) (page 2, section b)
- Copies of the indictments
- A Rough Road For 'Scooter'?, from an October 2005 issue of U.S. News & World Report
- Tim Russert interview by MSNBC
- A discussion of Libby's legal strategy
- Letter from Libby to Judith Miller, September 15 2005, from The New York Times website
- Larry King interview, February 16 2002, from the CNN website
- U.S. Department of State Biography
- The Apprentice on Amazon.com
- Who is Scooter Libby? The Guy Behind the Guy Behind the Guy
- CNN.com profile of Libby (October 28 2005)
- Profile of Lewis Libby, Notable Names DataBase.
- SourceWatch profile of Lewis Libby
- RightWeb profile of Lewis Libby
- The Nexus of Washington’s Neocon Network
- RightWeb Chart - Bush Foreign Policy Team
- Profile: Lewis Libby, Center for Cooperative Research.
- Lewis Libby connections, Political Friendster.
- Lewis Libby, Daily Kos.
- John Dickerson. Who Is Scooter Libby?, Slate, October 3, 2005.
- Justin Raimondo. A Second Take on Scooter-gate, It's all about treason, AntiWar.com, October 3, 2005.
- John Lyman. Who is Scooter Libby?, Center for American Progress, October 28, 2005.
- James Petras. Israel and the Neocons: the Libby affair, Counter Punch, November 3, 2005.
- Justin Raimondo. Scooter Libby, Neocon Martyr. AntiWar.com, December 16, 2005.
- Hudson Institute press release, January 6, 2006
- Libby Jewish? Some wonder how neo-con's faith impacts leak scandal, JTA, November 2, 2005
| Preceded byCharles Burson | Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States 2001–2005 |
Succeeded byDavid Addington |
| Preceded byLeon Fuerth | Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs 2001–2005 |
Succeeded byJohn P. Hannah |