A former top White House aide has been convicted of perjury and obstructing justice in a trial that highlighted the Bush administration's use of classified information to discredit critics of the war in Iraq.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to the
vice-president, Dick Cheney, was convicted of four counts of
perjury, obstructing justice and lying to the FBI during an
investigation into the leaking of a
CIA officer's identity.
Welcoming the verdict, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that, while lying under oath was always a serious matter, a senior official lying in a national security investigation was especially grievous.
"The results are actually sad. It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official person who worked in the office of the vicepresident obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did," he said. Mr Libby, who could face years in prison, was silent as he left the courtroom but his lawyer, Theodore Wells, said he would appeal the verdict.
"We intend to file a motion for a new trial and if that is denied, we will appeal the conviction and we have every confidence that Mr Libby will ultimately be vindicated,"he said. During the trial, prosecutors said Mr Libby lied to save his job during the CIA leak investigation by telling investigators he had forgotten that Mr Cheney told him Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.
The information was later leaked to journalists in an apparent attempt to discredit Ms Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had cast doubt on intelligence claims the administration used to bolster the case for war in Iraq.
Democrats said the trial showed the lengths to which the
administration waswilling to go in its determination to make the
case for war and to discredit its critics. "The testimony
unmistakably revealed - at the highest levels of the Bush
administration - a callous disregard in handling sensitive
national security information and a disposition to smear
critics of the war in Iraq," said House speaker
Nancy Pelosi.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid said that president George Bush should pledge not to pardon Mr Libby. "It's about time someone in the Bush administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics," he said.
Mr Bush watched news reports of the verdict on television yesterday but White House spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment on the possibility of a pardon. She said the president was "saddened for Scooter Libby and his family" but respected the verdict.
Mr Cheney said: "I am very disappointed with the verdict.
Scooter served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction
through many years of public service." Nobody has been charged with
leaking Ms Plame's identity as a CIA officer and Mr Fitzgerald said
he does not expect to file any further
charges. He insisted, however, that his four-year
investigation into the leak was justified. "It's not the verdict
that justifies the investigation, it's the facts," he said.