Cheney Refuses to Talk About Libby's Testimony

Vice President Cheney yesterday praised his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and said the indicted ex-aide deserves to be considered not guilty until proved otherwise. But the vice president declined to say whether he authorized Libby to disclose classified information.

"Scooter is entitled to the presumption of innocence," Cheney said at the end of an interview on Fox News Channel otherwise devoted to his hunting accident. "He's a great guy. I've worked with him for a long time, have enormous regard for him. I may well be called as a witness at some point in the case, and it's therefore inappropriate for me to comment on any facet of the case."

Libby resigned after being indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the leak of a CIA operative's identity after her husband spoke out against the administration's Iraq policy. Libby told a grand jury that his "superiors" authorized him to disclose in July 2003 the contents of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, according to newly released court documents. Sources familiar with the matter have told The Washington Post that Cheney was one of those superiors, but it was unclear whether Libby meant classified or unclassified information.

In the interview, Cheney said he had the power under a presidential executive order to declassify information. "I've certainly advocated declassification and participated in declassification decisions," he said, but he would not say whether he had done so unilaterally.

Cheney was referring to an executive order on classification of information first signed by President Bill Clinton in 1995. In March 2003, just days after ordering U.S. troops into Iraq, President Bush amended order to, among other things, give the vice president the same classification power as the president.

-- Peter Baker