Openings and Closings

Judge Walton, members of the prosecution team, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: as you learned a few days ago, my name is Ted Wells, and I speak for Scooter Libby.

Scooter Libby is innocent. He is totally innocent. He did not commit perjury. He did not commit obstruction of justice. He did not give any false statements to the FBI he is an innocent man, and he has been wrongly and unjustly and unfairly accused.

There will be no witness who takes that stand during this trial who takes the oath, swears to God and says, I know Scooter Libby lied. I know Scooter Libby intentionally gave false statements. There is no such witness.

There will be no witness who will take the stand and produce a document that shows that Scooter Libby lied or intentionally made any false statements. There will be no scientific evidence that he lied or gave a false statement. No documents, no scientific evidence, no witness who says Scooter Libby told me he lied, Scooter Libby told me he was going to lie, Scooter Libby said he had lied.

This is a weak, paper-thin, circumstantial-evidence case about he said/she said. No witness, no documents, no scientific evidence.

People do not lie for the heck of it. When somebody tells an intentional lie, it is because they have done something wrong. They are trying to cover something up. And what you will learn from the evidence is Scooter Libby did not do anything wrong. He had nothing to cover up. He was an innocent person, and there was no reason to lie.

What we're going to talk about during this trial is whether he did something wrong. You will find Scooter Libby was not out pushing any reporter to write any stories about Valerie Wilson.

Now, there will be some people at the White House -- at the White House, not the office of the vice president -- who you will learn may have pushed reporters to write stories about Ms. Wilson. There may be people at the State Department, even, who pushed reporters to write stories about Ms. Wilson. But Scooter Libby did not push any reporter to write a story about Ms. Wilson. Yet the man who pushed no one is sitting here in this courtroom.

You will also learn that Scooter Libby did not have any knowledge that Ms. Wilson's job was covert or classified before July 14th, when Mr. Novak's article was published. There will be no witness who takes that stand who says he or she told Scooter Libby that Ms. Wilson had a classified job or had a covert job. He was never told that. No witness will take the stand and say that Scooter Libby knew that she was classified or covert. And as Judge Walton told you, that's not an issue in this case. And as I stand here right now, I can't tell you whether she was or whether she wasn't. Judge Walton has decided it's irrelevant, so we are not going to get into that.

And there will be newspaper articles that may suggest she was, but that's just background because the way you get at the truth is through the witness stand. And we are not going to have any testimony of any witnesses on that issue. So no one is to assume that she was classified. No one is to assume she was covert. That issue has been put off-bounds by Judge Walton. We accept his ruling.

Now, Mr. Fitzgerald suggested that Mr. Libby might have a motive to lie because Mr. McClellan, the president's press secretary, went on TVand said, anybody involved in leaking classified information, you are going to lose your job. You won't be part of this administration.

Well, you will find that Mr. Libby was not concerned about losing his job in the Bush administration. He was not concerned about not being part of the administration. He was concerned about being set up. He was concerned about being the scapegoat for this entire Valerie Wilson controversy.

And Mr. Libby, you will learn, went to the vice president of the United States and met with the vice president in private. Mr. Libby said to the vice president, I think the White House -- people over there in the White House; not the office of the vice president -- people in the White House are trying to set me up. People in the White House are trying to sacrifice me. People in the White House want me to be a scapegoat. People in the White House are trying to protect a man named Karl Rove, the president's right-hand man.

And the vice president made a note of what Mr. Libby said in private to the vice president. The note shows Mr. Libby telling the vice president, I did not leak any classified information. I was not involved with the leak to Karl Rove -- excuse me. I was not involved with the leak to Mr. Novak. I had nothing to do with the Novak leak. I did not leak any classified information. But I am concerned I am being set up. I am concerned people are trying to use me as a scapegoat.

And the vice president makes a note, and we have the note -- and I am just going to show you one sentence of the note which sums up this nightmare for Scooter Libby. Let me show you one sentence of what the vice president wrote -- and you will get to see it in the vice president's own handwriting, in his own handwriting. He kept it. Maybe it never was supposed to be seen. The vice president wrote: "Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others."

And you will learn from the evidence that the -- stay on that slide, please. I am sorry. The person who was to be protected - "to protect one staffer" -- that one staffer was Karl Rove.

Karl Rove was President Bush's right-hand person in terms of political strategy. Karl Rove was the person most responsible for making sure that the Republican Party stayed in office. He was viewed as a political genius. His fate was important to the Republican Party if they were going to stay in office. He had to be protected.

And the person who was to be sacrificed - "sacrifice the guy" -- that's Scooter Libby. Scooter Libby was to be sacrificed. Karl Rove was to be protected.

Protect Karl Rove. Sacrifice Scooter Libby. The person whose neck had been put into the meat grinder, you will learn, was Scooter Libby. The vice president and the president of the United States -- because the note is very interesting. The note, when you see it, has "the pres" - P-R-E-S -- and then vice president Cheney crosses that out.

And then the person whose neck was put into the meat grinder was Scooter Libby. And the meat grinder that he had been put into was to be tasked to go out and talk to certain reporters, not about Valerie Wilson, but to talk to reporters about this entire controversy concerning whether or not the president's 16 words in the State of the Union were accurate or some kind of misrepresentation.

Mr. Libby was asked by the vice president, go out and rebut the allegations made by Mr. Wilson. Nothing to do with his wife. Respond to Wilson on the merits. And Mr. Libby was asked to go out there and deal with those reporters.

That's what's meant by Mr. Libby's neck was put into the meat grinder, because Mr. Libby's job was not to deal with reporters. That was not his normal job. Mr. Libby was the national security advisor for the vice president of the United States. Mr. Libby's job involved terrorism. It involved homeland security. It involved dealing with foreign crises. That's what he did all day long. And as the government said, they don't dispute it. It's a fact.

I am not even permitted to talk about most of what he did because it is so top secret. I am going to have to later read a script to you about what his job was all about, his day job. He started at 7:00 in the morning, every morning, dealing with the most important national security issues of this country. And there is no dispute.....

So we're going to put things into perspective. Because when you just listen to the charges, you would think that Ms. Wilson was some big deal. She became a big deal when the criminal investigation started. But in real time, in June and July, in terms of Scooter Libby, Ms. Wilson -- where she worked was no big deal to him. So we're going to put things in context because when you just talk about Ms. Wilson in this case that involves statements involving Ms. Wilson, you tend to think in real time she was a big deal. She wasn't to Scooter Libby.

I can't speak for anybody else. But I speak for Scooter Libby and she was not a big deal to him.

And when the note by the vice president refers to the incompetence of others, you will learn that refers to the fact that this whole controversy over the 16 words had been caused in great part by the incompetence of people at the CIA who let the words get into the speech in the first place.

And so Mr. Libby, because of the incompetence of the CIA, had to go into the meat grinder. And so in late September, early October, he was put in the spot where he is sitting in private with the vice president saying, they are trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb. I didn't do anything. I am not going to stand for it.

And you will learn that the vice president, because Mr. Libby said to him, I am innocent and I demand I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected -- the vice president takes steps and forces the White House to go out and say to the press the same thing that had been said about Karl Rove.

But unlike Karl Rove, you will learn Mr. Libby had not been out pushing stories about Ms. Wilson. You see, the innocent person was to be sacrificed; somebody who had done something, he was to be protected. But, again, Mr. Libby was just a staffer. He was just a guy working on national security. He was an important staffer, but Karl Rove was the lifeblood of the Republican party. . . .

Mr. Libby was interviewed by the FBI on October the 14th. And you will learn he did his best to recollect what had taken place. He did his best. He told it as he recalled it then. But I want you to understand, when the interview takes place, it's October, and they are asking him about some telephone calls that took place in July, three months earlier.

This case is about three telephone calls. That's what he had been charged with, three telephone calls: one call to Matt Cooper, one call with Tim Russert, and one call with Judy Miller. Three telephone calls.

So three months later he is being asked, what do you recall, with specificity, with details, about what was said on a telephone call, about a snippet of a conversation that may have involved the wife that may have taken 20, 30 seconds at most.

Who can remember -- forget that he is a busy person. Forget he is dealing with national security issues. If you were young and vibrant, right out of college -- you get out of school in June, you enjoy the summer, and you go back to school in September. Mid-September, somebody says, tell me about a telephone conversation you had in June. You would look at somebody like they had two heads. I mean, three calls, a few seconds, three months later: what do you recollect?

Mr. Libby has no notes of the calls. Mr. Russert has no notes of the calls. Mr. Cooper has some notes of the calls, but he has testified already and will testify in this case that his notes do not reflect anything about any conversation concerning the wife. So for all practical purposes, he has no notes. Russert has no notes. Cooper has no notes concerning the wife. And Ms. Miller has testified repeatedly she has got a fuzzy, speculative memory, and her notes are cryptic. The only notes she has are, like, two words.

So that's what the case is about. It's not about the war. It's not about whether the Bush administration lied to the American public about the war. It takes place in that context, and that's why we have all these people here because they are interested in the war.

But I am here to defend Scooter Libby for three telephone calls. And as interesting as it is to be in a case with the backdrop of the war and to have all these people here, ultimately, what you all are going to have to focus on and decide is a very narrow question having nothing to do with the war, but about three phone calls, three reporters, what somebody recollected three months later, and what some other people recollected three months later where there are no notes, no recordings. He said, she said. . . .

I am going to talk for a minute about your role and your function. I am going to talk a little bit about Scooter Libby and who he is. Then I am going to talk about the charges. I am going to talk about each count, and I am going to show you what the words are, because this is a case about memory, it's about recollection, and it's about words.

And you will find, for example, with respect to Mr. Cooper, the debate between Mr. Cooper and Mr. Libby is over about four words. Mr. Cooper says Libby said, I heard that, too. Mr. Cooper says, I have heard Valerie Plame was involved in sending her husband on a trip. Have you heard that? Mr. Libby - - Mr. Cooper says Libby says, I heard that, too. Mr. Libby says, I heard that from reporters, but I don't know if it's true.

So we are talking about a few words, which you will find, as I said, if you look at Mr. Cooper's notebook, there is no reference -- no reference to any discussion about the wife, which is totally consistent with the concept of what Mr. Libby was saying.

Forget the particular words. The concept that Mr. Libby said he communicated to everybody was, I am not confirming anything. I am not confirming anything. I don't know if it's true. And one way to know if a person who is talking to a reporter has not confirmed something is to look at the notes because the confirmation is something that is important to reporters. And if somebody has not has said something that's not confirmation, it's probably not in the notes.

If somebody has said something that's confirmation, it will be in the notes. And the fact that Mr. Cooper says he can't find anything in the notes about the wife is powerful evidence that, in terms of a concept -- forget the particular words. What Mr. Libby remembers he communicated in concept is exactly correct, that he did not confirm anything.

Now, in a lot of respects, we already have accomplished the most important part of this case. We chose you. We took days to choose you. Most juries are selected in a couple hours. We took days to select you. And we made a decision that you and you alone will be the ultimate judges of Scooter" Libby. Not these prosecutors. They are not judges. If the system thought the prosecutors were always right, we would not need juries.

But under our system of justice, we bring people in from the community who sit as impartial judges of the facts to make a decision. And it is an enormous power that you have to sit in judgment of another human being. But with that enormous power also comes enormous responsibility. It's a responsibility to do the very best that you can to return a fair and a just verdict, a verdict based on the evidence.

That's why we took so long. That's why we asked you these questions about how you feel about the war because just as it was wrong what the White House was trying to do to Scooter Libby in terms of sacrificing him to protect Rove, it would be wrong for any of you to let your feelings about the war interfere with Scooter Libby getting a fair trial.

Scooter Libby cannot be sacrificed for how somebody feels about the war. That would be wrong. And each of you took an oath. You swore, regardless of your feelings about the war, to put it to the side. And you have got to fight to keep it to the side in terms of how you process information, in terms of how you filter information. You have got to fight to be fair.

Fight to forget all these people in the audience. Three phone calls. Three reporters. Three months. That's what the case is about. Nothing to do about the war in terms of the charges themselves. . . .

Cartoon Watch

Jeff Danziger on Bush of the Kush; Stuart Carlson on Iran; Mike Luckovich on Bush's credibility; and Jim Morin on Cheney and Libby.