LIBBY
WASHINGTON, (Reuters):
VICE-PRESIDENT DICK Cheney's former aide, Lewis Libby, pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges in the CIA leak probe, and his lawyer promised a fight to clear his name in a trial that could put a spotlight on how the Bush administration made its case for the Iraq war.
"With respect, your honour, I plead not guilty," Libby told federal Judge Reggie Walton after being asked what plea he would enter to the charges during a 10-minute arraignment.
Walton, who did not schedule a trial date, set the next hearing in the case for February 3.
BOGGED DOWN
Lawyers warned the case could be bogged down for months in a court fight over classified documents underpinning the charges.
Cheney and other top White House officials could be called to testify at a trial and Libby faces a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Libby resigned last week as Cheney's longtime chief of staff after he was indicted on five counts of obstructing justice, perjury and lying in the two-year investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
Plame's identity was leaked to the media in July 2003 after her diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to justify the war in Iraq.
INTEND TO FIGHT
Newly hired defence lawyer Theodore Wells promised a vigorous court battle.
"He (Libby) has declared that he intends to fight the charges in the indictment and he has declared that he wants to clear his good name and he wants a jury trial," Wells told reporters after Libby was fingerprinted and had his picture taken by marshals at the federal courthouse.
Before any trial, Libby could still try to cut a deal with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to plead guilty to lesser charges and cooperate in the investigation, though Wells appeared to play down that possibility in his comments.
