Libby to Be Allowed to Question Reporter

[radfringe]

Libby to Be Allowed to Question Reporter
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/31/national/w071254S95.DTL&type=politics
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Attorneys for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will be allowed to narrowly question journalist Judith Miller about other government officials she spoke with regarding an outed CIA operative, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Libby's attorneys want to discredit the former New York Times reporter, whose testimony directly conflicts with what Libby told FBI agents investigating the CIA leak. He is accused of lying and obstructing that investigation.

Miller testified for more than two hours Tuesday about two conversations she had in mid-2003 with Libby regarding the CIA operative, Valerie Plame. Those conversations are at the heart of Libby's perjury and obstruction trial because they allegedly occurred well before Libby says he learned Plame's identity from another reporter.

Miller's testimony was to continue Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said attorneys could question Miller about who else she spoke with about Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. But Walton also said that attorneys could not ask about her conversations regarding prewar intelligence on Iraq and a possible uranium deal in Niger — issues that Wilson was raising publicly in 2003.