Jurors hear audiotapes in Libby perjury trial

Portions of the obstruction charge as well as both perjury charges deal with the ex-White House aide's alleged lies to the grand jury.

Libby's alleged lies in his 2004 grand jury testimony concern his conversations with NBC News reporter Tim Russert, New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper.

(MSNBC.com is a Microsoft-NBC News joint venture.)

Fitzgerald successfully fought to enter the tapes into evidence and plans to play about eight hours of Libby's closed-door testimony. He made lengthy grand jury appearances on March 5 and March 24, 2004.

It is unusual for the government to make such extensive use of a defendant's audiotaped grand jury testimony. The federal government did so 17 years ago in another high-profile criminal case in Washington — the drug trial of Washington Mayor Marion Barry.

Right to a fair trial questioned
Although segments of Libby's testimony would be widely distributed by reporters who are monitoring the trial, Libby's lawyers had argued that the audio itself was too sensitive to be released until the trial ends.

One of Libby's lawyers, William Jeffress, said that playing sound bites of the defendant's grand jury appearances in a public setting "seriously threatens Mr. Libby's right to a fair trial."

From the news media's perspective, "it's great stuff," Jeffress told the judge in asking that the recordings not be released during the trial.

Media attorney Nathan Siegel said publicly releasing the grand jury recordings during the trial is hardly "some novel proposition."

Siegel, representing The Associated Press and more than a dozen other news organizations, argued that Libby's own words are far less prejudicial than evidence that has been released in other cases, including 911 calls from inside the World Trade Center, the FBI tapes in the Abscam investigation and mob wiretap tapes.

Jury exposure
Jeffress argued that the news media will undoubtedly issue commentary to accompany any excerpts it plays from the audio recordings of Libby's grand jury testimony.

Libby's lawyer pointed to the potential for jurors to be exposed to the recordings outside the courtroom, since they are away from the court three days a week and ride back and forth to the courthouse.

"I have my concerns," Walton said, adding that cases in the federal judicial circuit covering Washington, D.C., point to disclosure of the material rather than waiting until the trial is over.

The tapes would almost certainly be played on television, radio and the Internet.

The tapes are expected to take up part of Tuesday. Russert, host of NBC's “Meet the Press,” is scheduled to be Fitzgerald's last witness, most likely late Tuesday.

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