Cheney, Libby will not testify in perjury trial

Sitting in for 'Scooter' Libby
For his part, Libby says he genuinely forgot that the information came from Cheney and, when he heard about Plame a month later from NBC's Tim Russert, it seemed like new information, which he relayed to other reporters simply as chatter.

Hannah's most important role may be as a sit-in for Libby. Defense attorneys originally said Libby planned to testify about all the classified information he was handling at the time. They have since backed away from that.

Hannah offers defense attorneys a much safer alternative. If he can discuss much of the classified information and describe for jurors Libby's hectic schedule, attorneys may be able to avoid putting Libby on the stand and subjecting him to cross-examination.

Hannah testified that part of Scooter Libby's job as chief of staff to Cheney in 2003 was to "push back" on any criticism of the vice president.

Libby's limited time schedule
Hannah also admitted to Fitzgerald that during the summer of 2003, for Libby to take an hour or two off during the day, it would have to be an important issue. Hannah had said that Libby was only accessible to him during the evening hours.

Fitzgerald asked Hannah if Libby, "gave someone an hour or two it was something that Libby thought it would be important? Hannah said, "Yes." Hannah also said issues of importance to the vice president were important to Libby.

Fitzgerald will undoubtedly use that answer to tell jurors during his closing statement that Libby testified that he met in person twice with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June and July 2003 in daytime meetings that lasted more than one hour. Miller testified that Libby told her about sections of the once classified National Intelligence Estimate and revealed the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Hannah had previously testified that Iraq and Liberia and the capture of a Turkish special forces unit in northern Iraq during the July 4, 2003 weekend consumed Libby and the vice president during that week.

Hannah also told the special counsel that in June 2003, when he went to Libby to tell him about queries he had made about an envoy sent to Niger, Libby had already known about the report.

Hannah said specifically Libby felt that mention of a 1999 trip to Niger by an Iraqi trade mission, stood out in his recollection.

The report, according to Hannah, did not mention Valerie Plame.

Earlier Tuesday testimony
Earlier Tuesday, New York Times managing editor Jill Abramson testified that she could not back up the testimony of a former colleague, Times reporter Judith Miller.

Abramson was the Washington bureau chief in 2003 when Miller says Libby told her that Plame worked at the CIA. Libby says he didn't reveal that information to Miller.

Miller testified that, after her conversation with Libby, she went to Abramson and suggested the Times look into Plame.

"Did Judith Miller come to you to recommend the New York Times pursue a story about whether Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA?" defense attorney William Jeffress asked.

"I have no recollection of such a conversation," Abramson replied.

Abramson was one of several journalists who testified in the trial. On Monday, defense attorneys called some of the nation's most well-known journalists to discuss their interviews with Bush administration officials regarding Plame.

Neither Abramson nor the other reporters directly undercut Fitzgerald's case. They provided fodder, however, for defense attorneys to argue that Plame's name was circulating widely among reporters and Bush administration officials.

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