Woodward testifies in new twist to CIA leak probe

WASHINGTON - Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward testified this week that a senior Bush administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame nearly a month before her identity was publicly disclosed, a sign prosecutors are exploring new leads in the leak investigation.

The disclosure of Woodward's sworn deposition comes more than two weeks after charges were brought against Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and after special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said the bulk of his investigation was concluded.

The development also raised questions about Woodward's past statements about Fitzgerald and his investigation. One of the two Post reporters who led the newspaper's coverage of the 1970s Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, Woodward has publicly dismissed the leak investigation as laughable and referred to Fitzgerald as "a junkyard dog." On the eve of Libby's indictment, Woodward said he saw no evidence of criminal intent -- only to disclose publicly today that he met with Libby on June 27, 2003, and that it was possible Plame was discussed. "I had no recollection," Woodward said.

Woodward said he was first contacted by Fitzgerald's office on Nov. 3, one week after Libby's indictment.

In a first-person account in the Washington Post, Woodward said he testified for two hours under oath about interviews with three current or former administration officials, including Libby. He did not name the other two.

Woodward's testimony was given in a law office instead of under subpoena before a grand jury.

For two years, Fitzgerald has been investigating who leaked the identity of Plame, whose diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, questioned Bush administration claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, or WMD.

"I was first contacted by Fitzgerald's office on Nov. 3 after one of these (three) officials went to Fitzgerald to discuss an interview with me in mid-June 2003 during which the person told me Wilson's wife worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction as a WMD analyst," Woodward wrote.

Woodward characterized the mention of Plame in the interview as "casual and offhand," and said it did not appear to be classified or sensitive.

The interviews occurred while Woodward was researching a book about events leading to the Iraq war.

Plame's identity was first published in a column by journalist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. This was shortly after Wilson published a newspaper opinion piece that accused the administration of twisting intelligence on Iraq, ignoring doubts he raised after a CIA-funded trip to investigate whether Iraq had tried to buy "yellowcake" nuclear material in Niger.

But Woodward's disclosure cast doubt on Fitzgerald's assertion that Libby was the first official to have told a reporter about Plame. Fitzgerald was referring to a June 23, 2003, meeting that Libby had with then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller. In his testimony, Woodward cited interviews that took place earlier that same month.

President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not indicted. But lawyers in the case said Rove remained under investigation and may still be charged.

Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, said Rove was not the unnamed official who first told Woodward about Plame. Woodward may have spoken to Rove as part of his book research, but "he is absolutely, positively not the source for this information," Luskin said.

Fitzgerald has questioned several witnesses about Cheney's role in the leak case. Libby learned from Cheney himself on June 12, 2003, that Wilson's wife worked in the CIA's counterproliferation division. Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said he has co-operated with the investigation.

Woodward said he had obtained confidentiality waivers from all three sources. The three included Libby, who resigned in October upon being indicted on obstruction of justice and perjury charges in the leak probe

He said he told Libby he was sending an 18-page list of questions he wanted to ask of Cheney which included a reference to "yellowcake." He did not say whether he interviewed Cheney.

- REUTERS