David Corn has a very helpful summary of the closing arguments in the Libby trial. I have no idea what the jury will find. But I don't think this is a petty issue. I do think that the question of whether the vice-president deliberately misled the president and the country about pre-war WMD intelligence is critical. The Wilson affair is strong circumstantial evidence to me that Cheney had something to hide. Fitzgerald may agree:
Winding up, Fitzgerald aimed at the entire Bush crew. "There's a cloud over the White House as to what happened" in the leak affair, he told the jury. There were questions as to whether the law was broken when Valerie Wilson's CIA cover was blown and "what role the defendant played...what role the vice president played." Looking straight at the jury, Fitzgerald asked, "Don't you think the FBI and the grand jury is entitled to straight answers." Instead, he said, Libby made up a story and obstructed justice. Echoing Wells' last lines, Fitzgerald declared of Libby, "He stole the truth from the judicial system. Give truth back." With that, Fitzgerald was done.
Reasonable doubt? It's a tough hurdle. We may find out no more. But Fitzgerald was absolutely right to try.
(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty.)