February 12, 2007: Judge Refuses to Allow NBC Reporter’s Testimony

Judge Reggie Walton refuses to allow the defense in the Lewis Libby trial to have NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell testify. In October 2003, Mitchell told MSNBC talk show host Don Imus that she and other reporters knew Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA official, but she later retracted the statement (see October 3, 2003). Walton does not agree with defense lawyer Theodore Wells’s contention that Mitchell’s statement, even though later retracted, somehow impeaches the credibility of her NBC colleague Tim Russert, who testified last week that he did not tell Libby of Plame Wilson’s CIA status (see February 7-8, 2007). Debra Bonamici, a lawyer for the prosecution, tells the court: “The question to be asked is what purpose would be served by impeaching their witness? Defense intends to ask about an unrelated subject—what Libby said to Mitchell, we presume that defense would want her to be credible. This is a ruse to present the non-admissible testimony [referring to the defense’s previous attempts to play the videotape of Mitchell’s conversation with Imus—see February 8, 2007]. They’ve got no reason to impeach, they’re setting up a straw man so they can impeach.” Walton rules that the defense is asking the jury to speculate that reporters such as Mitchell and Russert knew Plame Wilson’s identity, then speculate that Libby learned about Plame Wilson from Russert, and thusly infer that Libby was telling the truth to investigators. “I think there’s a lot of mischief that comes with that,” Walton says. [Marcy Wheeler, 2/12/2007]