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Miller recalls no one telling her about CIA before Libby

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former New York Times reporter testified Wednesday that she doesn't recall learning that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA operative from any government officials other than Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Judith Miller said she was told of Wilson's covert profession during a June 23, 2003, meeting with Libby. That testimony cast doubt on Libby's contention that he learned about Wilson on July 10 that year, from NBC "Meet The Press" moderator Tim Russert.

"I can't be absolutely, absolutely certain, but I have no recollection of it with anyone else, and nothing in my notes reflects any discussion of her," Miller testified Wednesday. "I have no memory of a prior discussion with anyone else." (Watch how the timeline is key )

Under further questioning, Miller acknowledged to defense attorney William Jeffress that she did have conversations with other government officials. But she said, "The only one I remember was Mr. Libby."

"There is no reference to them in my notebooks, and there is no memory of them," she added.

Libby is charged with lying to FBI agents and a grand jury investigating who identified Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA operative.

The information was made public in a column by Robert Novak on July 14, 2003.

Libby is not charged with leaking Valerie Plame Wilson's name or CIA connection. If convicted on all five counts, he could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines.

Libby told the grand jury and FBI agents that he learned of Wilson's CIA position from NBC "Meet The Press" moderator Tim Russert.

Prosecutors contend Libby learned of Wilson's CIA role from inside the government.

They also are trying to portray Libby as someone who used lies and deception in his ranking position at the White House to try to discredit Valerie Plame Wilson's husband, Joseph, who in a July 6, 2003, New York Times column challenged the assertion by the Bush administration that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was pursuing a nuclear-weapons program.

Libby's lawyers blame bad memory for any discrepancies in what Libby told investigators and the grand jury.

Miller testified Tuesday that Libby told her in the June face-to-face meeting that the wife of a Bush administration critic worked at "the bureau."

Miller said she was initially confused by the term "bureau" but then realized from the context of the discussion that Libby was referring to the CIA. (Full story)

At the time Joseph Wilson's column was published, Miller was part of a reporting team looking into whether intelligence behind possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was flawed, since no such weapons were found.

Miller spent 85 days in jail in 2005 after refusing to testify before the grand jury. She was released from jail and testified before the grand jury after Libby signed a waiver allowing her to name him as her source.

Ex-Time reporter: Libby confirmed info from Rove

Former Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper next testified that in an off-the-record phone conversation with Libby two days before the publication of Novak's column, Cooper understood Libby to be confirming information he had received earlier from Karl Rove, political adviser to President Bush.

Although journalists consider off-the-record comments unavailable for publication, Cooper used information from his interviews to assert in a story that Valerie Plame Wilson was connected with the CIA.

In two of the five counts against him, Libby is accused of knowingly making false statements regarding the July 12, 2003, conversation with Cooper and other reporters.

Cooper testified there was no mention by Libby of Wilson's covert status or where he heard the information. But when Cooper asked about a Wilson-CIA link, Libby responded, "Yeah, I've heard that too," or "Yeah, I've heard something like that, too," Cooper testified.

Cooper said he initially asked Libby whether he was aware that Wilson was the wife of Joseph Wilson.

Cooper, now Washington editor of Conde Nast Portfolio magazine, said he also posed other questions to Libby in various degrees of confidentiality. Among them was whether the issues of Joseph Wilson or his trip to the African nation of Niger had come up during any visits he and Vice President Dick Cheney had made to the CIA.

Joseph Wilson, in his column, asserted that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq. He also disputed an intelligence report claiming Niger was selling uranium to Iraq for its weapons program.

Some of the information made its way to a story Cooper was co-writing for Time, "A War on Wilson?" and some appeared in his 2005 article, "What I Told The Grand Jury."

Libby's attorneys began issuing subpoenas to news outlets and their reporters in March 2006 to try to learn more about how Valerie Plame Wilson's identity began circulating more widely in the 2003 time frame. Several other journalists are expected to be called to testify.

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