New York Times managing editor Jill Abramson testified briefly in the CIA leak trial Tuesday as defense attorneys tried to undercut the credibility of another witness, former Times reporter Judith Miller.
Abramson was the Washington bureau chief in 2003 when Miller says White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told her that the wife of a former ambassador and prominent war critic, Joseph Wilson, worked at the CIA. Libby, who is charged with lying and obstructing an investigation into that leak, 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 Wilson's wife, Valerie 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.
Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus testified he learned about Plame from White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. The Post's Bob Woodward and syndicated columnist Robert Novak testified they heard it from Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
As for Libby, both Novak and New York Times reporter David Sanger testified that they separately interviewed him and that he never discussed Plame.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald says Libby learned Plame's identity from Cheney and other officials, then discussed it with Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Libby says he never revealed it to Miller and says he only told Cooper what he had heard from another reporter, NBC's Tim Russert.
Defense attorneys say Libby had no reason to lie. Why, they ask, would he out Plame to Miller and not take the opportunity to do the same in interviews with Sanger and Novak?
One journalist who avoided the witness stand is NBC's Andrea Mitchell. Libby's attorneys said Tuesday that they no longer planned to call her to testify because U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton would not allow them to ask her about whether she had heard rumors that Plame worked for the CIA.
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Associated Press Writer Michael J. Sniffen contributed to this report.
Source: AP News
