The set-up and the fall of Scooter Libby

Valier Plame's memoirs:

...the entire prosecution of Mr. Libby "felt like a setup. In retrospect, it was clear they weren't seeking information, but simply confirming their already closed conclusions."

The trial:

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton did not allow the Libby defense team to introduce scientific testimony about how memory works, and jurors later said they would have liked to have heard such evidence.

"What's startling," Mr. Libby said last week, "is that, at the dawn of the 21st century, we had a trial that excluded relevant, scientific evidence. And it's startling that the jury was prevented from hearing about the very kinds of evidence that scientists say are critical to understanding what happened."

Even worse, Judge Walton did not even allow Mr. Libby access to his own files so he could reconstruct the sequence of events in question. "It was an impossible position," Mr. Libby told me. "No defendant in America that I know of is denied the right to see his own files."

This is all being revived by the new movie "Fair Game" about Valerie Plame starring Sean Penn as Joe Wilson doing the typical Bush-as-Evil schtick...

The record shows that Scooter Libby did not leak Mrs. Wilson's name to the press, nor did he direct others to do so. The record shows he openly acknowledged that Mr. Cheney had told him Mrs. Wilson's status (although not her name) - so he wasn't, as theorized, trying to cover up for his boss. The record also shows, curiously enough, that when Russert was first interviewed by the FBI, even he said it was possible that Mr. Libby's description of events could have been correct. The FBI report reads: "Mr. Russert acknowledged that he speaks to many people on a daily basis and it is difficult to remember some specific conversations, particularly one which occurred several months ago."

That, of course, was the exact substance of Mr. Libby's defense.

HILLYER: Scooter Libby, on the record