"The person to be protected was Karl Rove." Fireworks at the Libby trial. According to Empty Wheel liveblogging it at FDL, this is Libby lawyer Ted Wells:

Mr. Libby was not concerned about losing his job. He was concerned about being set up. He was concerned about being the scapegoat.

Mr. Libby said to the VP, "I think the White House people are trying to set me up, people want me to be the scapegoat. People in the White House want me to protect Karl Rove." ...

Cheney made notes of what Libby said. Notes show Libby telling the Vice President that he was not involved in leak ...

Cheney's note: "Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others."

The person who was to be protected was Karl Rove. Karl Rove was President Bush's right hand person. Karl Rove was the person most responsible for making sure Bush stayed in office. He had to be protected....

MSNBC: Fitzgerald says that Libby "wiped out" the above Cheney note:

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald used his opening statement in the CIA leak trial Tuesday to allege that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff lied about Cheney's early involvement in the disclosure of a spy’s identity.

Fitzgerald said Cheney told his chief of staff, “Scooter” Libby, in 2003 that the wife of Iraq critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson worked for the CIA, and that Libby spread that information to reporters. When that information got out, it triggered a federal investigation.

“But when the FBI and grand jury asked about what the defendant did,” Fitzgerald said, “he made up a story.”

Fitzgerald also alleged that Libby in September 2003 “wiped out” a Cheney note just before Libby's first FBI interview when he said he learned about Wilson and his wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame, from reporters, not the vice president.

It was not clear if Fitzgerald meant that an attempt was made to destroy the note or that Libby had forgotten about it. In any case, the note was recovered and is part of the evidence.

Here's the Post.

Update: Tapped reports that Fleischer told NBC's David Gregory Wilson's wife worked for the CIA).

Posted by Laura at January 23, 2007 02:24 PM