Not Looking Good For Scooter

While we all sit and wait for the announcement of who Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will indict in the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, it's beginning to look even more bleak for Vice President Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby.

The National Journal reported last night that sources close to the investigation have revealed that a lot of attention is being paid to inconsistencies in the testimony of Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller and that Libby may have tried to interfere with Miller's grand jury testimony.

An excerpt:

Evidence that Libby might have tried to discourage Miller's testimony has put Libby's testimony in a worse light, according to government officials briefed on the matter.

The prosecutors and the federal grand jury are also scrutinizing whether Libby, or his attorney, tried to discourage Miller from giving testimony to the grand jury, or tried to improperly influence what Miller would say if she testified, according to the same sources.

Libby has testified that he did not know that intelligence officer Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, while Miller has now said under oath that Libby told her that Plame worked for the CIA's Weapons, Intelligence, Non-Proliferation, and Arms Control office.

Ouch.

Although I know that a Republican is unlikely to see much jail time with this administration in power, Mr. Libby might be well advised to come up with a tougher-sounding nickname than "Scooter." That's not going to get him very far in the prison exercise yard.