Libby gnaws on Rove

Eating their own...

I. Lewis Libby Jr., the vice president’s former chief of staff, was made a scapegoat by White House officials to protect the president’s longtime political adviser, Karl Rove, Mr. Libby’s lawyer asserted in his opening statement on Tuesday.

The unexpected assertion may foreshadow an effort to put distance between Mr. Libby and the administration.

The statement by the lawyer, Theodore V. Wells Jr., was the first indication that Mr. Libby, who is facing five felony counts of lying to investigators, would seek to deflect some of the blame onto his former White House colleagues.

Mr. Rove, who has not been charged, has acknowledged having been a source for a July 14, 2003, column by Robert D. Novak that first disclosed the identity of Valerie Wilson, who was known by her maiden name, Valerie Plame, as a Central Intelligence Agency officer. The disclosure led to the investigation resulting in Mr. Libby’s indictment.

Fitzgerald needs to keep squeezing Libby and letting his attorneys know he's asking for the maximum. Give up Cheney along with Rove and you get a 'get out of jail card' and maybe one of those Medals of Freedom....