Defence in CIA leak case to call Cheney to testify

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) Vice President Dick Cheney will be called to testify as a defence witness at the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of his former top aide in the CIA leak case, a defence lawyer said yesterday.

Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby, the former chief of staff to Cheney, is charged with lying to investigators as they sought to find out who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003 after her diplomat-husband accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to build its case for invading Iraq.

''We're calling the vice president,'' defence lawyer Theodore Wells said at a hearing ahead of the trial, which is scheduled to start on January 16.

Wells disclosed the defence plan after special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald told US District Judge Reggie Walton that the prosecution did not intend to call Cheney.

A spokeswoman for the vice president, Lea Anne McBride, said, ''We've cooperated fully in this matter and we'll continue to do so. In fairness to the parties involved and, as we've stated previously, we're not going to comment further on a legal proceeding.'' Testimony by a sitting vice president at a criminal trial may be unprecedented, legal experts have said, though sitting presidents, such as Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford, have given testimony in court cases.

Cheney would be the most anticipated witness of the trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks.

Both Cheney and President George W Bush were interviewed by prosecutors as part of the investigation by Fitzgerald into who in the Bush administration leaked Plame's identity to the news media.

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