Libby Defense: Cheney Won't Testify

...neither will the defendent. That doesn't seem to look good for Libby. I'm not a lawyer but I think he'd almost have to testify and tell his side of the story.

The defense attorneys for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said today they no longer plan to call Vice President Dick Cheney to testify in the CIA leak trial.

Defense attorney Theodore Wells also said Libby would not be called to the stand.

"The defense obviously felt the downside of calling the vice president outweighed the potential benefit that the defense could hope to achieve with his testimony," said Gregory Craig, a former assistant to President Clinton who also served as a lawyer in Clinton's impeachment trial.

Asked about calling a defendant to testify at his own perjury and obstruction of justice trial, Ed MacMahon, who represented Zacarias Moussaoui, allegedly the 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said, "They would have to convince the jury he made a mistake without having him say it."