Day: February 8, 2007

By MATT APUZZO

NBC’s Tim Russert deflected criticism of his ethics and credibility as he completed a heated second day of cross-examination Thursday in the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter Libby.

Russert, who testified that he never discussed outed CIA operative Valerie Plame with Libby, was the final prosecution witness before Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald rested his three-week perjury and obstruction case. Libby’s attorneys will begin calling witnesses Monday.

By JOHN WHITESIDES

Democratic U.S. Sen. Barack Obama opened his 2008 drive for the White House with a promise to bridge historic political divides, but so far it is unclear how many black voters will come along for the ride.

Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, has promised to wage “a different kind of politics” in a run for the White House that could shatter U.S. racial barriers and make him the first black president.

By JIM KUHNHENN

The White House on Thursday defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi against Republican criticism that her desire to fly in an Air Force transport plane is an extravagance.

“This is a silly story and I think it’s been unfair to the speaker,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved Gen. George Casey, the outgoing commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, as the next Army chief of staff despite criticism of his performance as a war commander.

The Senate voted 83-14 to confirm Casey, who last week told senators he did not believe U.S. policy in Iraq had failed.

Casey’s defenders, many of them Democrats who are critics of the Iraq war, said he could not be made a scapegoat for all that had gone wrong in the conflict.

By TIM MCLAUGHLIN

President George W. Bush’s uncle, William H.T. “Bucky” Bush, was part of a group of outside directors at a defense contractor who realized about $6 million in unauthorized pay from an options backdating scheme, according to U.S. securities investigators.

Bush and other non-employee directors who served on the board of Engineered Support Systems Inc., now owned by DRS Technologies Inc., are not accused of any wrongdoing in a civil complaint filed on Tuesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

By SAMEER N. YACOUB

Iraqi forces on Thursday detained a senior Health Ministry official accused of corruption and helping to funnel millions of dollars to Shiite militiamen blamed for much of the recent sectarian violence in the capital, the U.S. military said.

The raid was the latest action in a crackdown on radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia, coming a day after the chief U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said a security sweep to stop the rampant attacks in the capital was under way.

The female relatives of four security guards killed in 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, complained to lawmakers about what they claim is private contractor Blackwater’s indifference to their plight.

My son put all “his experience and his knowledge from the army … to use with Blackwater. But they shot off his arms and his legs. They just left him out there to die. They did not provide anything for him,” said the mother of Jerry Zovko, one of four former US soldiers killed and mutilated in Fallujah.

By JIM KUHNHENN

Republicans on Wednesday assailed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s request for access to an Air Force transport plane as an extravagance, though former Speaker Dennis Hastert flew in a military jet as well.

Republicans are taking issue with the size of the plane Pelosi has requested. Pelosi had asked for access to a C-32 plane, a military version of the Boeing 757-200.

By MATT APUZZO

NBC newsman Tim Russert testified Wednesday he never discussed a CIA operative with vice presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, contradicting Libby’s version to a grand jury in the CIA leak investigation.

The testimony came as prosecutors prepared to rest their perjury case against Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.