Thompson joins effort to fund defense of Cheney’s former aide

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — Actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson has signed up to help raise at least $5 million for the legal defense of Vice President Dick Cheney’s indicted former chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

Libby is facing trial in January on five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about how he learned of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame and what he told reporters once he learned the information from Cheney, the State Department and the CIA.

Thompson is one of 27 prominent Republicans and Bush administration supporters on the advisory committee for the Libby Legal Defense Trust. The trust has raised about $2 million toward the $5 million goal, said trust spokeswoman Barbara Comstock.

Thompson, best known as a district attorney on NBC’s “Law & Order,” was a senator for eight years through 2002. He knew Libby from serving on the Senate Intelligence Committee and dealing with top White House staff, Comstock said.

Others on the Libby committee are magazine editor and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, former congressman and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, former United Nations ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick, former CIA director James Woolsey and Fred Malek, former Marriott Hotels president and re-election campaign manager for President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

“We are confident he will be fully exonerated,” Comstock said.

Plame’s name became public after her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, wrote a column critical of the Bush administration policy in Iraq.

——

Libby’s Web site: http://www.scooterlibby.com