Scooter Libby and Potential Perjury

The New York Times is reporting that there is a discrepancy in Scooter Libby's testimony to the grand jury investigating an alleged leak of an alleged covert CIA agent. I know it's a stretch, but for the sake of discussion lets assume the Times is right. If he gave conflicting testimony with the intention of misleading or impeding the investigation he should be charged with perjury. Many will say "but the original charges turned out to be false, so why charge perjury if there was no crime to cover up?" I have to disagree with that line of reasoning. If we make that argument, we will be no better than the sycophants who defended Clinton by saying "he only lied about sex." What one lies about is not the issue. Issue is lying while under oath. The foundation of our legal system is the requirement to tell the truth under oath. Without the fear of a perjury charge our legal system would be constantly abused.

What is perjury?

Perjury is the "willful and corrupt taking of a false oath in regard to a material matter in a judicial proceeding". It is sometimes called "lying under oath"; that is, deliberately telling a lie in a courtroom proceeding after having taken an oath to tell the truth. It is important that the false statement be material to the case at hand—that it Could affect the outcome of the case. It is not considered perjury, for example, to lie about your age, unless your age is a key factor in proving the case.

Perjury can be used as a threat. Although it is a very serious crime under state and Federal laws, and while prosecutors often threaten prosecution, the number of actual prosecutions for perjury is tiny.

Perjury prosecutions stemming from civil lawsuits are particularly rare. This is because it is difficult to prove that someone is intentionally misstating a material fact, rather than simply testifying honestly from faulty memory.

A secondary but important question is how does supposedly secret grand jury information get leaked with such frequency? My own guess is that staffers and assistants to the prosecutor leak to various sources in order to curry favor with an eye on future jobs.