Seven hours of Scooter Libby's grand jury testimony is now being played for the jury. Swopa is live-blogging over at Firedoglake.

Fitzgerald filed transcripts of these 20 pages (pdf) of his testimony as an exhibit in May, 2006. His argument to go along with the transcripts is here.

Start with page 4 and the section, "The Annotated Wilson Op Ed is Relevant to Establish that Defendant’s Immediate Superior Was Concerned that Mr. Wilson Was Sent on a Junket by his Wife, and Communicated His Concern to Defendant."

Fitz will use this section as context for Russert being his closing witness, after the tape playing is finished. Fitz writes Libby told the grand jury

Following legal arguments this morning in the Scooter Libby trial, the Judge ruled Libby's seven hours of grand jury testimony that will be played to the jury can be released to the media. Thanks to Swopa, who is live-blogging the trial for Firedoglake and Maine Web Report which is live-blogging for Media Bloggers Association for today's trial updates.

The Washington Post reports on the arguments and ruling here.

He's also admitting the two newspaper articles from the Washington Post to show Libby's state of mind.

Update: Wells scores one on cross: FBI Agent Deborah Bond's notes do not match her testimony about what Libby said about Ari Fleischer. He did not "adamantly" deny telling him about Valerie Plame's employment. She admits that denial is not in her notes and she should have used a different word than "adamently."

Here's the transcript from this morning's Reliable Sources on CNN in which Howard Kurtz, Slate's John Dickerson, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and I discuss the Libby trial in the context of what it says about journalists.

On today's edition of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Howard Kurtz spoke about journalists and the Scooter Libby trial. Joining him were John Dickerson, Slate’s chief political correspondent; Michael Isikoff, Newsweek investigative correspondent; and Jeralyn Merritt, a defense attorney and blogger.

It may be Saturday, but Fitzgerald and Team Libby have filed new briefs arguing about the admission of two Washington Post articles from October, 2003 by Walter Pincus and Mike Allen, both of which were contained in Libby's files and had been underlined in part. They argued about this in court this week and Judge Walton told them to file briefs. [Note: This post is ridiculously long because it contains detailed quotes from the briefs.]

Fitz's brief is here and Libby's brief is here.

Government Exhibit 422 is a copy of a three-page article by Walter Pincus and Mike Allen entitled, “FBI Agents Tracing Linkage of Envoy to CIA Operative,” which was published in the Washington Post on October 12, 2003.

Doubts are growing in the blogosphere that Dick Cheney will in fact be a witness for Scooter Libby at his trial. Marcy (Empty Wheel) explores this today at Huffington Post and concludes Cheney won't be called.

Marcy reminds us that FBI Agent Bond testified Thursday that Libby told the FBI in his second FBI interview in the fall of 2003 that he and Cheney might have discussed leaking Plame's identity to reporters.

As soon as Libby admitted to talking with Cheney about leaking Plame's identity, he committed to one of two scenarios: either he and Cheney both forgot Plame's identity, both learned it "as if it were new" from journalists, and thought that a piece of news that was forgettable in June was so newsworthy in July that they should share it with journalists. Or, he and Cheney learned of Plame's identity through classified channels and a month later decided to share that information with journalists. We're in the realm of an IIPA violation, folks, barring Cheney claiming that he declassified Valerie Wilson's identity ... without telling her (which is where I think Cheney's prepared to go, if it gets that far--that should make the Wilsons' civil suit all the more delectable, I think).

I think there's another reason Cheney will back off from testifying -- and it goes to the heart of the case against Libby.

Looking ahead to next week in the Scooter Libby trial, I doubt that Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby are the only witnesses Team Libby will call in the defense portion of the case.

Let's go back to the list of possible trial witnesses the Court read off to the jury on opening day.

Both NBC reporter David Gregory and former Time reporter John Dickerson are on the list.

Ari Fleischer testified he told them about Joe Wilson's wife working for the CIA on the Africa trip in July, 2003 before Robert Novak's column appeared. He said he learned it from Scooter Libby at lunch on July 7, the day Fleischer left for Africa with President Bush. Dickerson and Gregory were two of the reporters on the trip. Libby denies telling Fleischer about Valerie Wilson.

John Dickerson has been in the courtroom during the trial, blogging for Slate. He writes that Ari is mixed up, he never told him about Wilson's wife working for the CIA.

Team Libby told the jury in opening argument that the White House initially threw Scooter Libby "under the bus" in an attempt to shield Karl Rove. They did this by having then-White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan initially clear Rove but not Libby.

Then, according to Libby, Vice President Cheney intervened on Scooter's behalf and directed McClellan to also clear Libby. According to White House Press Conference tapes, McClellan did so. The jury has now heard portions of those tapes.

How does Bush enter into this? Jason Leopold and Mark Ash write at Truthout that Ted Wells' purpose in bringing a handwritten note of Cheney's before the jury while David Addington was on the stand was not only to show Libby was upset about Rove being cleared but not him, but also to show how the Veep scratched out "this pres" from his note to McClellan. Read Team Libby's way, the note in original form would read:

"not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy this Pres. asked to stick his head in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others." The words "this Pres." were crossed out and replaced with "that was," but are still clearly legible in the document.

Noted jurist John Henry Wigmore described cross-examination as the "greatest legal invention ever invented for the discovery of truth." (5 J. Wigmore, Evidence §1367 (J. Chadbourn rev. 1974.) Put another way, it's a great tool for ferreting out untruths in the courtroom.

It's Fitzgerald's job in the Libby case to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Scooter Libby lied to federal agents and the grand jury and obstructed justice.

It's the defense's job to test that proof.

Patrick Fitzgerald has placed a lot of faith in Judy Miller and Matthew Cooper and their less than perfect memories and note-taking skills. The defense chipped away at both today. There were no Perry Mason moments, but neither came across as 100% sure of what Libby told them.

Team Libby has finished cross-examining Judith Miller. She was stronger today than yesterday and Bill Jeffress did not (in my opinion) make any inroads with her or trip her up. I think that the jury will find her credible.

Bottom Line: She is sure that Scooter Libby was the first to tell her that Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and that it happened on June 23 and again on July 8. She can't say it with 100% certainty but that's her belief based upon her memory and her notes and she has zero recollection of anyone else telling her.

Libby told investigators and the grand jury he learned of Wilson's wife from Tim Russert on July 10th. He says he was so preoccupied with pressing national issues, he forgot that he first learned of Valerie Wilson from Dick Cheney.

If he was so busy with other matters, why was he having a two hour meeting during the workday with Judith Miller at the St. Regis on July 8?

Fitzgerald redirects, a little bumpy, no big deal. Then the legal wrangling starts over Miller's notes and Libby's Aspen letter to Judy.

What an afternoon at the Scooter Libby trial. This is what I came to Washington for -- that sense of being right in the middle of the action, totally engrossed in the moment, never once looking at my watch, and when 5:00 came, wishing we didn't have to go home.

The day began slowly enough, with David Addington still on the stand and Libby lawyer Ted Wells questioning him about documents for almost two hours. Enough about that.

The main attraction was journalist and former New York Times reporter Judith Miller. She looked stunning, very pretty and impeccably groomed. The reporters in the courtroom all turned to watch her stride into the courtroom, chin up. Her lawyer, Washington powerhouse Bob Bennett, took a seat behind the Government's table. She was calm as she took the stand.

Judith Miller testified today in the Scooter Libby trial. She sailed through Fitzgerald's direct examination but started on a downhill course as soon as Bill Jeffress began cross-examining her.

The lawyers and judge are in deep debate over Paragraph 5 to Judith Miller's affidavit in support of a motion to quash.

I'll have details at Firedoglake later tonight. In the meantime, check out Marcy's live-blogging of the testimony, as well as Rory and Clarice at Mediabloggers.

It's week two in the Scooter Libby trial. Marcy has done a great job of live-blogging todays testimony. Today was my first day at the trial. I spent most of it in the courtroom, seated behind Mrs. Libby, and some in the media room. There were a lot of veteran PlameGate reporters on hand: David Corn of the Nation, David Schuster of MSNBC, Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, Byron York of the National Review and John Dickerson of Time, to name a few. Also following the action: Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News, David Stout of the New York Times, Nina Totenberg of NPR.

Being in the courtroom has advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, you get the big picture, being able to watch the interaction between the prosecution and defense teams, Scooter Libby and his lawyers, the jury and the Judge. You also get to see what seems of interest to the jurors, what they smile and laugh at and what doesn't faze them.

On the minus side, it was stifling hot, many of us (including the Judge at one point) were using paper to fan ourselves and if you leave while court is in session, you can't get back in. Also, you are reduced to handwritten notes since no laptops are allowed in the courtroom.  This is not a high-tech trial. The lawyers aren't tapping away at computers. The exhibits aren't fancy. There are a lot of assistants on both sides.

Now for the substance. Cathie Martin, Cheney's former press secretary, was the first witness of the day, where she underwent cross-examination by Libby lawyer Ted Wells. He took her through a chronological version of her testimony from last week.

If there was anything new, I didn't learn it. If he had a point, I didn't get it.