I have a new story up about testimony in the Libby trial. The short version of it is that two of prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s witnesses have had some significant memory problems on the stand. One of them, former CIA official Robert Grenier, testified that he told Lewis Libby that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the CIA. But Grenier concedes he originally told FBI investigators, and then the grand jury, that he didn’t remember whether he said that. More than a year after his grand jury testimony, Grenier said, he had a “growing” memory that he had, in fact, mentioned Plame to Libby. So he changed his story.

But why did he tell Libby about Mrs. Wilson in the first place? Because he saw her role in the matter as a significant fact. “I believe I said something to the effect that Ambassador Wilson’s wife works there, and that is where the idea [for his taking the trip to Niger] came from,” Grenier testified.

“Why was it you felt that that was a piece of information that should be passed on to Mr. Libby?” asked prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg.

“The reason I said it was that I wanted to be as forthcoming as I possibly could,” Grenier answered. “And to me it was an explanation as to why we had found this Ambassador Wilson and sent him off to Africa…I thought that was germane to the story.”

“How was it in your mind germane to the story?”

“Because not only was she working in the Counterproliferation Division, she was working in the specific unit that had decided to sent Ambassador Wilson,” Grenier answered. “There was some question of why — and the reason of why was because his wife worked there.”

Beyond that, there are a lot of things said at the trial that don’t get much coverage but which shed light on some major issues involving the Bush administration and the war. One such moment came with the testimony from CIA briefer Craig Schmall. Schmall recounted a time in which Libby mentioned being contacted by a reporter who said that he, the reporter, had a source in the CIA saying intelligence analysts were complaining of being pressured to come up with damning information in the run-up to the Iraq war. “[Libby] was annoyed that somebody at the Agency was talking to a reporter about this briefing,” Schmall said. Schmall checked on it, and found nothing. “I talked to the manager who was present at the briefing,” Schmall said. “I asked them if they felt pressured or bullied, and she said absolutely not, that they were actually happy to have the opportunity to talk to Vice President Cheney and Mr. Libby about their topics.”