Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 1 of 39 PageID# 3061 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA ALEXANDRIA DIVISION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. JEFFREY ALEXANDER STERLING, Defendant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Criminal No. 1:10cr485 Alexandria, Virginia January 13, 2015 2:00 p.m. EXCERPT OF P.M. SESSION TRANSCRIPT OF JURY TRIAL BEFORE THE HONORABLE LEONIE M. BRINKEMA UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE APPEARANCES: FOR THE GOVERNMENT: JAMES L. TRUMP, AUSA DENNIS M. FITZPATRICK, AUSA United States Attorney's Office 2100 Jamieson Avenue Alexandria, VA 22314 and ERIC G. OLSHAN, Deputy Chief Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division United States Department of Justice 1400 New York Avenue, N.W. Suite 12100 Washington, D.C. 20005 FOR THE DEFENDANT: EDWARD B. MAC MAHON, JR., ESQ. Law Office of Edward B. MacMahon, Jr. 107 East Washington Street P.O. Box 25 Middleburg, VA 20118 and BARRY J. POLLACK, ESQ. MIA P. HAESSLY, ESQ. Miller & Chevalier Chartered 655 - 15th Street, N.W. Suite Washington, D.C. 20005-5701 COMPUTERIZED TRANSCRIPTION OF STENOGRAPHIC NOTES Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 2 of 39 PageID# 3062 2 1 APPEARANCES: (Cont'd.) 2 CLASSIFIED INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICERS: CHRISTINE E. GUNNING MAURA PETERSON ALSO PRESENT: GERARD FRANCISCO SA ASHLEY HUNT JENNIFER MULLIN, ESQ. OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER: ANNELIESE J. THOMSON, RDR, CRR U.S. District Court, Fifth Floor 401 Courthouse Square Alexandria, VA 22314 (703)299-8595 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 3 of 39 PageID# 3063 3 1 I N D E X 2 Opening Statement by Mr. Trump: Page 4 Opening Statement by Mr. MacMahon: Page 21 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 4 of 39 PageID# 3064 4 1 A F T E R N O O N 2 3 4 S E S S I O N (Defendant and Jury present.) THE COURT: All right, Mr. Trump, are you making the opening statement? 5 MR. TRUMP: Yes, Your Honor. 6 THE COURT: All right. 7 OPENING STATEMENT 8 BY MR. TRUMP: 9 10 May it please the Court, defense counsel. Again, my name is Jim Trump. It's my pleasure with 11 Eric Olshan and Dennis Fitzpatrick to represent the United 12 States in this case. 13 The defendant, Jeffrey Sterling, once worked for the 14 Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. 15 spy if you will. 16 Secret, Secret files, and as you will learn, between 1998 and 17 2000, the defendant was assigned to a very closely held and 18 highly classified operation involving Iran and its nuclear 19 weapons program. 20 He was a case officer, a He had access to classified information, Top He was responsible for the safety and security of a 21 very valuable human asset working with the CIA on that 22 operation, a Russian nuclear weapons engineer whose role in the 23 operation and whose association with the CIA was a closely 24 guarded secret. 25 When the defendant went to work with the CIA, he Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 5 of 39 PageID# 3065 5 1 promised never, ever to disclose its secrets. 2 writing to guard and protect forever the classified information 3 with which he was entrusted, and he broke that promise. 4 defendant betrayed his country; he betrayed his colleagues; he 5 betrayed the CIA and compromised its mission; and most 6 importantly, he betrayed the Russian asset, a man who literally 7 placed his trust and his life into the defendant's hands. 8 9 And why? He promised in Anger, bitterness, selfishness. The The defendant struck back at the CIA because he thought he had been 10 treated unfairly. He had sued the agency for discrimination 11 and demanded that they pay him $200,000 to settle his claim. 12 When the agency refused, he struck back with the only weapon he 13 had: secrets, the agency's secrets. 14 The defendant is charged in a ten-count indictment. 15 At its core, the indictment charges the defendant with having 16 disclosed what is called national defense information. 17 disclosed it to a reporter, James Risen in The New York Times, 18 first in March and April of 2003 and then again between 2004 19 and 2005. 20 case was then passed on to the public with the publication of 21 Mr. Risen's book, State of War, in early 2006. 22 He The national defense information at issue in this The case will, excuse me, the case will unfold 23 essentially in two somewhat overlapping parts. First, to 24 understand the case and to prove to you that the information 25 disclosed by the defendant to Risen and eventually revealed Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 6 of 39 PageID# 3066 6 1 publicly in chapter 9 of his book is under the law of national 2 defense information, you will need to know what this operation 3 entailed, the significance of the human asset used in the 4 operation, and what the defendant knew and didn't know about 5 it. 6 You will hear testimony from a number of CIA case 7 officers about the operation, which we will call Classified 8 Program No. 1, as well as recorded testimony from the human 9 asset himself, whom will be called Human Asset No. 1, or 10 11 Merlin. Second, you will need to know how the CIA became 12 aware in 2003 that the classified program, Program No. 1, was 13 compromised. 14 Office of Public Affairs, will testify about telephone 15 conversations with Risen in April 2003 and a subsequent White 16 House meeting between the national security advisor, 17 Condoleezza Rice, and The New York Times. 18 William Harlow, the former director of CIA's You will also learn that the defendant had a source 19 relationship with James Risen in 2002; and the defendant's 20 relationship with Risen continued through 2004 and 2005 with 21 e-mails and telephone calls back and forth until the book's 22 publication in January of 2006; and at that point, the 23 relationship ended. 24 25 Finally, you must know why, why this is important, why the compromise of the operation and the compromise of Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 7 of 39 PageID# 3067 7 1 Merlin potentially damaged national security. 2 The defendant worked for the CIA from 1993 through 3 January 31, 2002. 4 as a case officer; and as such, he understood the importance of 5 protecting a human asset's relationship with the CIA and the 6 importance of maintaining the secrecy of a CIA operation such 7 as Classified Program No. 1. 8 and he also developed a specialty in Iranian affairs. 9 the defendant was assigned to the agency's Counterproliferation 10 As I mentioned, he was trained and deployed He had spent some time overseas, In 1998, Division at its Langley headquarters. 11 In October 1998, the defendant was asked to take over 12 as the case officer for Classified Program No. 1, which meant 13 moving to New York, which he did in early 1999. 14 time, early 1999 until May of 2000, he served as the case 15 officer for the operation, and he personally was responsible 16 for the Russian engineer Merlin. 17 From that In October 1998, Classified Program No. 1 was already 18 two years old. 19 Iran's nuclear weapons program, an intelligence priority for 20 the CIA. 21 Iran's interest in acquiring nuclear technology. 22 It was designed to gather intelligence about In a nutshell, the CIA thought it could exploit With the help of a second Russian engineer, the 23 agency and the National Laboratory developed a set of very 24 sophisticated plans, plans for a Russian-designed fireset, a 25 key component to a detonation system of a nuclear weapon. The Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 8 of 39 PageID# 3068 8 1 National Laboratory embedded secret flaws into the plans so 2 that the fireset would never work. 3 would appear genuine; but if Iran took the bait, it could spend 4 huge amounts of time and money trying to develop a fireset that 5 could not work and, in the process, hopefully convey important 6 information to the CIA about the status of its nuclear weapons 7 program. 8 9 In other words, the plans But the CIA needed a salesman, someone who could pose as a greedy Russian engineer seeking money for the fireset 10 plans, and Merlin fit that role exactly. 11 worked for the former Soviet Union and Russia as a nuclear 12 weapons expert in its nuclear weapons facility; and he was an 13 expert in the assembly of nuclear warheads. 14 with his family to the United States several years earlier and 15 subsequently began working with the CIA. 16 He had, in fact, He had immigrated When the defendant first became involved in the 17 operation, another case officer, Zach W., was responsible for 18 Merlin. 19 meeting was planned to introduce Merlin to his new case 20 officer, the defendant. 21 an opportunity to show Merlin for the first time the fireset 22 schematics, the bait for the Iranians, and explain to him in 23 more detail how the operation would work. 24 25 Zach W., however, was taking a new assignment; so a The CIA decided to use this meeting as They met in San Francisco at a hotel in January 1999: Robert S., known to many in the operation as Bob, the manager Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 9 of 39 PageID# 3069 9 1 of the program from the Counterproliferation Division; Merlin; 2 the defendant; Zach W.; and Len, another CIA officer. 3 showed Merlin the documents that Merlin would offer the 4 Iranians, the fireset schematics and a parts list. 5 They Merlin studied the plans and quickly noticed that the 6 schematics were missing several key components, and that was 7 intentional. 8 information so that the Iranians would come pay him for the 9 complete plans. The plan was for Merlin to hold back some Merlin never, never spotted the deeply 10 embedded hidden flaws in the plans. 11 been impossible. 12 Indeed, that would have The second Russian engineer, the one who designed the 13 plans, had been unable to spot them; and a team of scientists 14 from the National Lab spent hundreds and hundreds of man-hours 15 pouring over the plans before detecting even some of the flaws. 16 Following the San Francisco meeting, the defendant 17 and Robert S. worked with Merlin when trying to find inroads 18 into the Iranian scientific community. 19 direction, Merlin had already been out there on the Internet, 20 so to speak, trying to reach out to Iranian scientists or 21 academics who might seem interested in what he was offering. 22 Under Zach W.'s The defendant continued that effort with Merlin. You 23 will see numerous CIA cables in which the defendant reported on 24 the progress being made by Merlin along with copies of e-mails 25 and suggestions for ways for Merlin to improve and hone his Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 10 of 39 PageID# 3070 10 1 approach. 2 the fireset schematics, exchanging several drafts and having 3 Merlin work on ways to improve the sales pitch to the Iranians. 4 They also worked on a letter that would accompany Now, this letter is important because a copy of it 5 appears in chapter 9 of Risen's book. 6 mischaracterized in that book as something Merlin hastily did 7 on his own ostensibly to warn the Iranians about the hidden 8 flaws in the schematics, when, in fact, it was a letter that 9 the defendant and Merlin worked on for months. 10 The letter is completely The letter simply reconfirms Merlin's offer. 11 a fireset. 12 incomplete. 13 will have to pay him. 14 He has The plans -- he has fireset plans, but they are If the Iranians want the complete package, they In late 1999, Merlin's sales pitch on the Internet 15 paid off; and an Iranian official expressed interest in what he 16 was selling. A delivery was planned for Vienna, Austria, in 17 early 2000. Merlin and the defendant worked on the finishing 18 touches of the letter in January. 19 Merlin flew to Vienna, Austria, at the end of 20 February 2000. He went with his wife, playing the role of a 21 tourist. 22 stored electronically on a disk so he could print it out once 23 he got to Vienna, to his Vienna hotel. 24 everything went pretty much as planned, and Merlin delivered 25 the package to the Iranian mission of the IAEA, the He carried the fireset plans with him. The letter he Once in Vienna, Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 11 of 39 PageID# 3071 11 1 International Atomic Energy Association, together with his 2 letter, and he returned to the United States. 3 Back in New York, the defendant and Robert S. briefed 4 Merlin on his trip. 5 that the plans had been taken from Vienna to Iran; but Merlin 6 had not yet been contacted by anyone about his delivery. 7 At that time, the CIA had intelligence In May 2000, however, the defendant was being 8 replaced in New York by another agent, another case agent -- 9 excuse me, case officer, Steven Y. The defendant's role in the 10 operation was over, and he no longer had access to its files, 11 to its cables, any documents or information about Merlin, and 12 the future of the operation. 13 Now, at this point, no one had raised any concerns 14 about the operation, particularly concerns that we were giving 15 away nuclear technology. 16 CIA that that could not happen. 17 Counterproliferation Division; no concerns among senior 18 management, case officers, Merlin, the National Laboratory; and 19 significantly, no concerns expressed by the defendant. 20 In fact, the lab had certified to the No concerns within the The defendant expressed no such concerns to his 21 management in New York, to the inspector general. Nothing came 22 up in his personnel evaluations. 23 with the agency, he never expressed any concerns that this was 24 a bad operation, a flawed operation, in any respect. 25 when he took an employment grievance to the House Select Even during his litigation Indeed, Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 12 of 39 PageID# 3072 12 1 Committee on Intelligence, not a word, not a word was said 2 about Classified Program No. 1, nothing. 3 That all changed on March 5, 2003. 4 CIA had rejected his settlement offer of $200,000, the 5 defendant met with two Senate staffers, Don Stone and Vicki 6 Divoll, both who will testify later during this trial. 7 defendant described generally Classified Program No. 1; but for 8 the first time, for the first time, he says the program was 9 mismanaged. The He claims that the Russian had been able to find 10 the flaws in the plans. 11 as well, fix them. 12 Iran nuclear weapons technology. 13 changed. 14 Just after the Iran might be able to spot these flaws He was worried that the CIA may have given That's when everything On April 3, 2003, William Harlow, the CIA's director 15 of Public Affairs, was called by James Risen. 16 phone. 17 wanted comment. 18 to sell flawed fireset plans to the Iranians. 19 CIA cryptonym, a code name, for the human asset, the one that 20 we will be calling Merlin. 21 They talked by Risen told Harlow he was working on a story, and he The story involved a Russian engineer trying He had a real Harlow knew that that was very, very rare for someone 22 outside the agency to have that type of information. Risen 23 said the plans were delivered to the Iranians at the IAEA 24 mission in Vienna in 2000, but Risen was not sure if the 25 operation was still ongoing. Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 13 of 39 PageID# 3073 13 1 Risen made a number of follow-up calls to Harlow. 2 said the story was in near final form. 3 said; and he said the program had not been handled properly. 4 Iran had been told that the designs were flawed, and the 5 Iranians might be able to fix the flaws. 6 that the case officer had been to see the Senate committee. 7 Sound familiar? He He had documents, he He also was aware With the very same pitch, the same 8 spin that the defendant had put on the operation with SSCI, the 9 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Risen was now telling 10 the CIA, William Harlow, its director of Public Affairs. 11 Harlow did some research. He alerted his superiors. 12 He had learned that there was such a program like the one Risen 13 described, but it was hardly flawed. 14 to Risen, it was ongoing. 15 More importantly, unknown The next thing that happens, Harlow is headed to the 16 White House for a meeting with The New York Times. 17 George Tenet, the director of the CIA; and Condoleezza Rice, 18 the national security advisor for the President; The New York 19 Times editor, Jill Abramson; and Mr. Risen, Dr. Rice set out a 20 set of talking points prepared by Harlow and which she went 21 over with Ms. Abramson and Mr. Risen. 22 publish. 23 the U.S. efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. 24 25 There with She said lives were at stake. She asked them not to She said it would harm At the meeting, Risen reiterated they had documents, a letter, a letter written by the Russian asset to the Iranians Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 14 of 39 PageID# 3074 14 1 warning them of the flaws in the plans. 2 Director Tenet corrected Risen. Russians told the 3 Iranians -- excuse me, the Russian told the Iranians that the 4 plans were incomplete, not that they were flawed. 5 The New York Times said they would get back in a week 6 or so. 7 House and the CIA that it would not publish the story. 8 9 A week later, The New York Times informed the White It was sort of a case of winning the battle but losing the war because Risen ended up publishing the story but 10 not through The New York Times. He put his article into a 11 book, State of War, in January 2006; and what appears in 12 chapter 9 of State of War closely tracks what Risen told Harlow 13 in April of 2003. 14 The chapter had pretty much the same spin. While it 15 reports the basic outline of the classified program accurately, 16 Risen claims that Merlin found the flaws in the plans at the 17 San Francisco meeting; and according to the book, Merlin was so 18 concerned that he was handing over nuclear secrets to the 19 Iranians that he tried to warn them of the flaws in the plans 20 by hastily drafting a letter to that effect while in Vienna. 21 The book quotes nearly verbatim from the draft of the 22 letter that the defendant copied into a CIA cable months before 23 the trip to Vienna. 24 officer of the defendant was also concerned about the way the 25 program was handled and concerned that the operation may have That book also claims that the case Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 15 of 39 PageID# 3075 15 1 given away valuable nuclear secrets. 2 Now, the evidence that the defendant was Risen's 3 source will unfold in several ways. 4 litigation with the CIA. 5 Classified Program No. 1. 6 just when Risen is talking to Harlow about his story. 7 There is motive: his It began in 2000, just after he left It continued through April 2003, The basis of the defendant's claims is -- was that he 8 was discriminated against because of his race. 9 He was angry. 10 He was bitter. He was seeking revenge. For example, on January 7, 2003, he told a CIA 11 employee that he was disgusted with the CIA, and as a result, 12 he would come after them with everything at his disposal. 13 January 27, 2003, and then again on February 12 of 14 2003, offers to settle the litigation were rejected. 15 just said no. 16 Risen at his residence. 17 The CIA Fifteen days later, the defendant called James Shortly after that was the Senate meeting that I just 18 discussed, and key to that was that the only person to have 19 ever said that the Russian spotted the flaws in the plans, an 20 impossibility as explained before, the only person who ever 21 said that we were giving plans to the Iranians that may have 22 aided their nuclear weapons program was the defendant and James 23 Risen. 24 25 The defendant was also a source for Risen. On October 30, 2001, during litigation, the CIA rejected a Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 16 of 39 PageID# 3076 16 1 previous offer by the defendant, $200,000. 2 November 4, 2001, The New York Times publishes an article by 3 Risen discussing the destruction of the CIA's New York office 4 in the 9/11 attacks. 5 in which the defendant worked, was a classified fact. 6 time later, the defendant tells a colleague at the CIA that he 7 had confirmed the existence of the CIA's New York office to a 8 newspaper or magazine; she wasn't sure which. 9 Four days later, The existence of that office, the office A short March 2, 2002, Risen publishes a story in The New 10 York Times about the defendant's discrimination lawsuit. Risen 11 publicly confirmed that the defendant was his source, and he 12 quoted from the defendant extensively. 13 I lost a note, Your Honor. If I may? 14 In addition to the litigation, the facts of the book, 15 the facts of chapter 9 will also reveal to you that the 16 defendant was a source for James Risen. 17 written from the perspective of a case officer. 18 officer who was the case officer between January of 1999 19 through the Vienna trip up until May of 2000, that case officer 20 was the defendant. 21 officer, only knows the information from that period. 22 only knows the information from that period. 23 First, the book is The case The perspective of the book, the case Risen The book discusses the case officer's involvement in 24 the operation, quotes the conversation between the case officer 25 and a senior, a senior case officer, Robert S. The only Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 17 of 39 PageID# 3077 17 1 persons to have communicated together at the San Francisco 2 meeting were Robert S. and the, and the defendant. 3 The book quotes -- excuse me, the book describes 4 extensively the San Francisco meeting. 5 the other case officers, what happened at the meeting; but it 6 also has facts that aren't otherwise recorded in CIA documents 7 and cables. 8 9 It describes Merlin, For example, the book explains that Merlin and the case officer went on a wine trip in Sonoma County, California. 10 The only persons to know about that fact were Robert S., the 11 case officer, Merlin, and Mrs. Merlin. 12 As you go through the book, as you will, you will see 13 that each of the facts that are reiterated in the book by 14 Mr. Risen were facts known to Mr. Sterling. 15 known only to the case officers who were working on the 16 operation at that time and then found their way to Mr. Risen. 17 They were facts But they're also facts discussing the operation that 18 are not otherwise known to case officers or to Mr. Robert S. 19 For example, the book quotes from the defendant's PAR, his 20 performance appraisal report. 21 operation. 22 defendant by his New York management. 23 and the other case officers have no access to that document. 24 25 That is not a document from the That is a document that is reviewed with the People like Robert S. But what's further instructive is that document does not on its face link the operation to the human asset at issue. Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 18 of 39 PageID# 3078 18 1 Yet in the book, Mr. Risen quotes from that document and links 2 it to operation, Classified Program No. 1. 3 In addition to facts in the book that were known to 4 Mr. Sterling, the defendant, there are also facts not in the 5 book that were not known to the defendant, in other words, 6 facts that were known to other case officers, other people 7 working on the operation, the people within management that 8 they knew about the operation. 9 For example, the book speculates about whether the 10 operation continued beyond 2000. 11 it did. 12 operations that followed the Vienna operation, operations which 13 the defendant knew nothing about and, hence, Mr. Risen knew 14 nothing about. 15 You will hear testimony that You will hear testimony that there were similar You will also learn, for example, that Merlin never 16 did, in fact, hear back from the Iranians. 17 something that Risen speculates about because the defendant 18 knew nothing about that. 19 Again, that's In addition to the facts of the book, you will also 20 see a pattern between Risen and the defendant extending from 21 2004 -- excuse me, extending from 2003 up through and including 22 the end of 2005, when the book is published. 23 shows a number of telephone calls, e-mails interspersed with 24 telephone calls in which they discuss the fact that Risen is 25 working on his book. This pattern For example, in early January, Risen Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 19 of 39 PageID# 3079 19 1 reached out to defendant via e-mail and says, "Can we get 2 together in early January? 3 Jim." Thereafter, in 2004, you will see a steady stream of 4 e-mails and contacts between James Risen and the defendant. 5 February 9, 2004, again on April 24, 2004, he calls the 6 defendant, James Risen calls the defendant 14 times and then 7 sends an e-mail from his personal account to the defendant's 8 personal e-mail account. 9 This pattern of e-mail contact continues through May, 10 interstate telephone calls from Risen again to the defendant 11 and e-mails from Risen on his personal e-mail account to the 12 defendant's personal e-mail account. 13 "I'm sorry if I've failed you so far, but I really enjoy 14 talking to you and would like to continue." 15 On One such e-mail says, Again, this evidence will show that there's a 16 pattern, a pattern of communication between the defendant and 17 Risen extending from 2004 up through the publication of the 18 book in early January 2006, and that that pattern ends. 19 Finally, the government must also show you as part of 20 its burden that the disclosures made by the defendant to James 21 Risen, disclosures that ultimately made their way to the 22 public, were potentially damaging to national security. 23 will be witnesses, CIA officers with experience who will 24 testify that these, these disclosures were potentially damaging 25 in a number of ways. There Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 20 of 39 PageID# 3080 20 1 First, the asset. The disclosures put his life in 2 jeopardy, his life and the life of his family. 3 compromised the CIA's ability to use him in the future. 4 a very unique asset: 5 They don't come by those very often, but the disclosures in 6 State of War in 2006 caused the CIA to bring his use to a halt. 7 They He was a real Russian nuclear weapons expert. They also compromised the methods used in the 8 operation. They compromised the fact that now that, now that 9 this was in the book, the way the operation was conducted, the 10 use of the labs, the science behind the schematics, all those 11 methods were now compromised. 12 technology and those countries wishing to exploit nuclear 13 technology is not that big. 14 serious compromise for the agency. 15 Again, the arena of nuclear This loss of intelligence was a And finally, the CIA's ability to recruit assets, to 16 keep people cooperating once they begin cooperating with the 17 CIA, was damaged. 18 services, when people working with the CIA pick up a book and 19 they read about the compromises in this case, it's a loss of 20 intelligence. 21 can ever keep our secrets. 22 When assets, when foreign intelligence It makes them pause. It makes them wonder if we My time is coming to an end. It's a fairly complex 23 case. The evidence will come in piece by piece. You will hear 24 a number of case officers who only have a certain share of the 25 information, and that is part of the way the CIA Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 21 of 39 PageID# 3081 21 1 compartmentalizes its operations. This was a limited access 2 operation. 3 allowed to have access to its documents. 4 they were out for good. Only those who participated in the operation were Once they were out, 5 So we have to put on case officer after case officer 6 after case officer to explain what they knew and what the time 7 frame was for their knowledge, and you will see at the end that 8 the only case officer, the only person who knew what is 9 published in that book in chapter 9 and who knew the details 10 that were in the book and what was not in the book, what was in 11 the cables, what was not in the cables, is Jeffrey Sterling. 12 Thank you very much. 13 THE COURT: All right, Mr. MacMahon? 14 OPENING STATEMENT 15 BY MR. MAC MAHON: 16 17 May it please the Court. Thank you, Your Honor. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, counsel. 18 My name, ladies and gentlemen, is Edward MacMahon; 19 and I'm one of the attorneys here representing Jeffrey Sterling 20 in this case. 21 a plea of not guilty to these charges. 22 As the judge told you, Mr. Sterling has entered With me is Barry Pollack, who will do a lot of the 23 talking as well, and Mia Haessly. 24 us. 25 speak. So you'll hear from all of There's no rhyme or reason as to who's going to get up and Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 22 of 39 PageID# 3082 22 1 What I -- I want you to remember, you've actually 2 been picked to do an interesting case. 3 lawyers, we have to look at jurors and argue about breach of 4 contracts; and other cases are car wrecks, some of the ones we 5 heard about in voir dire; but this is a very interesting case; 6 and one of the reasons is because the subject matter we're 7 dealing with is very important; but the person this is the most 8 important to is Jeffrey Sterling and his wife, who is in the 9 courtroom with him. 10 Lots of time as trial Mr. Sterling is an extraordinary man. He's not a 11 traitor. 12 betrayed his country or done anything of the sort, and you will 13 hear no evidence of that at all. 14 He's not even -- he's a wonderful man who has never Who he is? He's the first person in his family to 15 graduate from college is who he is. 16 went to work for the CIA because he was a patriot, because 17 that's what he wanted to do; and he's a man who then went to 18 law school after he worked there -- while he was at the CIA and 19 thereafter; and at the time he was arrested, which was in 2010 20 on these charges, he was working as a health care fraud 21 investigator, working with United States attorneys 22 investigating health care fraud; and since that time, he's been 23 unemployed and unemployable. 24 25 He's a man who in 1993 And what we need is for you folks to listen very closely to this case and listen for evidence. I didn't really Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 23 of 39 PageID# 3083 23 1 hear any evidence in that opening, a promise of any actual 2 evidence in this case other than a lot of suspicion; but we're 3 going to ask you to find him not guilty and let Mr. Sterling 4 get on with his life with him and his wife in Missouri, where 5 they live. 6 And, ladies and gentlemen, I won't ask you to do that 7 out of sympathy for Mr. Sterling. 8 acquit somebody in a criminal case. 9 That's no reason at all to What I want you to do is to listen very closely for 10 any direct evidence that the government has at all that 11 Mr. Sterling leaked any information, any classified information 12 about Merlin or Classified Program No. 1, whatever it is. 13 didn't see an e-mail that came up. 14 hear a phone call. 15 that's because it doesn't exist. 16 You You're not going to see or You're not going to hear anything, and Mr. Trump is a fine lawyer. If he had an e-mail with 17 details of these programs or a phone call, you would have heard 18 it; and you're not going to hear it in this case. 19 really have is a cloud that needs to be lifted off of 20 Mr. Sterling. 21 So what we This process has been going on for 13 years. This is 22 how long this has been going on. As I say, Mr. Sterling was 23 gone -- has been gone from the CIA for almost 15 years. 24 could have had jurors in this case -- you're going to hear 25 evidence come in from cables that were written by the CIA when We Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 24 of 39 PageID# 3084 24 1 we could have had jurors who weren't even born. 2 stuff happened during the early Clinton administration. 3 Some of this And the reason I want to emphasize this fact for you 4 is that as jurors, you get to decide who's telling the truth 5 and who really remembers what happened in a conversation in 6 2000 or 1999; and think for yourself the detail with which you 7 could remember incidents that took place 15 and 20 years ago. 8 9 And there's one other thing I want you to keep in mind as you hear this case. You can hear in Mr. Trump's voice 10 a disdain for Mr. Risen's book. 11 miss, okay? 12 say: The CIA is angry, and you're going to hear people That's false. 13 It's not, it's not hard to That's a lie. That never happened. And this is not a -- a criminal case is not a place 14 where the CIA goes to get its reputation back, okay? 15 case to decide whether Mr. Sterling disclosed information to 16 Mr. Risen. 17 when they accused the CIA of a botched operation, that was a 18 terrible thing to say. 19 This is a You'll keep hearing witness after witness say that And in that regard, what I want you to also remember, 20 because this is important as to how this book ends up being 21 written, is that a lot of these events take place in the, in 22 the build-up to the, to the Iraq war; and we all know that was 23 a time when the same CIA at this exact same time was telling us 24 all that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and we 25 all know, sadly, how true that claim was. Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 25 of 39 PageID# 3085 25 1 And so in the middle of this literal food fight 2 between Mr. Risen and the CIA sits Jeffrey Sterling; and he 3 needs you to perform a jury service, which is to decide his 4 case and form a check against the government that's been making 5 these claims against him for years. 6 And I will tell you now, and you can hold me to this, 7 that the evidence will be that Mr. Sterling never spoke about 8 his experiences in this program or about Merlin to a single 9 person who wasn't entitled to know it, not a single person. I 10 didn't hear -- Mr., Mr. Trump told you that he spoke to Risen. 11 Did you hear where, when, or anything about what happened? 12 That's because there isn't any such evidence of it whatsoever. 13 14 15 No. The government will produce no direct evidence whatsoever of a single communication. It won't produce any evidence that anything happened 16 here in the Eastern District of Virginia. 17 to tell you at the end of the case that you have to find that 18 something, the disclosure was made here in the Eastern District 19 of Virginia. 20 21 22 Nothing happened here. The judge is going Even in the opening statement, we didn't hear that that happened. And so let's back up a little bit. So Mr. Trump 23 tells you that Mr. Sterling is angry and mad at the CIA, and he 24 files a discrimination case. 25 Well, he did. You're going to see a lot of the Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 26 of 39 PageID# 3086 26 1 pleadings, these stacks of documents. A lot of them are 2 documents from this case. 3 Mr. Sterling exercising his right to file a lawsuit, and he did 4 it. 5 dismissed, yes, by the CIA, claiming national security, that 6 Mr. Sterling's discrimination case could not be heard because 7 it would infringe upon national security. And what is that? That's He followed the law in every way until the case was 8 And I say that -- we're going to get a screen here; 9 and we're going to hear people's names and everything; and I 10 beseech you -- the judge has asked you if you won't consider 11 this as evidence of all the importance and the security. 12 Nobody wants a witness to be disclosed, but you need to -- just 13 because we can't call these witnesses by their names and you're 14 looking at redacted documents, it's just part of this process. 15 It's going to prove nothing to you. 16 But when you see it, it's going to look strange, and 17 again, I ask you to remember this is the process that we're in. 18 It's not -- it doesn't mean anything else than that as to what 19 we're looking at. 20 Mr. Trump is right, Mr. Sterling went to the House of 21 Representatives and complained. 22 do that. 23 legally, and he complained. 24 25 He has the absolute right to He went to the House of Representatives legally, What happened next? interested in his case. He went -- reporters got It wasn't just Mr. Risen who wrote a Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 27 of 39 PageID# 3087 27 1 story about a black CIA officer feeling discriminated against. 2 Mr. Sterling's story was in People magazine. 3 television. 4 with the CIA. He was on He wasn't hiding the fact that he was in a lawsuit 5 And no, they didn't pay him. The case got dismissed. 6 What happened next, Mr. Sterling tries to write a 7 book, and how do you do that when you work at the CIA? You 8 have to have your book cleared by a lawful -- a legal process. 9 He submitted his book; it didn't get cleared; and he 10 ended up in litigation again with the CIA, in trial litigation, 11 legal litigation. 12 So you're seeing the pattern that Mr. Trump is 13 talking about is one also of legal actions taken by Jeffrey 14 Sterling. 15 And there's also no question that Mr. Sterling in 16 2003 went to the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and 17 voiced his concerns about this program. 18 authorized to do that. 19 not being a traitor, to go tell the Congress that you think 20 something is wrong with a program at the CIA. 21 He was legally There's no question about that. That's But all these actions do leave him as an outcast at 22 the CIA. There isn't any question about that. Sterling is out 23 of the club at this point. 24 whatever -- he's a pain in their side. 25 to call him, he's that; and everybody, almost everybody who He's, he's a whistleblower. He's He's whatever you want Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 28 of 39 PageID# 3088 28 1 testifies against him in this case is going to be someone who's 2 still inside of this tight club. 3 So there's no disputing that Mr. Risen, we don't 4 dispute that after Mr. Sterling went to the Senate Select 5 Intelligence Committee, Mr. Risen learned of the lawful 6 disclosures that Mr. Sterling had made at the SSCI. 7 Do you know how long the phone call was that 8 Mr. Sterling made that Mr. Trump told you about in the opening 9 statement? Three seconds. It's a three-second call. That's 10 all you'll see. 11 So -- and a lot of them you won't see, and I'll get to that in 12 a second. 13 You'll see a bunch of phone records here. But so the key issue for you to decide in one respect 14 is what happened? 15 SSCI, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, and to 16 Mr. Risen? 17 question you get to decide; and I'll suggest to you here later 18 on, I'll tell you exactly how, a scenario where it could have 19 happened. 20 How did this information get out of the Was it Mr. Sterling or someone else? But what do you not see? That's the You don't see a written 21 communication to Mr. Risen from Mr. Sterling about the program 22 at all, no evidence they even met in person. 23 that? 24 him documents or anything? 25 Did you hear Did you hear in 2003 that they met in person and he gave No, no evidence of that. Do you have any evidence that Mr. Sterling FedExed or Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 29 of 39 PageID# 3089 29 1 mailed something to Mr. Risen? 2 e-mails. 3 interested in his discrimination case which goes on, so they're 4 still talking about something that they've written a public 5 story about, and there's nothing. 6 no recorded calls. 7 No. Risen is still interested. They have a few traces of Mr. Sterling certainly is There's nothing else at all, And so what you have is a suspicion, a suspicion that 8 it was Mr. Sterling backed up by anger and the fact that the 9 CIA despises Mr. Sterling now to go on for 13 years and do 10 this. 11 But the evidence, which the government didn't tell 12 you about again, is that Mr. Sterling -- excuse me, Mr. Risen 13 will tell you by transcript that he had a wide range of unnamed 14 sources for his reporting. 15 tell you. 16 asked by the government. 17 18 That's what Mr. Risen is going to He had a wide range of sources. That was a question Folks, that's as good as it gets from Mr. Risen's mouth. 19 And we didn't hear any, any testimony proffered at 20 all by the government from Mr. Risen, the evil person who 21 printed this book, not a thing. 22 this void, okay? 23 they want you to do is speculate about what Mr. Risen heard or 24 what he did, without ever putting on any evidence of that at 25 all. And the government can't fill There's no way they can fill this; but all Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 30 of 39 PageID# 3090 30 1 And they know from Mr. Risen's other exhibits, 2 there's a book proposal that Mr. Risen wrote in which he says 3 that he talked to multiple CIA officers about this program. 4 We don't need to put this up, Mr. Francisco. 5 I'll read this to you. You'll get this at the end of 6 the case. 7 Mr. Risen writes: 8 come to the author to discuss the case because they now feel 9 enormous guilt for a program that they believe may have aided 10 It's Government Exhibit 128, and in it, it says that "CIA officers involved in the operation have Iran's nuclear weapons program." 11 You catch all the plurals, ladies and gentlemen? But 12 who do they -- it must have all -- everybody is lying because 13 it's Sterling giving everything to Risen, and Risen writes 14 these things before there's ever even a criminal investigation 15 at all. 16 you'll get that the book wouldn't be possible without the 17 cooperation of many current and former officials in the 18 intelligence community and other parts of the government. 19 of them were willing to discuss sensitive matters only on a 20 condition of anonymity. He writes in the, in the preface of his book that 21 Many That's Mr. Risen's words. So what do we have to rebut that? Circumstantial 22 evidence. 23 an invitation to speculate; and that's not the burden that the 24 government carries here. 25 Sterling, it must have been Sterling; but it's just So again, I say to you, listen closely for direct Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 31 of 39 PageID# 3091 31 1 evidence of Mr. Sterling's supposed acts. 2 No such evidence exists. 3 They don't exist. And when you get the book, the speculation won't 4 even -- isn't even played out by reading the book. 5 beginning of chapter 9 details an event which took place in 6 2004 which led to the death of Iranian agents. 7 The Folks, Sterling wasn't at the CIA, okay? 8 there. 9 that's in it. 10 They can't pin this one on him. He wasn't That's the first thing It's not him. And then later in the book, on page 207 -- again, 11 you're going to -- we're going to go through this. 12 to get mind-numbing, I'm sure, to you soon enough, but when 13 we're actually looking at the book, on page 207, there's 14 writing about an NSA program, of the NSA supposedly being 15 involved in tracking an Iranian official to see that the plans 16 are delivered. 17 says, but the CIA's people are going to tell you that's 18 completely false. 19 Iranian official picking up the plans in Iran and bringing -- 20 picking them up in Vienna and bringing them to Iran. 21 completely false. 22 It's going I'm not doing a good job of telling you what it That never happened. So what is Mr. Risen? Nobody ever tracked an Is he a fableist? 23 Mr. Sterling the source for his fables? 24 on? 25 Apparently, it's completely untrue. It's Is What is, what is going There's no way that Sterling could have told him that. Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 32 of 39 PageID# 3092 32 1 You'll look more into the book. Mr. Merlin, who 2 you'll hear testify by videotape, he, he's quoted -- his 3 language attributed to this Russian is in quotes in this book, 4 okay? 5 to read it out loud, and you'll hear him speak in his Russian 6 accent exactly the words that are in this book. 7 8 And I asked him at the deposition And then the next question is, "Can you tell me how it is that Mr. Risen has you quoted in this book?" 9 10 That's on page 207. And he says, "No, I can't explain that at all. No possible explanation for that." 11 "Are those words that you used?" 12 "Yes, those are words that I used. It's a correct 13 quote, but I never talked to him, and I don't know anybody who 14 did." 15 There's another one of those quotes as well. The -- 16 Merlin tells in Risen's book in quotes, he talks 17 about delivering the weapons -- the plans for a nuclear weapon 18 and wrapping them in a newspaper and putting them on top of a 19 mailbox in Austria. 20 talking about. 21 There's the high-quality operation we're But what's more important than that? There's no 22 report that says he wrapped them in a newspaper. He doesn't 23 remember telling Mr. Sterling that he wrapped the plans for a 24 nuclear weapon in a newspaper, but what Mr. Risen has in the 25 book is accurate, so where did it come from? Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 33 of 39 PageID# 3093 33 1 2 It's not my job to prove to you where it came from, but it didn't come from Jeffrey Sterling. 3 And there's all kinds of information in this book 4 that you'll see came from sources other than Mr. Sterling. 5 couldn't have come from Mr. Sterling, and it will take apart 6 the mosaic, it will take the pieces out of the jigsaw puzzle 7 that Mr. Trump wants you to put together for them. 8 9 It Mr. S. -- Bob, I guess we call him -- is a very interesting witness in this case. He knew everything that was 10 in this book, okay, everything that's in chapter 9. 11 there the whole time. 12 so when Mr. Trump tells you that, that this didn't happen, 13 nobody else -- Bob knew everything, okay? 14 and the CIA just takes his word that he didn't ever speak to 15 Mr. Risen. 16 He was There isn't any debate about that, and Bob knew everything, We're going to get phone records in this case out the 17 gazoo, and Mr. Sterling gets the Friends and Family Plan from 18 the government. 19 if he called somebody, they went and got his phone records. 20 he stayed at somebody's house, they got his. 21 don't even bother. 22 Mr. Risen's phone records. 23 Everybody he talked to in the last ten years, They don't even bother. If But for Bob, they They don't have So how do you prove that Bob -- you're going to come 24 in in a circumstantial case and say: I'm going to prove to you 25 that Bob S. and Jim Risen never talked to each other, but I Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 34 of 39 PageID# 3094 34 1 never got either one of their phone records, but it must have 2 been Sterling. 3 There's the pattern of what we have here. There are some e-mails, very short traces of e-mails 4 between Sterling and Risen, but they don't add up to anything 5 at all. 6 at all, none, not a single thing. 7 There's no evidence at all of Mr. S.'s e-mail traffic And guess what? The CIA can't tell you what 8 Mr. Sterling was doing. You would think the CIA would be able 9 to track the e-mails or the printing or the comings and goings 10 of a case officer; and they say: 11 can't do that for you, right? 12 No, sorry, we can't. It's not there. We We don't know. And this is important because when you read this 13 book, you will see that Mr. Risen obviously had access to a lot 14 of documents, but when did Sterling get them? 15 of the program in 2000, in May of 2000, and there's no sense or 16 even suggestion of a leak between that time and 2003. 17 Sterling was out So what did he do, go home with a backpack full of 18 documents from the CIA that he printed up, and nobody can tell 19 you when it happened, where it happened? 20 witness who's going to say Jeffrey Sterling printed up a 21 letter? 22 Did you hear a Bob, by the way, the letter Mr. Trump told you, Bob 23 was working on that letter with Merlin as well. It wasn't just 24 Mr. Sterling. 25 he was the last person with a copy of the letter, the And it was Merlin, by the way, who will tell you Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 35 of 39 PageID# 3095 35 1 approximate letter that ends up in the book. 2 So there are other things about firing sets and, for 3 example, Merlin only refers to the plans as blueprints. 4 Mr. Risen refers to them as blueprints. 5 that Mr. Sterling drafted do you see those words. 6 In not a single cable But again, Mr. S., Merlin, they'll all deny being the 7 source. 8 nobody is going to admit to having anything to do with this. 9 They've all seen what's happened to Mr. Sterling, and So there's lots of possibilities to how this 10 happened, and I'm going to leave you with one other one at this 11 time. 12 calls Mr. Trump just told you about, the April -- oh, excuse 13 me, the February 2003 call was 50 seconds, I'm sorry. 14 calls, there were six apparent calls in 2003 that add up to 15 three minutes, three-and-a-half minutes over a three-week time 16 period. 17 information in Risen's book came in over those as well. 18 Before I do that, though, the phone records, these phone The next I guess the government wants you to think that all the So there is another scenario, I'll suggest to you; 19 and again, the defendant has no burden of proof in this case; 20 but listen, listen to something else that may have happened 21 that the evidence in this case will support. 22 Mr. Sterling goes up to the Senate Select 23 Intelligence Committee and tells, tells his story, as he was 24 legally entitled to do. 25 And one of the people that he tells it to is someone named No one's going to tell you otherwise. Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 36 of 39 PageID# 3096 36 1 Vicki Divoll, and my distinguished colleague here already gave 2 you her name. 3 very partisan Democrat who works, been working up on the Hill 4 for a while, very experienced. 5 What do we know about Vicki Divoll? She's a And what happens within about a month after, after 6 this happens? 7 Select Intelligence Committee, and what do you think she was 8 fired for? 9 dealing with the CIA that happened in front of that committee 10 Ms. Divoll is fired from her job at the Senate She was fired because of a story about something was published by Mr. Risen. 11 That's exactly what happened. I'll show you the story. It's called "Broad Domestic 12 Role Asked for CIA and the Pentagon." 13 the CIA in 2003 to get permission to obtain records in the 14 United States without a subpoena. 15 It details an effort by The leak is plainly attributed to Mrs. Divoll. 16 You'll get to hear her testify and hear her answer how it is 17 that the story got out, because what she did was tell somebody 18 else -- her story is: 19 else, and eventually, somehow Mr. Risen got ahold of it. 20 Does that sound like something that happened? 21 I told somebody else, who told somebody Okay? It did happen. And now we'll see what she has to say about it. 22 She's going to deny ever talking to Mr. Risen, either; but 23 there's no question because -- that she got fired for a story 24 that makes it to Jim Risen. 25 that? And what could have happened after Risen finds out about the story, and what story does he Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 37 of 39 PageID# 3097 37 1 find out about? 2 the consistent story. 3 Intelligence Committee? 4 The one that Sterling told her, right? That's Who else told the Senate Select He did. And then if you read Risen's -- what we have here is 5 evidence, Mr. Risen says he reached out to many officials and 6 other intelligence officers and other people and reached for 7 more information. 8 the government can think of to tell you that he may have 9 called? 10 Why is it that it's only Mr. Sterling that As I say, they don't even ask for Bob's phone records to see whether it was him or anybody else. 11 And, of course, in this time now was the time the 12 book is being written, there's reasons for these officials to 13 be worried. 14 finding any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and what do 15 they need, another story about a Russian scientist dropping off 16 plans for a nuclear weapon wrapped in a newspaper? 17 don't need that. 18 The CIA is getting all kinds of bad press for not No, they So it's equally plausible, ladies and gentlemen, that 19 Mr. Risen then went and talked to other people. 20 who. 21 came from, but if you look at the documents, you'll see he got 22 a lot of documents from a lot of people, including documents 23 that they admit Mr. Sterling never had in the first place. 24 whoever tried to help him may not be the last person ever 25 burned by a reporter, but they didn't get the story that they I don't have to prove it. I don't know I don't know where else it And Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 38 of 39 PageID# 3098 38 1 wanted. So you'll consider that evidence as you hear the rest 2 of these witnesses testify. 3 Mr. Sterling is also charged with mail fraud somehow 4 for selling Mr. Risen's book here in Virginia, stealing 5 property and putting it in a book. 6 which there's no basis. 7 Virginia is probably the only thing that, the evidence you'll 8 ever hear of anything that happened; and you can consider that 9 as to why that was raised. 10 It's a silly charge for In fact, the, the sale of the book in He's charged with obstruction of justice apparently 11 because an e-mail was deleted on his computer at some point in 12 time, and you'll see the government has no evidence that that 13 was done in any way to hinder or delay or any kind of an 14 investigation. 15 And again, I want to thank you-all for your service, 16 valuable service as jurors in this case. It's going to be a 17 slog looking through all these details; but I hope I gave you a 18 good outline of the defendant's case; and again, we will ask 19 you to give Mr. Sterling his life back at the end of this case. 20 Thank you very much. 21 THE COURT: All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're 22 going to take about a five- -- only a five-minute break, so 23 I'll ask you to stay in the jury room. 24 courtroom for the special witnesses who are going to be 25 beginning. We have to set up the Five-minute recess. Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595 Case 1:10-cr-00485-LMB Document 403 Filed 01/15/15 Page 39 of 39 PageID# 3099 39 1 (Recess from 2:56 p.m., until 3:08 p.m.) 2 * * * * * 3 4 5 6 CERTIFICATE OF THE REPORTER I certify that the foregoing is a correct excerpt of the record of proceedings in the above-entitled matter. 7 8 9 /s/ Anneliese J. Thomson 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Anneliese J. Thomson OCR-USDC/EDVA (703)299-8595