The Defense Rests. Weakly.

I. Lewis Libby's defense team promised revelations about the involvement of Karl Rove in the CIA leak investigation. It promised that Dick Cheney would take the stand and perjure himself in his former chief of staff's defense (well, okay it didn't actually say he'd perjure himself but being the pathological liar he is it's pretty much a given that's what the vice dictator would have done). The defense team even told the judge its client would take the stand.

Libby's lawyers turned out to be just as dishonest as he is. Today the defense rested its case, having been denied even the opportunity to take another lame crack at trying to impugn Tim Russert's credibility. The Nation's David Corn reports. The judge chastised the lying morons for having misled the court.

But is this really surprising? After the damning testimony by prosecution witnesses and its failure to knocks holes in any of it, there was no way Cheney was going to risk committing yet another impeachable offense by taking the stand and himself lying under oath. And putting Libby on the stand was out of the question; he would have lied again, and there was no way he would have been able to fool the jury.

So, having failed to make a dent in the prosecution's case, the defense rested. Closing arguments will be heard Tuesday, but the outcome is all but determined. Libby will be convicted of perjury. And then the investigation into who leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA identity to the press in 2003 will proceed...where?

Evidence and testimony implicates Cheney. Will Fitzgerald seek an indictment? That can only happen through Congress, and weak-willed Democrats refuse to allow it. One thing is certain, though. This investigation is far from over.

Tomorrow I will discuss Oliver North's (yes, Iran-Contra's Oliver North) charge that Republican senators John McCain and Joe LIEberman lied about what soldiers in Iraq are saying about the threatened surge. That, and irony.