March 6 (Bloomberg) -- The jury in Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby's perjury trial in the CIA leak case asked the judge to clarify one of the charges against the former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

A jury note expressing its confusion was sent to the judge yesterday during the ninth day of deliberations and was made public today. The note asked what exactly was being alleged in a charge that accuses Libby of lying to investigators about his conversation with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper in 2003 about CIA official Valerie Plame.

Libby, 56, is charged with obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to investigators probing whether Bush administration officials deliberately leaked Plame's identity to retaliate against her husband, Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson. Libby was Cheney's chief of staff and national security adviser.

Libby is accused of falsely telling the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he told Cooper on July 12, 2003, that he had heard from other reporters that Plame worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, though he didn't know if it was true.

``Is the prosecution alleging that Mr. Libby did not make the statement to Cooper?'' jurors asked in the note. ``Or is the allegation that Libby did know Mrs. Wilson worked for the CIA when he spoke to the FBI'' in late 2003?

Cooper testified during the trial that when he asked Libby about Plame on July 12, 2003, Libby said he had heard about her but that he didn't say where he learned it or whether he knew if it was true.

Note to Jury

Today, the judge sent the jury a note, agreed upon by prosecution and defense lawyers, that said it was the content of Libby's conversation with Cooper that is at issue. Libby is charged with ``making a false statement to the FBI about what was said during his July 12, 2003, conversation with Mr. Cooper,'' the judge's note said. Libby isn't accused of telling the FBI he didn't know that Plame worked for the CIA, the note to the jury said.

Jurors also asked whether they could consider Libby's March 2004 testimony to a grand jury about his conversation with Cooper in determining whether he lied to the FBI in late 2003 about the same conversation.

The judge's note to the jurors said they could consider Libby's grand jury testimony, along with all other trial evidence, in deciding whether prosecutors proved the charge.

Libby resigned upon being indicted in October 2005. Neither he nor Cheney testified in the trial.

Prosecutors told the jury that Libby deliberately lied to federal investigators and a grand jury about the leak of Plame's identity to keep his job.

Libby's lawyers said he was too busy with national security matters to remember events involving the disclosure, and that many prosecution witnesses also had faulty memories about the case.

The case is U.S. vs. Libby, 05-394, U.S. District Court, the District of Columbia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurie Asseo in Washington at Lasseo1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 6, 2007 10:44 EST