Update [2005-9-29 22:7:24 by BooMan]: NY Times article is up.
Update [2005-9-29 23:0:44 by BooMan]: Miller’s Statement
I went to jail to preserve the time-honored principle that a journalist must respect a promise not to reveal the identity of a confidential source. I chose to take the consequences — 85 days in prison — rather than violate that promise. The principle was more important to uphold than my personal freedom.
I am leaving jail today because my source has now voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality regarding our conversations relating to the Wilson-Plame matter. My attorneys have also reached agreement with the Office of Special Counsel regarding the nature and scope of my testimony, which satisfies my obligation as a reporter to keep faith with my sources.
This enables me to appear before the Grand Jury tomorrow. I’ll say nothing more until after my testimony. I do, however, want to thank The New York Times, and my husband, family and friends, for their unwavering support. I am also grateful to the many fellow journalists and citizens from the United States and around the world, who stood with me in fighting for the cause of the free flow of information. It was a source of strength through a difficult three months to know they understood what I did was to affirm one of my profession’s highest principles.
Judith Miller has been released from jail.
“It could not be immediately determined whether Miller has now agreed to testify.”
There is no other confirmation of this and no story about it has appeared on The New York Times site as yet.
“I have no comment. I have no guidance,” said Randall Samborn, a spokesman for ther special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald.
just reported it on CNN. What a week!!!
I am exhausted from all these stories manny!
I still haven’t finished catching up from the weekend. There’s too much good stuff to be found.
I’ll just have to do the rest of the catching up tomorrow! Go ahead and squeal though now Judith, please make my coffee worth every drop tomorrow!
Holy organic coffee filters! That’s alot of caffeine, you should be careful or else you may start to look like this.
Is that your before lunch limit? Or your after lunch limit?
It’s been quite the rollercoaster but this is like heroin for news junkies like me. 🙂
(I need to stop sleeping in though…)
Judith Miller: Do you feel this whole jail-martyrdom thing was choreographed from the beginning? What would she possibly say? Talk about circuses! It’s hard work, you know to keep theses spins spinning all at the same time! This is a probably naive/stupid comment, but I feel a little behind the times — how DO you keep up?
I miss the NYT and at other times I’d rather cut my hand off than pay to subscribe to it. What do Herbert, Krugman, and Dowd have to say lately? Would anyone dare write a column about Miller?
It’s really hard work, you know.
regarding Judy, I have no clue. There are so many angles to this story of corruption that I find it hard to nail down my thoughts. It could be anyone at this point, I’m just hoping the headlines continue to read “White House-Corruption-Indictment-Republican-etc.”
I always feel like I’m behind around here. I make an honest attempt to read everything, but it’s getting difficult with the growing readership (no complaints, whatsoever, it is amazing to see). And btw, there is no such thing as a stupid/naive comment, unless it’s coming from me prior to my coffee or after seeing Ann Coulter on my television. 🙂
Paz,
Thanks for getting this up Booman. I still want to know what she and Bolton talked about last week. I bet she was starting to scream about being in there 80+ days and probably started to threaten to squeel if someone didn’t do something. What do you all think?
I also think it is another brilliant move by Rove to get the headlines off Delay?
Judith out of jail and Delay headed for jail.
Maybe those law and order Republicans are right and we need to build more jails… for them!
I doubt Rove gives a damn ab out Delay. Delay makes for a good diversion from the White House. Frist is a little more trouble but they had probably written him off already. No, Rove cares about himself and his white house crew. Delay only matters through his and Abramoffs connections to the White House… I think. 🙂
Miller being released is interesting. I don’t know what it means though because it is still unclear to me who she was really covering for… Libby, Bolton, herself, all three… Cheney? I dunno.
What I do think is that if she is released now then we should be hearing from Fitzgerald shortly… and more name brand Rethuglicans will be taking “temporary” leaves from their current leadership roles.
the exact same thing, when Keith O. mentioned to Pete Williams that the news about Miller’s release not only took Delay off the front burner, but completely off the stove. Not to mention Bob Ney of Ohio, who I’ve heard might be indicted in connection with Abramoff’s antics, and Bill Frist’s “lucky guess” in dumping his HCA stock. (BTW, according to the promo, Frist is going to be in the Countdown spotlight on tomorrow’s show; guess the White House better come up with some “breaking news” around 4pm to take up the whole hour…)
(Keith Olbermann just confessed that he’s been dating since 1974.)
BooMan, I do not understand.
Libby told her a year ago she could talk, but she didn’t. Why? And why is she released now?
I’m sorry .. I’m stupid … help me understand.
pure speculation: Bush made everyone sign a release form from any confidentiality. But reporters felt the release was coerced and didn’t count.
Libby has apparently given her a more emphatic release.
This is what Cooper claimed Rove did, but Rove’s lawyer denied.
Oh so the asshole let her sit in jail for — what is it? — four months, and go to bed with Big ‘Lil every night just because he had to take all that time to be more emphatic?
I doubt it though…..she’s strange!
I don’t think that, in those settings, choice is involved.
Read carefully:
According to the Times, I. Lewis Libby “had made clear that he genuinely wanted her to testify,” and gave her a waiver on their confidential conversations. But the Times account tonight revealed that Libby and his lawyers said he had given his waiver a year ago–and then again two weeks ago–but Miller did not accept it. She was released today after she and her lawyers met at the jail with Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the case, to discuss her testimony, the Times revealed.
Why the sudden change in attitude? I think it’s because Fitzgerald has something he can lock up Miller with.
She’s agreed to testify. It’s a complete capitulation.
See E&P for the full article:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001219289
Notcho, I was referring to something else entirely when I said she had no choice. Nothing to do with the case. Just to do with her, um, time in jail.
Why the sudden change in attitude? I think it’s because Fitzgerald has something he can lock up Miller with.
By the way, that’s a very astute remark. Let’s hope it’s capitulation.
There are “For Rent” signs up everywhere, “Moving Tag Sale” signs too. Cargo vans in front of houses in the dead of night…
from Huffington Post:
“If all it took for Miller to feel properly released was a phone call, why did she wait 85 days to make it?”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/miller-walks-the-plot-th_b_8116.html
We got a lot of mangy looking dogs with feathers stuck to their chins trying to quack like ducks and waddle like Canada Geese.
that way.
Miller had the same story as Cooper – the blanket release the WH had everyone sign was not sufficient, a form of intimidation. That’s why Cooper got a personal release from Rove. Libby’s saying she didn’t need a personal release, she had his okey-dokey to stay out of the pokey a year ago.
His story is nothing changed, which makes Miller look less like a First Amendment hero, and more like a grand stander, or a chump. Suddenly, it’s okay with her? After 80+ days (sorry, I’ve been ignoring Lou Dobbs), that old journalistic principle ain’t what it use to be?
It’s Libby’s way to say “hey, man. I’ve been cooperative all along.” Perhaps they worked out a quid pro quo, and perhaps, Judy and Libby are setting us up for a “nothin’ to see folks, move along” political witch hunt scenario.
I knew it had to be Libby and Cheney.
They are The. Nastiest. Muthaf*ckas. Ever.
You have no idea how much I hoped Cheney wouldn’t survive his surgery.
Did you say that out loud?
I think you said that out loud.
I think you’re absolutely right. I don’t believe for a minute that Libby does or doesn’t do anything w/o Cheney’s seal of approval.
Something’s happened. An iceberg is melting and the 80% that’s under water and out of sight is what’s sprung Miller.
Abramoff, DeLay, and Cheney have one thing in common: money. Just like in Watergate, follow the money. There’s a slush fund that these guys thought they had iced, but that slush is turning rapidly to liquid.
Borrowing from recent Katrina imagery, Miller’s permission to get out of jail is what’s known as sandbagging.
Are we sure it was Libby and not Bolton? Or both? Or… Cheney?
andrew, i think you’re on to something … your scenarios make this timeline more plausible. It’s more than Libby, because that dog won’t hunt (i.e., it’s silly to say he needed to be more emphatic for her to finally say she’d repeat what he said to her).
That whole line about needing a release didn’t make sense to me in the first place. I’ve wondered if she was covering her own rear… or the rear of someone so far up the ladder that it was worth going to jail for.
And the only name that fits description is Cheney.
I dunno. I’m just guessing here but there is more to Miller’s story than meets the eye I think.
My money’s been on Bolton from the get-go. And by extension, Cheney, because B is C’s creature.
I’ve been all over Bolton for this like white on rice since this began too. We know his history of how he treats people who dare to disagree with him and his habit of having tantrums – insisting that everybody and their dog be fired.
Libby is too (a bunch of these criminals are) and according to the times article linked in the update they say it is Libby that finally released her.
Makes me think maybe the cheney team finally has decided on it’s defense and has everything in order to pull it off… cuz if it goes to Libby it goes to Cheney… which is why I was thinking it is Cheney’s butt that Miller was covering. An outstanding and I think very interesting question is whether bolton and libby are both cheney’s players in this. I’m guessing yes but don’t know if Fitzgerald can make a case against Bolton and Cheney. I sure hope he can take it to the ringmaster.
That sounds so fucking noble that, well, I just can’t believe it, not where Judith Miller is concerned.
Miller kept mum to avoid implicating herself, not Libby, and now that Libby has enough problems of his own, he’s not willing to take the blame for the actions of his accomplice, so he calls Fitzgerald personally and tells him that he has absolutely, completely, totally released Miller from any confidentiality agreements. The off-the-record comments and leaks we’re hearing about happened days after the real action.
Quite possibly Libby got this brilliant idea after Fitzgerald figured out that Miller was more than an innocent bystander. Quite possibly Fitzgerald agreed to let Libby cop a plea in return for the rope to hang Miller with. What does Fitzgerald care about an apparatchik like Libby? Rove is his main target, and Miller’s head on a plate would make an excellent example to discourage other journalistic mercenaries from using journalistic privilege as a cover for acts of treason.
Libby is far more dangerous than Rove. He and Cheney would chew up Rove in a nanosecond if he ever crossed them.
Rove has a prominent role in this intrigue, but he’s not the main protagonist.
Kman has been dating since ’74? I am watching and I missed that. I better start making my emails to him more personal. Any of you great writers want to help me…lol?
I can dig that he wants to stay single. And I really hope he hasn’t been dating constantly for 31 years. It’s just awful!
Dating? What’s that? Been single for ten years and loving it. Not that I don’t love you guys, really!
I don’t date either. But for him I might be willing to make an exception.
Or how about this guy?
Click on: “Photos: Welcome to Villa Oleandra”
Heehee…George Clooney can eat crackers in my bed anytime!
…that would be approximately sophomore year in high school (he’s about a month older than me).
Guess he just hasn’t found the right SO…it can be tough with some of the health challenges he faces…
The ‘waiver’ business is a farce… she had a waiver… and a tel call in August and another sometime in September from Libby giving her a ‘waiver’ — she is not protecting her ‘source’ – she is protecting ‘Judy’ —
She agree to testify after Fitzgerald visited her today. And she is testifying tomorrow. She probably knows she can’t keep up this facade any longer.
Turned on Air America … Sam Seder and Bill Crowley are giggling about Judith and said that, in the next segment, they’ll have Atrios on to talk about it.
I read what Atrios wrote and I’m still confused. I don’t get it 🙁
He has a few pieces up about her now.
You know – this could all be much ado about nothing. Perhaps she really has nothing of value to add to what Cooper and others have already told the grand jury and she just preferred to be martyred for the cause of journalistic confidentiality.
It just does not make sense that whoever her contact was would have waited this long.
Libby might have chosen to come forward now in the hopes that by revealing a lesser complicity on his part he might avoid a more serious charge being leveled against him.
Have you guys seen this?
Yeah… I’ve been wondering if that would lead to more names but it seems that door is being slammed tightly shut.
sherlock google has it tied into the Niger Forgeries in his diary…
Really? Interesting. In place of Iran-Contra we’ve got the Triple- I (Iran-Italian-Israeli) affair?
Humph… add Niger and we’ve the “NI!” affair.
I’d say that the “I-I-I” scandal would be very fitting for this “me me me” administration…
I-I-I-I
I am the cheney bandito!
Franklin is deeply connected with P2, a very powerful criminal organization that’s been doing very bad things since WW2. These creatures were rotten before the neocons even got out of their diapers.
Franklin is a sacrificial lamb who knows he has no choice but to take the rap else they’ll whack him.
Cheney, Libby, Ledeen, Rhode, Wurmser, Feith, Perle, Berlusconi, Netanyahu, and numerous others are all connected in this massive enterprise to wage war in the MidEast and, from the extremist side of the equation, destroy Arab domination and control of the region, replacing it with US control and a favored position for a rightwing Israeli regime.
Early members of P2 had supported Hitler and Mussolini and exploited the fascist totalitarianism for their own ends, killing and robbing and swindling massive numbers ofpeople with impunity. As soon as they saw their side losing the war, they switched sides, ratted out many of their lower and midlevel operatives, and set about to, (and succeeded in), taking over the Vatican Bank.
Hmmmm…just did a quick check of NYT and discovered his plea change story was filed at 2:56 PM Thursday. Miller walks out of jail an hour later.
So, she obviously went into jail protecting two sources. One, Libby; the other from whom she got documents?, Franklin.
Fitzgerald had to negotiate with her at the jail today. Seems he probably went in ready to let her know he wouldn’t be seeking to indict her under the Espionage Act for receiving secrets since Franklin rolled over. Miller gets to “save face” (as well as her ass) by yet again being waived by Libby so she can testify about her less important and only oral, source.
Whaddya think?
And again, Kieth Olbermann tells it like it is. Libby released Miller as she did a year ago.
She is free to talk (as if she had a choice). Now that Miller has gotten tired of those cell walls it will be gratifying and illuminating to see what she has to say. Perhaps she will reveal her own role in outing Valerie Plame, but don’t hold your breath.
Sorry I don’t have the link since I’m internet-challenged at my present location. It’s just a few sentences. I think they are counting on the media to be distracted by the Roberts confirmation and downplay the story.
That’s it.
2 nights in a row with something to do a little dance about… Just hope that it is still good news after she testifies!
What the hell does this mean?
“I have no comment. I have no guidance” — he has no guidance? Does that mean he hasn’t talked with Fitz yet or is there something I’m missing there?
Sounds like Fitz runs a tight ship. He doesn’t dare talk without Fitz’s guidance. And Fitz will probably say they have nothing to say. It’s very cool how he’s run a leak-free investigation … I don’t even think Arianna is getting much, even though she feigns having an insider’s lips to her ear … i think she’s just spinning cocktail party patter.
Yes. I can’t say I’m a deep follower of GJ investigations, but this was seems extraordinarily tight. Fitz must have scared the shit out of a lot of people to make them keep their mouths shut. And unlike the prosecutor down in Austin, nobody is bad-mouthing him. The suspense is killing me.
for yellowcake to hit the fan is hell.
Ken Starr did not run a leak free investigation because his enemy was Clinton. Fitzgerald is running a leak free investigation because he is a Republican investigating Republicans. I don’t want to hear how he’s not registered as a Republican. Please.
I don;t think this is necessarily a good sign. Please read my diary of today. I have a source with some interesting info
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/9/29/151720/108
Get your hankies out!
I wonder if she has told her editors — as she is bound to do — the whole truth about her participation in the CIA leak.
Bill Keller, executive editor of the NY Times, and Miller’s #1 apologist has already released this:
This is the voice of a news man on drugs. In Bill Keller’s world the public has no right to know anything and a reporter’s job is to advance the financial interests of the media corporation. Miller was just doing her job, providing aggressive assistance to an administration that will continue to allow further media consolidation and greater profits for the media companies.
This doesn’t pass the smell test. There’s something very fishy about all of this. Who knows? Maybe DeLay was the leaker and they’re just going to push him off the cliff he’s already on.
I actually think it’s Bolton…but this is all weird because I thought she already had the release from Libby…or maybe she actually got a release from Rove but this is just a cover story…I don’t know…it just seems that the powers that be have decided it’s time to hang somebody and we’ll just have to wait to find out who…
Maybe now that Judy is out, she too can get a reality show like fellow prison alum Martha Stewart. Judy, can you make a decent bundt cake? It’s a good thing.
After reading this in Miller’s statement:
…it looks like there was some sort of deal made so the fact that Libby gave her a waiver, for the third time now reportedly, isn’t the only story here.
Yes! This sounds like something foul is afoot.
That’s legal lingo for limited testimony.
okay this is off topic, but you gotta check out this site that has linked to Susan’s Bill Bennett story.
http://ubermilf.blogspot.com/
And for you too old to know what a milf is, is stands for: mother i’d like to f***.
So an ubermilf would be supreme example of this. Too comical.
Ahhh … the love of my life*, Jim Morrison, sang that.
__
*In my dreams, alas.
In re the title this post — never thought a plague of Egypt would look so good. Somebody be sure to sit on Moses!
It was a source of strength through a difficult three months to know they understood what I did was to affirm one of my profession’s highest principles.
Bathing between customers?
Oh wait — she’s talking about the journalistic profession!
Okay, the Republican’s are corrupt through and through.
I’ve been banking on them countering the Dem “We’re not Republicans! But we act like them a lot” non-strategy by running McCain (now with more Christian Credentials) as the non-Bush candidate, stripping away all of the independents and moderate Dems who’ll gladly vote for a man who isn’t afraid to talk straight. (yes, even traitor sellout McCain).
But I’m wondering if their power can last til 2008 at this rate of leakage.
I don’t really believe the following, but its an idea to toy with:
The new Republican strategy — blame Cheney. Protect Bush, make Cheney the “honorable” (to conservatives) scapegoat. And take this opportunity to dump all the scandals, Iraq, Katrina, etc. Dump them in Cheney’s lap, that is.
Then put their 2008 presidential candidate in the VP slot now. Clean start, wash the scandals out by re-casting all the front-men puppets, while keeping all the string-pullers in the background.
After all, which is more important, protecting the individuals (Delay, Frist, Libby, Cheney), or protecting the ideology.
Of course that’d require the power-hungry bastards put the ideology ahead of their short-term discomfort. But hell, pardons all around in two years, followed by better paying insider jobs could induce them…
How’s that for a wild theory?
That’s very interesting. Your theory. I like it intuitively, it sounds good.Read this diary
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/9/29/151720/108
Interesting diary. Scary, but interesting.
I guess we’ll see in a couple of weeks if your suspicion of Fitzgerald is correct. I’m hoping not.
I will say if Fitz does indict, expect the Republicans to “get religion” on corruption and do some of their own housecleaning… just in time to protect/save their 2006 seats.
And you can bank on the timing being such the idiot Dems won’t have anything left to run on if/when the Republicans do clean house — because corruption is all they’ve got, and they’ve proven they can’t manage more than a single meme at a time.
Only problem is that Cheney is the master string puller. It’ll be a bitter pill for darth cheney to swallow to have to accept the blame for is actual disasterous policy decisions (wasn’t he just about bankrupting halliburton before he moved on to bankrupting the United States of America?). Hard to see him doing that.
Oh, I agree with you and sbj (below). Cheney’s the foremost and frontmost of the puppet-string pullers. There are others, but he’s the hands-on operational manager of the White House. It’d be a huge blow to sacrifice him.
But he was done in two years anyhow. I think he’s milked Bush for about all he can get with this much scrutiny going on. And having Bush step down now would be a huge defeat, and purging all the staff might not make the taint go away. So if Cheney sacrifices himself now, he could go back behind the curtain.
Heck he’s managed the administration remotely now for years, right? From his “secret undisclosed location”.
He wouldn’t even have to serve time, he could get away with resigning, and let the “little people” do the two year stints.
But I don’t think this will happen. I’m not sure they’ve got a better alternative for the next figurehead that isn’t currently tangled up in a scandal at some level.
Still, if it did, I don’t think it helps the Dems. It’d just mean we’d be running against an incumbant again in 2008.
The Repubs are much too afraid of Cheney and the other sociopaths in his office to go against them or to ever blame him for anything.
Cheney is the nexus of the dark force running this nsane juggernaut and no-one in business or in his own party will stand up against him.
Oooh puhleeeze!
Why do you think Gawd invented the interenets baaaybeee? Mainstream media long ago lost the ability for a “free flow of information” if indeed they ever had it, and in your case and that of several of your esteemed cohorts it has clearly been the “free flow of disinformation.”
Baghdad Bob meet Jailbird Judy.
I had totally forgotten about this!
(Originally referenced here (at least that was the first time it was brought to my attention 🙂
was great. I missed that video clip. My favorite part was seeing the deer-in-headlights look on Wolf’s face, he was clearly caught off guard. Haha!
I’m sorry, to anyone out there that think this guy and his crew is a bunch of dumb hicks– Obviously, before you flame me you need to realize I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t severely dislike the motherfucker…
But man, they are very very very good. Why do we know about “Scooter”? (Well probably because we would know eventually, anyway)… But what better time to find out the day before another supreme court announcement during the most crowded news vacuum I’ve ever seen…
The scariest part about this story and the rest going on right now is not about Plame leaks, global warming, body counts in Iraq, and gigantic hurricanes…
What is the news industry going to swallow to maintain it’s uptempo shit storms that welcomes commercials for home depot and lexus so much more?
The WH is in full spincycle right now. Good point about next Supreme nominee announcement. They are so good at this. Just think about every time a “this one is gonna sink them” story has come out. The next thing we know, there is another BIG diversion. Now watch my hands carefully folks, said the Magician.
Also, I have no link. A friend sent it to me via e-mail as a text document. It’s from Bloomberg News. I have to paste it in full.
BooMan, if you feel it shouldn’t be posted in full, please delete the comment for me, I just thought it important to share…
New York Times Reporter Miller to Testify in CIA Leak Probe
2005-09-30 00:23 (New York)
By Jim O’Connell and Richard Keil
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — New York Times reporter Judith
Miller was freed from jail after 85 days yesterday and agreed to
testify in a CIA leak investigation after her confidential
source, Vice President Dick Cheney’s top aide, released her from
a secrecy agreement, her newspaper said.
Miller, 57, said in a written statement that she will
testify today before a grand jury “because my source has now
voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of
confidentiality regarding our conversations.”
Her statement didn’t reveal the name of her source. The
Times reported on its Web site last night that people officially
briefed on the case identified him as Lewis Libby, Cheney’s chief
of staff.
Miller’s agreement to testify suggests that special
prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is winding up his investigation
into whether someone in President George W. Bush’s administration
revealed the name of Central Intelligence Agency operative
Valerie Plame to reporters in July 2003. The probe also has
ensnared Karl Rove, Bush’s deputy chief of staff and longtime
political adviser. He was named by a Time magazine reporter as a
confidential source, though not as one who disclosed Plame’s
identity.
Fitzgerald said in court papers in June that the probe is
mostly complete except for an interview of Miller and Time’s
Matthew Cooper. Cooper testified in July, and the grand jury’s
term ends in October.
In addition to the probe into who revealed Plame’s name,
Fitzgerald is investigating whether administration officials made
false statements during the course of the investigation.
`Honored Principle’
Miller said that she “went to jail to preserve the time-
honored principle that a journalist must respect a promise not to
reveal the identity of a confidential source.”
“It’s good to be free,” she said in her statement.
Miller’s lawyers reached agreement with Fitzgerald
“regarding the nature and scope of my testimony, which satisfies
my obligation as a reporter to keep faith with my sources,” she
said.
New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said that
initially Miller “had only a generic waiver” of her vow not to
reveal her source, “and she believed she had ample reason to
doubt it had been freely given. In recent days, several important
things have changed that convinced Judy that she was released
from her obligation.”
The newspaper said on its Web site that Miller’s lawyers had
“intense negotiations” with Libby’s lawyer, Joseph Tate, that
were “sometimes strained.”
Negotiations
Miller and Libby talked by phone this month and Libby
released her from the confidentiality promise regarding their
2003 conversation, the paper said. Libby asserted he gave his
waiver more than a year ago, the Times said.
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the newspaper, said in a
statement last night that, “We are very pleased that she has
finally received a direct and uncoerced waiver, both by phone and
in writing, releasing her from any claim of confidentiality and
enabling her to testify.”
White House spokesman Ken Lesaius declined to comment,
citing the continuing investigation.
Genesis
The case was sparked by a July 14, 2003, syndicated
newspaper column by Robert Novak which revealed Plame’s name and
CIA association. He cited “two senior administration officials”
as saying Plame was responsible for sending her husband, former
ambassador Joseph Wilson, on a mission to Niger to look into
claims Iraq was trying to obtain uranium yellowcake for nuclear
weapons.
Plame also was named in a Time.com report written by Cooper
and published July 17, 2003.
A week before, Wilson wrote an opinion article published in
the New York Times criticizing the administration’s decision to
go to war with Iraq and saying some of the intelligence used to
justify the March 2003 invasion had been “twisted to exaggerate
the Iraqi threat.” He has accused the Bush administration of
leaking his wife’s name to intimidate him and other critics.
It is a federal crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a
covert agent, and the CIA asked for an investigation. After the
Justice Department formally opened a probe, Bush said he ordered
his staff to cooperate with investigators and vowed to fire
anyone who committed a crime by leaking the agent’s name.
According to the Washington Post, Libby in 2004 offered
waivers of confidentiality to four reporters: Cooper, of Time,
Tim Russert of NBC, and Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler of the
Post. All four have either testified or given depositions.
After appearing before the grand jury, Cooper wrote in Time
that while he learned from Rove that Wilson’s wife worked for the
CIA, the Bush adviser never mentioned her name. Novak has not
said whether he has testified or been questioned under oath.
Miller continued to refuse to testify and was jailed. Though
she never wrote about Plame, according to the New York Times she
met with Libby July 8, 2003, and talked with him by telephone
later that week.
–Editor: Sobczyk
Story illustration: For Judith Miller’s profile on the Bloomberg,
see {NXTW BBDP 4339204 <GO>}. For a menu of legal research tools
on the Bloomberg, see {BLAW <GO>}.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim O’Connell in Washington at (1) (202) 624-1925 or
joconnell3@bloomberg.net;
Richard Keil in Washington at (1) (202) 624-1925 or
rkeil@bloomberg.net