Contempt Order Lifted in CIA Leak Case -(Cooper re: Plame case)

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - Contempt of court orders against Time magazine and one of its reporters were dismissed after the journalist agreed to give a statement to prosecutors probing the Bush administration leak of a covert CIA (news - web sites) officer's identity.



In a statement Tuesday, Time said reporter Matthew Cooper agreed to give a deposition after Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, personally released Cooper from a promise of confidentiality about a conversation the two had last year.


Time and Cooper had been held in contempt earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan for refusing to testify in the leak probe. Hogan rejected their claims, as well as those of "Meet The Press" host Tim Russert, that the First Amendment protected them from having to testify.


Cooper had faced up to 18 months in jail and the magazine could have been forced to pay $1,000 a day under the contempt order, which has now been vacated. Russert avoided the contempt citation by agreeing to an interview with prosecutors earlier this month, again after Libby released him from a confidentiality promise.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040824/ap_on_go_ot/cia_leak

[underpants]

1. I can FEEL Russert's head about to come apart

what to do what to do.

[lovuian]

20. It looks like Scooter Libby is going down Traitor is Ugly charge

This will ruin him politically

So many butt boys go down while the Heads are let go

Its so ugly for Bush's menials they all get so tainted Scalia Rumsfeld Powell Rice

and Rove and Cheney and Bush just smile

[The Night Owl]

2. Good news!

This might be the beginning of the end for Bushco!

[Bozita]

3. Scooter Libby -- no surprise -- Remember to vote on this

[Rose Siding]

9. Kos' post, "Plame Rumors" last night nailed this one-

Plame rumors
by kos
Mon Aug 23rd, 2004 at 20:50:02 GMT

I've received some unsubstantiated rumors that Fitzgerald's office is nearing the end of its investigation, and that it will issue three indictments including Scooter Libby. According to these rumors, John Hannah, a Libby deputy, has been "turned" by the investigators and is singing like a canary. Hannah has already been linked to the case. If indeed he has turned state's witness, it would present a major breakthrough in the case.
As for timing, while the investigators hoped to wrap up the investigation within the next four to six weeks, that timeline is now in doubt and may, in fact, be put off until after the election.

Those are the rumors. Take them with a grain of salt.
more......

http://www.dailykos.com/

[AlCzervik]

11. This part makes me think nothing will happen.

"In a statement Tuesday, Time said reporter Matthew Cooper agreed to give a deposition after Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, personally released Cooper from a promise of confidentiality about a conversation the two had last year. "

Why would Libby let him out of the agreement?

[msmcghee]

18. Possibly because . .

. . he saw he was going down and decided (probably his attorney advised him) it would look all the worse for him if he took down Russert and Cooper with him . . for no good reason.

[skypilot]

22. He'll probably just skip along...

...from "contempt" to perjury. Lying, it's all the rage these days.

[UpInArms]

25. Libby probably filled out

his pardon that will be issued and has more that he won't tell if that pardon goes through very quickly

[EST]

4. Rated "5"

n/t

[bobthedrummer]

5. And as for Robert Novak, let's not forget that he NAMED A SOURCE in 1997

the FBI mole, Robert Hanssen.

Hanssen was a spy and a TRAITOR, of course and Robert Novak cited reasons of "national security" as outweighing the ethics of journalism- so that asshole Novak is no virgin to revealing sources either.

[snippy]

6. We need a way to put pressure on Bush to order everyone

in his administration to release all journalists from any promise of confidentiality concerning this matter.

[nolabels]

12. promises, scouts honor, secret oath and etc are now more important........

than if one breaks the law. The US justice system is in shambles

The problem isn't the crooks having more advantages than common folk, the problem is, mostly crooks are running things :shrug:

[Bozita]

7. What did * know about this and when did he know it?

[Gregorian]

8. They'll all be pardoned. But it's another brick in the wall.

IF it is done before November.

I'd love to see them all in jail.

[jdj]

13. There's the answer.

They know their asses are cooked, so they want to get this done and over with in time for a pardon.

[loudsue]

14. That's exactly what's going on here. Bush is going to pardon the

whole lot of them. This whole exercise in justice was for naught.

Phucking assholes.

:kick::kick::kick:

[DeepModem Mom]

19. I'm not sure this Bush would do any pardoning -- he's not H.W. --

and the perps aren't blue-blood Bushes. What do he and Rove care?

[snippy]

24. The promise of a pardon will be made by Bush

only in exchange for agreeing not to implicate anyone higher up.

[UpInArms]

26. remember Casper Weinberger's pardon

the one that closed down Iran-Contra?

That one was issued prior to his indictment and effectively ended all of the investigation. Merry Christmas Scooter!

[hang a left]

10. Why oh why oh why

Would Libby release them if he knew they weren't gonna lie?

[MGKrebs]

15. My guess is that: There was more than one phone call

and more than one phone caller. One call mentions Plame but not her secret status. Other call mentions everything else, leaving out her name. It would have been obvious that both calls were about the same person, but nobody technically divulged her secret identity.

Can they get away with it? I don't know, although my gut says no. But ultimately, we have ask if this will, or could, affect the election. Most of us probably assume that likely Bush, and certainly Cheney, had a hand in this. The 'Pubs will be frantic to keep this mess off of those two. I imagine they will say or do pretty much anything to try to distract us from that possible connection. So they must work hard to prevent a "Reverse October Surprise"!!!

Keep the pressure on! Do not let this die! In a way, it doesn't matter how it turns out.

Internet Forum Members for Truth!!! (IFMFT)

[annxburns]

16. Is it possible that they didn't flip Libby's deputy ...

... but flipped Libby himself? Would that mean the scandal would go higher - to Cheney? It also may mean the investigation is wider than we thought and the leak could be just part of what is being investigated.

Hmmmm. Hope to hell this breaks before the election. With Cooper released - it could now.

[Rose Siding]

23. If they did flip Hannah, Libby might have decided to put his spin on it

and deal with them.

[Catfight]

17. There is nothing about integrity with the Plame outing. Bush should

really want to see someone held accountable for such a treasonous act. However, this is about Bush being spiteful and yet again using his bag of dirty tricks to hurt people for his re-election and protection. These folks are not going down easy, they'll fight all the way because the whole Republican party will be at risk if the huge scams and secrets come out. This is a secret government run by corrupt people who do not worry about pardons, they worry about the public backlash to hang them from the highest tree for their lies. This has the potential to ruin the Republican party for good.

[Supersedeas]

21. Integrity - yep, Ruining the Republic party for good - nah?

Watergate was not that long ago.

The Republican recovered from that--the electorate (such as it is) barely understand the facts and issues surrounding the Plame matter.

Thank you U.S. cable media outlets.
An educated electorate -- Rove's worst nightmare.