Lawyer Casts Blame on Reporter for Time in Jail

[hang a left]

Lawyer Casts Blame on Reporter for Time in Jail
Source Insists He Released Miller to Testify Last Year

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 4, 2005; Page A03

A lawyer for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, said yesterday that New York Times reporter Judith Miller and her attorneys are responsible for Miller's 85 days in jail, reiterating that she was given permission a year ago to tell a prosecutor about private conversations she had with Libby.

Libby's attorney, Joseph A. Tate, escalated the sharp dispute over exactly when Libby freed Miller to be questioned by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating whether any government officials broke the law by leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.



Miller was released from jail Thursday after serving more than 12 weeks for refusing to testify about her July 2003 conversations with Libby, on the grounds that she was protecting her source. Her release followed a lengthy conversation with Libby, during which he assured her that he had voluntarily given his permission for her to testify before a grand jury. Libby also wrote Miller a letter containing the same assurances. She testified Friday.

But Tate has said repeatedly -- and underscored in yesterday's letter -- that Libby cleared Miller to talk to Fitzgerald a year ago and that the waiver of Miller's confidentiality promise was completely voluntary.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301770.html

[napi21]

1. I've said this all along! I'm still not convinced that Judy isn't still

protecting somone else, or maybe more than one other person. Remember, she worked a deal that Fitz's questions would be confined to her correspondence with Libby.

Something else is going on here. I wonder if we'll EVER find out just what it is?

[texpatriot2004]

2. You are right, something else is going on here. Check this out

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4964475

This one is good too.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1820881#1820912

[Kolesar]

7. Your first link comes up "missing"

[texpatriot2004]

11. How wierd. Sorry about that. I looked everywhere for it...it's gone.

It was posted last night and I will try a little later to recap it.

[texpatriot2004]

3. Interesting that Judy waited until Larry Franklin pleaded guilty

to come out and be "released" from her "source."

[TaleWgnDg]

4. Figures. Indeed. Judith Miller has been tossing . . .

.
Figures. Indeed. Judith Miller has been tossing negatives at Scooter through Scooter's attorney which is a dumb thing to do. Is the public that stupid to bite into that? After all, whatever the hell Scooter's attorney wrote as a "waiver" regarding "confidences" told by Scooter to Miller about "outing" Valerie Plam is as good as if it came from Scooter's mouth! That's the law. Besides, any attorney worth his/her salt has the client sign the written "waiver." And her telephone call from Scooter while she was in the slammer was tape-recorded by the jail; again, that's legal too. So what is Miller's beef?

Well, she was in jail for not obeying the subpoena to testify before a federal grand jury; therefore the judge slapped her for civil contempt, and Miller couldn't get out of jail until she sang on the grand jury witness stand, period. There is no federal journalist-confidences-privilege. She must testify particularly since this is a potential federal criminal felony case.

So what could be going on?

Okay. Maybe if one listened to Miller during her after jail grab-the-microphone media "interview" one would have heard Miller say, "oh, and yeah, the other thing was that my attorney got the scope of my grand jury testimony narrowed to only Scooter related telephone calls!" Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Whatever the hell its worth, it seems she was in jail to stop Fitzgerald from asking her questions about any and all that he could imagine (which is perfectly legal of him to do, btw).

Did Fitzgerald, therefore, toss out the baby w/ the bath water? How come Fitzgerald granted it now and not before? Am I whistling *Dixie,* here?

Hhhhmmmmmm, I wonder what Miller doesn't want Fitzgerald to ask of her while she's testifying u/oath at the grand jury? :tinfoilhat:

Ah, to have been a fly on the wall during these negotiations between Scooter's attorney, Miller's attorney, and the federal prosecutor's office (Fitzgerald). I move my Knight and check-mate your King . . . LOL.
.

[fasttense]

5. The one thing she gained for sure by going to jail, despite

a waiver from her source, was Time. So why did she need time? Why did she delay this whole thing? What did she or someone else gain from her waiting?

[cassiepriam]

6. Time for evidence to be destroyed, witnesses to be bought off??

There was plenty of time for history to have been
re written?

[hang a left]

9. I was thinking about this last night before I went to sleep....

Why is she so insistent on letting everyone know that she had her testimony limited to just Libby. I have read two articles where her lawyer has said they were trying to get this deal a year ago yesterday. Why why why.

Is it to save face? She was limited to discussing someone who has already released her to testify as to her source? You remember all her bla bla bla about protecting sources.

OR

Did she turn? Was the jail a safe place where she could talk?

OR

Was she rolled up in the investigation already taking place before the outing of Plame of Franklin.

This entire article is MUST READ
http://antiwar.com/justin

snip>
The idea that a special prosecutor was appointed, and an 18-month investigation launched, solely because Joe Wilson's wife was out of a job never made much sense. The outing of a CIA agent was only the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, the latest in a series of incidents that underscored a gaping hole in our national security defenses. The outing of Plame – an act of utter disdain for the country, and provocative in itself – provided investigators, already hot on the trail of possible treason in high places, with an opening to make their inquiry public. "Bulldog" Fitzgerald had a bone to pick with the neocons, and once he got his teeth into it he wasn't going to let go.
snip>

and let's read that part again

snip>
The outing of Plame – an act of utter disdain for the country, and provocative in itself – provided investigators, already hot on the trail of possible treason in high places, with an opening to make their inquiry public.
snip>

So even before Plame was outed there was an ongoing investigation....and the Plame investigation has its roots in the Franklin investigation.

You could really go crazy trying to figure this thing out.

[MGKrebs]

8. Less dramatic, but she could have just been bluffing,

hoping that Fitz would move forward without her so she wouldn't have to rat out whoever and suffer their vengeance.

By the way, where is Judy now? Is the paparazzi keeping track of her? I'm just curious as to whether she is sort of in hiding or not.

[Javaman]

10. I so enjoy watching repukes feed on their young...

She's still hiding something.