WASHINGTON (AP) - Avoiding potential jail time, a Time magazine reporter has given a statement to prosecutors investigating the Bush administration leak of a covert CIA officer's identity.
In a statement Tuesday, Time said reporter Matthew Cooper agreed to give a deposition after Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, personally released Cooper from a promise of confidentiality about a conversation the two had last year.
Cooper was held in civil contempt earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan for refusing to testify in the leak probe. Hogan rejected Time's 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 earlier to an interview with prosecutors, again after Libby released him from a confidentiality promise.
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBRZRIHAYD.html