Posted on 07/13/2005 12:00:18 PM PDT by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON — Journalist Matt Cooper (search) on Wednesday told reporters he would give them details of his grand jury testimony detailing a conversations with White House aide Karl Rove (search) about a CIA operative — in a future issue of Time magazine.
"I'm not going to scoop myself today," Cooper, a White House correspondent for the news weekly, said outside the U.S. District Court Wednesday afternoon.
Cooper spoke after a two-and-a-half hour appearance before the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's (search) identity. He was one of several journalists to whom Plame's identity was leaked following the publication of an editorial written by her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson (search), in which Wilson criticized the Bush administration.
One of those journalists, Judith Miller (search) of The New York Times, is in jail for her refusal to name the person who revealed Plame's identity to her. Last week, Cooper escaped a similar citation for contempt of court when he told the judge his source had waived confidentiality, freeing him to testify before the grand jury.
"Today I testified and agreed to testify solely because of a waiver I received from my source," Cooper said outside the courthouse. "Once a journalist makes a commitment of confidentiality to a source, only the source can end that commitment."
The grand jury is tasked with finding out if whoever leaked her identity to the press two years ago did so with the intent of burning her cover, possibly in retaliation for Wilson's criticisms of the administration's claims that Iraq's nuclear program.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Wasn't it the Henry Cisneros IC?
I know exactly what you're referring to but can't remember the details at the moment.
An IRS Cover-Up? Senators Dorgan and Kerry try to block a report on Clinton-era abuses.
If you were Miller, and lost some credibility from your liberal friends, family, coworkers, readers and everyone else you come in contact with on a daily basis for the early WMD stories, what would be a great way to get back in favor?
Ooh, how about going to jail and becoming some kind of liberal beacon for no reason (since her apparant source signed a waiver)? She'll be more famous for what's written about her by her forgiving friends than for what she could write herself.
Oh--fast!
It clearly appears to me that Rove was yapping his big fat mouth to Cooper. Otherwise Cooper would have never had anything to yap about in the first place.
These people are so full of themselves.
It must be agreed that the NYT certainly is not openly complaining about her being jailed. I conclude, therefore, that it does not bother them too much. Are you sayiing that is pleasing to the NYT? Their complaints are far too faint. They are simply buying time and hoping it will fade. Ms. Miller, on the otherhand, has her life turned upsidedown...and the question remains...WHY?
It must be agreed that the NYT certainly is not openly complaining about her being jailed. I conclude, therefore, that it does not bother them too much. Are you sayiing that is pleasing to the NYT? Their complaints are far too faint. They are simply buying time and hoping it will fade. Ms. Miller, on the otherhand, has her life turned upsidedown...and the question remains...WHY?
The brief itself is a 1.5 Mb PDF file - fair warning.
The brief filed by 36 News organizations <- Arguing that not crime has been committed
http://beldar.blogs.com/beldarblog/2005/03/journalists_ami.html <- Commentary
I believe that only the jurors, prosecutor, and recorder are sworn to secrecy; the witnesses can relate their testimony if they choose.
Gotta love bookmarks. ;)
Or maybe her only source is not Karl Rove, and she is protecting someone else who hasn't given her a waiver.
Just so you're clear, as the tone of your characterization seems to be way off the mark, Cooper called Rove, not the other way around.
Cooper started the conversation about other policy matters and at the very end he solicited reaction on the Wilson matter to which he received a sensible and fact-based reply.
Thank God for Karl Rove and others like him who value facts and truth.
All pure speculation on my part ...
The NYT doesn't want to complain, because that would expose them as being subjected to Miller's control. They are the reporter's outlet, but without reporters, they have no product. It seems she hasn't been doing much work on her assigned beat anyway, and it is possible that her involvement in the Plame case (if any) is OUTSIDE of her role as a reporter. That is, while she is a reporter, any contact she had with the Wilson yellowcake story ws NOT as she was preparing a story on that subject.
I do agree, there is no harm in buying time, and if Miller is indeed the skunk, the NYT would probably prefer that fact to not become public knowledge.
Miller's motives are similer, to not be outed as a skunk-liar, to not expose the fact that news is manufactured in order to harm the administration, and as long as she is in jail, she gets cred with her left-wing friends.
Or she wasn't writing a story, hence has no source. And maybe she IS the source and is protecting herself.
It is a matter of record that the source involved has given a waiver. That is a fact.
Also, the grand jury apparently knows who it is as it appears they name him in the subpoena.
Boy, no kidding. I was in the doctor's office yesterday and read through Newsweek from the week after the whole false Gitmo/Koran debacle. The entire publication dripped with sarcasm at those who might be upset by their "honest mistake." After all, the source was somebody they really, really trusted.
All I could think was, "Yes, exactly like President Bush really, really trusted everybody about WMD." Oh wait...that was a lie! He could magically see though the hundreds of agents across the world that were offering up this information. Sorry. My mistake.
Sheesh.
bttt
Cooper also said he hoped his testimony would speed up the grand jury's investigation, which would allow Miller to be released from jail. When he announced last week that he planned to testify and would thus be spared from having to go to jail, he proclaimed his solidarity with Miller.
"We should all remember this is Judith Miller's eighth day in jail. The sooner this grand jury recesses, the sooner she can get home," he said Wednesday.
Cooper confirmed that his source on the leak was Deputy Chief of Staff Rove.
snip
Cooper also said he would be testifying next week before a Senate committee on a federal shield law for reporters, a measure he supports. Although 49 states plus the District of Columbia have some form of protection for journalists' sources on the books, no federal law governs reporters' privilege.
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