Prosecutor in CIA Leak Case Demands Time Reporter Testify

AP ^ | July 5, 2005 | Pete Yost

[summer]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal prosecutor on Tuesday demanded that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer's identity, even though Time Inc. has surrendered e-mails and other documents in the probe.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald also opposed the request of Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller to be granted home detention _ instead of jail _ for refusing to reveal their sources....

[YaYa123]

You asked, "Does anyone know if Time was in anyway legally preventd from making public all the documents it turned over"

I don't know the absolute corrrect answer, but how could TIME or Matt Cooper have been legally compelled to keep the documents, or the information, secret? (And according to Lawrence O'Donnell, they didn't. O'Donnell said he knew Rove was Cooper's source..how could he have known if Cooper didn't disclose it to him? I would think it would infuriate Fitzgerald if Cooper has made information public (via O'Donnell), that he refused to turn over to the grand jury.

I'm not the resident expert on all this, but today Rush opened his show by saying he knows Rove wasn't the source. Rush said common sense tells you that if Rove were Cooper's source, democrats would have used that information against Bush in the 2004 election.

[NathanBookman]

Just curious, did Rush say he had some inside info on Rove not being source or was it just based on his "common sense" reasoning?

[Dog]

Cooper is in a real jam.

[oceanview]

I don't understand what the delay is - their appeal to the SCOTUS is over - jail them.

[summer]

O'Donnell said he knew Rove was Cooper's source..how could he have known if Cooper didn't disclose it to him? I would think it would infuriate Fitzgerald if Cooper has made information public (via O'Donnell), that he refused to turn over to the grand jury.

I think you're exactly correct -- that's what happened here.

This weekend I thought O'Donnell was implying people in the grand jury room told him something -- but, no, O'Donnell was implying what you said, above.

Now, here is an interesting twist on all this: Some of the Dem posters are furious that if -- remember I said "if" because I am repeating what they said -- the leak was from Rove, AND Rove signed a waiver releasing all these journalists, then: Why didn't these journalists all rush out with this big disclosure? Especially when O'Donnell was apparently bragging on yb that every reporter in DC knew it was Rove?

The apparent spinelessness of the journalists who knew this about Rove (and I am only repeating what the Dem posters were saying) has some of the Dem posters angrier at the journalists than at Rove, believe it or not. Because, why then, didn't the journalists speak up?

Maybe that's why O'Donnell's numerous blog entries this weekend kept omitting the fact Rove had signed the waiver releasing all the journalists. Because it was only when I posted that, repeatedly, and others at FR posted it, that the Dem posters picked up on it. They didn't pick up on that from O'Donnell since he never mentioned it.

And, then, in the midst of this, we have Redford coming out and saying to the journalists to go after the president.

In Dem Famtasy Land, they really believed that Rove did whatever, that the President obstructed, and that impeachment proceedings should begiun any day now.


But, I have a feeling it is a little more complex than that, and this prosecutor intends to get to the truth, and the truth may not be what the Dem posters want to hear. Just my guess!

[NathanBookman]

I have no idea what your first sentence means. Are you stoned?

[oceanview]

there has to be something else going on here - because of this were a "normal" media smear job - the reporters in question would just get their stories coordinated, and would just all walk into court and lie. without any direct evidence, there would be no perjury trap for them to fall into, at best it would be a "he said, they said". so there must be something else on the table.

[summer]

yb = tv (television)

[cyncooper]

Rove is not the source.

That has been crystal clear since the start.

[pepperhead]

I am wondering if Lawrence Lassie O'Donnell will be hearing from this prosecutor soon as a result of Lassie O's antics this past weekend.

It depends on whether the prosecutor is looking for the truth or false testimony from a reporter that reads from the daily DNC talking points.

[Dog]

Howdy....just signed up today?

[oceanview]

well, the documents regarding Niger were forged - they were a poison pill planted (rumors are by the French) to discredit what was otherwise a fully developed piece of intel about the iraq/niger yellowcake purchase arrangements. that piece of the story has been lost in the haze of all this stuff about Plame.

[mware]

LOL, you noticed that too Jim.

troll alert.

[colorado tanker]

I agree with you. Why is Fitz trying so hard to get testimony out of fairly peripheral players? I think he knows he has no crime from leaking Plame's name, so he's trying to snap a perjury trap on someone.

[cyncooper]

There is proof that the documents out of Niger were forged, however,

The forged documents were given to our embassy in Italy in October 2002---well AFTER Wilson's trip in February, 2002. Those documents were not sent to our headquarters over here until February 2003---AFTER President Bush's SOTU address. Even Wilson now admits he "misspoke" (I say "lied") when he tried to tie the forged documents to his accusations.

and leaking Plame's name did come from the White House in retaliation, justified or not.

The leaking did not come from the WH at all, and the story was not given to Novak as "retaliation" but explanation.

[summer]

Re your post #51 - I get the impression this prosecutor is looking for the truth.

[Dog]

I noticed the moonbat is using the talking points attacking Karl Rove.

They are drawn to Rove like moths to a flame.

ZAP!

[summer]

fairly peripheral players?

Without knowing what exactly has happened, no one can correctly characterize who is a major player and who is a minor player in this.

[cyncooper]

It should be interesting to see how this tough prosecutor handles the White House

Gosh, the way he's handled the WH is he requested documents and testimony and they gave both.