A Prosecutor Who Didn't Back Down

LATIMES ^ | 07/08/05 | Stephen Braun

[Pikamax]

WASHINGTON — Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald lived up to his billing as a hard-nosed U.S. attorney when he pressed for the jailing of a reporter who refused to testify in his investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name. But his action just as likely was spurred by the unique fact-finding mission given special prosecutors, legal observers and those who have worked with Fitzgerald in the past said Thursday.

The imprisonment Wednesday of New York Times reporter Judith Miller for failing to testify before a grand jury served to aid Fitzgerald's probe, several lawyers said.

It showed the targets of his inquiry that he meant business. A second reporter, Time magazine's Matthew Cooper, agreed to testify after also being threatened with jail. Cooper said he had been prepared to go to jail but that his source called him at the last minute to release him from his confidentiality pledge.

Even if Fitzgerald's investigation fails to produce any indictments, said Andrew C. McCarthy, a former prosecutor who is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Fitzgerald, he said, "has to show he investigated the case in a fair and comprehensive manner." So Fitzgerald's move against Miller and Cooper allows him to show that he took all available measures to get at the truth.

While McCarthy and other lawyers insisted Fitzgerald had done the right thing in trying to compel testimony, not all former special prosecutors agreed.

[Malesherbes]

Judy will spend 4 months (tops) soft time, catch up on her reading, gain a few pounds from the taxpayer chow, and emerge as a heroine in the MSM. She'll then write a book about her ordeal, hit the lecture circuit, and after banking a few million become dean of a prestigious journalism school. Poor thing, my heart goes out to her.

[q_an_a]

what if it is Wilson?