Free Republic

Democrat leaders and editorialists accusing Karl Rove of treason for referring to CIA agent Valerie Plame in an off-the-record interview are ignorant of the law, according to the Washington attorney who spearheaded the legislation at the center of the controversy. Vanity Fair photo - (do they look angry about her "outing?") Plame's circumstances don't meet several of the criteria spelled out in a 1982 statute designed not only to protect the identity of intelligence agents but to maintain the media's ability to hold government accountable, Victoria Toensing told WorldNetDaily. Toensing – who drafted the legislation in her role as chief...

Back in October of 2003, I offered a $100 RuthsChris Steakhouse gift certificate to the first journalist who would tell the public whether Val Plame was or was not a "Covert Agent" according to the law in question. YO' MEDIA, FREE MEAL OFFER: Is Joe Wilson's Wife a "Covert Agent" Under That Law? abner and jimfree added $100 each, bringing the bounty to $300. It went up 10/5/03 and after almost EIGHT months, I recided the offer on 5/31/04 due to lack of response, even though we had faxed the offer to numerous Washington newsrooms and bureaus. By that...

The former prosecutor who helped draft the law that Democrats say was violated when someone in the Bush administration leaked a CIA worker's name to columnist Robert Novak now says that no laws were broken in the case. Writing with First Amendment lawyer Bruce Sanford in the Washington Post recently, former Assistant Deputy Attorney General Victoria Toensing explained that she helped draft the law in question, the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Says Toensing, "The Novak column and the surrounding facts do not support evidence of criminal conduct." For Plame's outing to have been illegal, the one-time deputy AG says,...