Lost in the rampant confusion over reporter Judith Miller’s release from jail after 85 days is the status of the federal grand jury deliberations over the illegal disclosure of a CIA agent’s identity.
Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald pressed hard for months to obtain Miller’s testimony and now that he has it, it is time to bring any lawbreakers to justice. The names of several key White House figures – among them Karl Rove and Lewis “Scooter” Libby – have come up publicly during the course of Fitzgerald’s inquiry, so the ongoing probe has garnered much attention.
Miller, a veteran reporter at The New York Times, was freed Thursday when she agreed to testify before the U.S. grand jury investigating the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. It is a crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert agent. Miller said Friday after testifying that she agreed to do it only after receiving a personal waiver from her source in writing and by phone and after the prosecutor agreed to narrow the focus of his questioning.
The Times said Miller’s source was Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Libby’s lawyer said his client long ago released Miller from her confidentiality pledge and was surprised to learn that she had gone to jail to protect him. The muddle caused many to wonder, why did Miller go to jail? (And why did Fitzgerald want her testimony so badly?)
Miller said Friday she acted to protect the bond between sources and reporters.
Bernard Grimm, a Washington criminal defense lawyer, said Fitzgerald would not have gone to the “extraordinary lengths” of jailing Miller unless he was pursuing a serious criminal investigation.
“There obviously has to be something larger going on for him to take this kind of action,” Grimm said. “When you lock up a reporter, you’re essentially locking up the First Amendment, and no prosecutor is going to do that in any kind of casual way.” Fitzgerald said in court papers in June that the probe is mostly complete except for an interview of Miller and Time magazine’s Matthew Cooper. Cooper testified in July.
In addition to the probe into who revealed Plame’s name, Fitzgerald is investigating whether witnesses made false statements during the investigation.
The disclosure of Plame’s identity by syndicated columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003, triggered the Fitzgerald investigation. Until a few months ago, the White House had maintained that Libby and Rove, senior aide to the president, were not involved in the Plame episode, widely seen as retaliation against her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had suggested in an op-ed piece that the Bush administration was twisting intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Libby met with Miller two days after the op-ed appeared.
We hope Miller’s testimony proves helpful and that Fitzgerald will now fix responsibility and punishment wherever it belongs.
