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Article Archives (08-7-2005)
Who is Judith Miller Protecting?
The answer is Scooter Libby ... but allow me to develop the question.
On July 6, 2005, Judith Miller of the NYT went to jail rather than testify before a grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame affair. There Ms. Miller has sat for the past 33 days and counting. But who is she protecting? Karl Rove, as have all involved persons in the White House, has executed a waiver of any reporter-source privilege that may exist. In the case of Matt Cooper of Time magazine, Cooper states that Rove (or his lawyer) expressly told Cooper to honor the waiver and testify before the grand jury. Further, Rove's lawyer (Robert Luskin) trumpeted the following regarding the extent of his client's waiver: "'His written waiver included the world,' Luskin said. 'It was intended to be a global waiver. . . . He wants to make sure that the special prosecutor has everyone's evidence. That reflects someone who has nothing to hide.'" Washington Post. Is Judy sitting in jail to protect Rove, a man who has proclaimed to the world he has nothing to hide and continually re-affirms his waiver of reporter-source privilege? Judy is, let's say, unconventional but I doubt this is the case.
Arianna Huffington, web mistress of the Huffington Post, came up with the novel theory that "Miller doesn't want to reveal her 'source' at the White House -- because she was the source"! Link. Under the Arianna theory, Judy, a full-fledged administration cheerleader for war and queen of "Saddam has WMD" disinformation campaign, wanted to put the hit on Joe Wilson because he was indirectly calling into question her reporting on the grounds for going to war in Iraq. Thus, per Arriana, it was Judy Miller who informed White House operatives about the status of Joe Wilson's wife. Arianna, Arianna, you're drinking the cool-aid girlfriend. This is the White House cover story and you are lending it legitimacy.
A recent article by Murray Waas gives us the best explanation to date of Judy Miller's important to the Plame case. According to the article, "I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has told federal investigators that he met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003." That is a very important date. July 8, 2003 is 2 days after Joe Wilson wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times criticizing the President for claiming in his State of the Union address that Saddam had tried to acquire uranium yellow-cake from Africa. It is also one day after Colin Powell brought a classified State Department memo onto Air Force One that identified Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA operative (in a paragraph market "secret"). More info on classified State Department Memo.
As I wrote in a prior article on the Plame affair, the June 10, 2003 classified State Department memo is the key piece of evidence in the entire case. In order to convict, the prosecution must show that Rove or Libby knew Valerie Plame Wilson was not only a CIA agent but, also, that the CIA was taking active measure to keep her identity secret. The classified June 10, 2003 State Department memo names Ms. Wilson a CIA "operative" in a paragraph of the memo that was, itself, marked "secret" (meaning the paragraph had a security importance above "classified"). If it can be shown that Rove or Libby read the June 10, 2003 State Department memo, they're deep in the pig sty. Deep. IMHO, Fitzgerald will indict.
The Waas article further states that Fitzgerald subpoenaed "Miller on August 20, 2004, for 'any and all documents provided to Judith Miller by such government official [who we now know is Libby] on July 8, 2003.' * * * In an affidavit prepared by Miller to respond to the request, Miller said she 'did not receive any documents' from the person she met * * * on July 8." Fitzgerald apparently wants to know if Libby showed Judy Miller the June 10 State Department memo. I believe Libby has denied seeing the memo. I also believe Rove has denied seeing the memo. Thus, if anyone can tie Libby or Rove to the June 10 classified State Department memo prior to the time Libby and Rove outed Valerie Plame Wilson to reporters Robert Novak and Matt Cooper, it would nail either Libby or Rove for perjury as well as the crime of outing an undercover CIA agent.
The focus on the date July 8 in the subpoena, which is the day Judy Miller met with Scooter Libby, leads to the inescapable conclusion that she is protecting Scooter Libby by refusing to testify. What's Scooter got to hide? If he had nothing to hide, I am confident Libby's lawyer would be making public pronouncements similar to Rove's lawyer (Luskin) about a "global waiver" and how his client wishes to urge all witnesses to testify before the grand jury.
FWIW, my instincts (from working up civil IRS conspiracy cases as a DOJ trial lawyer) tell me Libby has serious exposure for both perjury and under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act; however, I also believe Patrick Fitzgerald currently has holes in his case. Will the people within the White House who know how it went down continue to hold silent or can Fitzgerald get someone, a secretary, anybody, to crack and give up the goods on the big fish (i.e., Rove and Libby)? I'm dying to see how this one plays out.
JJR
8-7-2005
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