I suspect we can expect the Plame Game to kick into high gear now that Mrs. Miller has been released from jail:
Judith Miller, the reporter for The New York Times who has been jailed since July 6 for refusing to testify in the C.I.A. leak case, was released Thursday from a Virginia detention center after she and her lawyers reached an agreement with a federal prosecutor in which she would testify before a grand jury investigating the case, the publisher and the executive editor of the paper said.
Ms. Miller was freed after spending more than 12 weeks in jail, during which she refused to cooperate with the inquiry. Her decision to testify was made after she had obtained what she described as a waiver offered “voluntarily and personally” by a source who said she was no longer bound by any pledge of confidentiality she had made to him. Ms. Miller said the source had made clear that he genuinely wanted her to testify.
That source was I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, according to people who have been officially briefed on the case. Ms. Miller met with Mr. Libby on July 8, 2003, and talked with him by telephone later that week, they said.
Discussions between officials and journalists that week that may have disclosed the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency operative, Valerie Wilson, have been a central focus of the investigation.
Ms. Miller said in a statement that she expected to appear before the grand jury on Friday. Ms. Miller was released after she and her lawyers met at the jail with Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the case, to discuss her testimony.
I don’t understand why she was in jail until now if she spoke with Libby three months ago, and I would suspect the best place to go for such speculation would be Kevin Drum and Tom Maguire.
Davebo
Judy had to spend a few months in Jail while Dick and Karl decided who would take the fall.
Shygetz
Now maybe Scooter can join G. Gordon Liddy on the talk show circuit of convicted political felons.
DougJ
What’s she doing to do, read aloud from Who’s Who? *All* the relevant information — all the leaked “secret identities” — can be found in Who’ Who. Why on earth is this being investigated?
Rusty Shackleford
Miller found out she wasn’t going to receive her “Get Out of Jail Free” card in October like she had thought and will sing this afternoon.
Oh, and DougJ may be the Dumbest Man on Earth.
Kirk Spencer
Something I haven’t seen in any blogs about this that I think important is in her statement to the press last night. Let me quote it here:
In all the bits about defense of sources and all that, there’s that very curious element that implies Mr. Fitzgerald agreed that the questions wouldn’t go in certain directions. I don’t know what it means, but I think it a significant line.
Shygetz
Rusty, turn on your snark sensors; DougJ just buzzed the tower.
Davebo
Kirk,
I seriously doubt Fitzgerald negotiated much regarding the questions that would be asked.
Miller had no choice, she had been released of her promise to protect her source on multiple occasions.
As to why she decided to give up yesterday, I suspect Fitzgerald notified her attorney that he was going to go for criminal obstruction charges that would have outlived the grand jury’s tenure and could have kept her in jail indefinately.
Geek, Esq.
She had gotten everything she could out of the situation. It was all a bunch of theater aimed at restoring her justly tarnished reputation as a journalist.
She wasn’t getting any more benefit from her time in jail, so it was time to leave.
ppGaz
Heh. Doug, you bagged another one. You make it look easy, man.
Ancient Purple
Alas, it has failed. With the exception of her own newspaper (NYT), I don’t think that anyone is going to be cozying up to Ms. Miller.
At best, she will write a book about her experiences, NYT will feature it on their literary page and then the book will sell 50,000 copies at best, while in 5 years, people will say, “Judy Miller who?”
DougJ
Here’s what I want to know: why is that when Karl Rove lies, it’s a freaking federal case, whereas when Aaron Broussard lies, all he gets is a grilling from Tim Russert?
I also want to know: *how* exactly is this different from what Clinton did? How is having an affair with an intern different from outing a CIA agent and then possibly lying to a federal prosecutor about it? All you people who defended Clinton ought to be defending Rove. Can’t you see what hypocrites all of you are?
When that grand jury learns that everything they’ve heard can be found in Who’s Who, they’re going to laugh Fitzjihad all the way back to Chicago.
Aaron
Oh, DougJ, I feel sorry for you.
When asking such questions, FIRST check the little letter begind the person’s name.
D = saint
R = devil incarnate
It’s just that simple.
DougJ
I see, so Aaron Broussard can go on and tell the mother of all whoppers, a story that degraded our president, gave aid and comfort to our enemies, and weakened the morals and values of the nation, but Karl Rove lets out one eenie-weenie piece of classified info (info which can be found in Who’s Who) and then tells a little white lie to a prosecutor about it, and suddenly he’s Public Enemy Number One.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
Well, thank God this is all over. Now the Wilsons can go back to protecting their identity by posing in Vanity Fair.
DougJ
And writing “undercover CIA agent” by their names in Who’s Who.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
Or by publicly making campaign contributions using the fake co. name of her faux CIA front company.
John S.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
It is refreshing to see some truth in advertising.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
This is a bit off topic, but I always wondered: if the NY Times reporters were so good, how come they never figured out Jayson Blair was going Weekly World News on a daily basis?
DougJ
Oh Boy, if Joe Wilson was an undercover CIA agent, then why the hell was he writing articles in the NYT? What kind of an undercover CIA agent does that?
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
Awwwwww. Little upset that Karl Rove didn’t get the Martha Stewart treatment, are we?
DougJ
Oh Boy, did Karl Rove do some insider trading too? I haven’t heard about that.
Andrei
Now THAT was funny. I love it.
I swear to God, DougJ needs to write for Comedy Central if he already isn’t.
Tim F
One could ask OBS whether Brewster Jennings was known as a front company before Bob Novak blew Plame’s cover. If it was not known at the time then it stands to reason that she should list B.J. rather than the CIA as her employer.
I miss Darrell too, OBS, but you can’t fill the gap by trying to be Darrell. It just isn’t the same.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
Ok, I probably shouldn’t say anything, but let me be coy: Have you ever seen KR and MS in the same room together?
Andrei
Where did that Cordial Rick go? The one who thought the source of this leak and all this mess was going to be Colin Powell? Now I know why he never took my bet. He knew he was wrong.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
Man, I love to see the Left defend the CIA. I hear Plame is the operative who actually created Osama Bin Laden herself, in between her “inner city crack” plants.
I hear Novak’s writing a column now exposing the Easter Bunny as a the fictitious fraud he is. Does that man have no shame?
I love the photos that Wikipedia has of Plame and Wilson. She’s very attractive. So I can’t remember, is Plame afraid her life is in danger or is she gunning for a role on Desperate Housewives?
John S.
Keep earning that moniker with these bold leaps of…
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
Tim F
That was a wonderful response to my question, except that I missed the response part. Help a brother out.
Tim F
Why am I sitting here arguing against the wingnut JV team? Wake me up when Mac Buckets or Defense guy wanders over from the stupid
SummersBennett thread.tBone
I don’t know if OBS is even qualified to be a waterboy for the JVs.
guyermo
i think you have the wrong wilson as the CIA agent.
…possibly..
Shygetz
C’mon, Tim, everyone knows that you have to schedule a few Div. 1-AA teams a year to whip up the alumni. So go on out there and give ’em a show.
ppGaz
Are you REALLY that stupid? I thought the name was just a joke.
The faux company was the public face for everything she did that would require the name of an employer. IT WAS A COVER. Of course she publicly displayed it … THAT’S WHAT IT WAS FOR: PUBLIC DISPLAY.
Jesus, where do you morons come from?
Tim F
Ah yes, the other self-avowed researcher. Maybe you could get OBS’s back? He could use the help.
DougJ
Okay, ppgaz, but how do you explain undercover agent Joe Wilson writing an Op-Ed piece for the NYT? If his mission to Niger was really part of some top secret CIA mission, why the hell did it publicize it so much? A lot of our enemies *do* read the NYT, you know. And a lot read Who’s Who as well. It is simply irresponsible for the Times and Who’s Who to go around printing classified info like that. When is *that* going to be investigated?
DougJ
I don’t know which is worse, the hypocrisy of the Democrats who are after Rover for this or the racism of the Democrats who are after Bill Bennett.
ppGaz
I assume that he was stringing for NYT when he went to Niger. He and Dan Rather conspired to play dirty tricks on the yellowcake story. They are both Saddam-loving terrorist apologists.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
I thought Plame used her OWN real name next to her fake company.
I hear she’s got new headshots coming out, too, replete with Groucho glasses.
I feel safe with the Wilsons/Plames helping to keep the country secure, almost as secure as I feel when I read Larry Johnson’s August 2001 piece saying terrorism is no threat.
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
And since the NYT’s Matt Cooper’s wife works for the DNC and since Wilson actively and openly campaigned for Kerry, I can only conclude that there’s nothing partisan about this whole affair.
DougJ
I smell a medal of freedom for Scooter Libby.
John S.
And since money is green and since leaves are green, I can only conclude that leaves are money.
Isn’t deductive reasoning fun?
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
Well, isn’t money made of paper?
John S.
Actually, no. Currency “paper” is composed of 25 percent linen and 75 percent cotton whereas common paper is made up of wood pulp. Therefore, “paper” money is really more of a cloth than it is a paper.
But thank you for making me smile and say…
Oh,Boy.Stupidity!
ppGaz
You are shocked — shocked! — to find out that there is partisanship afoot here!
Okay, just kick it up one more little notch … and you’ll be able to spoof DougJ without ever getting caught!
You satirists …. you chuckelheads!
Mac Buckets
(wandering)
La-da-dee-da La-da-dum-dee
What’s all this then?
Geek, Esq.
Ari Fleischer.
Tim F
Very good then. I propose that we start a Plame pool – people pitch in, say, twenty dollars and guess who’ll be indicted, what they’ll plea and the verdict they’ll get. Whoever wins can go double-or-nothing regarding whether they’ll all get pardoned. Lose and John keeps the dough.
Any takers?
Narvy
I just wandered in, too. Small world. I’ve been looking for Mac since he wandered away from the Dreier thread and left me standing on a street corner calling for Anarchy before explaining how the USA PATRIOT Act enhances our freedom. And here he is. What a stroke of luck!
Tim F
It just occurred to me that if the guesser wins the double dough has to come from somewhere. Never mind that part.
jobiuspublius
You stingy bastards! Why didn’t y’all tell me that Bennet’s brother is Wilson’s lawyer. Damn you fucktards!
donald
Well Big Doug, If you have really read about the Plame/Wilson saga you know that she was not an undercover CIA agent, but that doesn’t matter to your pea sized brain. She was at one time, but had removed from that assignment for a number of years in accordance with federal law. You also know that Scooter Libby released her, and apparently has encouraged her to step forward. You also know that this was a charade on her part. You also know that Wilson was put onto the assignment by Plame, went to Nigeria found evidence that there were negotiations for the yellow cake, returned and penned a political screed in the new york times (I don’t think I’ll capitalize their title anymore, seeing as how they have the credibility of Creative Loafing) that has been since discredited in public federal hearings. And you know damned well, that if she had any malfeasance or crime to report on Dick Cheney or Scooter Libby she damned well would have. I have seen no evidence recently of journalistic ethics out of the new york times (Journalism major here, Mr. Butler would be aghast), so why wouldn she. She is protecting Plame/Wilson from a crime. That is my speculation, and I’m sure I’m right. You, however either can’t read, or are so sleazy that you will never face facts. And they looked positively snotty in that Vanity Fair cover.
donald
Oh, and Bill Clinton committed perjury regarding federal legislation that he championed. See he committed a felony, that was proven in impeachment. See that’s the reason he lost his license to practice law in I believe Arkansas, and before federal courts. So in conclusion, Libby, no crime, no subterfusion, Clinton, sexual predator. And remember, his friends laugh at his sexual appetite, they just don’t call him a predator.
DougJ
Are you familiar with the idea of trial by jury? I guarantee that if Karl Rove were tried by a group of Democratc Congressman, he would be “proven guilty” too.
Really, what you say is just beyond idiotic. I couldn’t be that stupid if I tried.
skip
So . . .Libby says he discussed Plame being a CIA officer without bothering to check if she was covert. If true, he has no business being in the employ of the White House.
Com Con
The worst part is, everything he told her is in Who’s Who. Is that going to be a crime now, reading Who’s Who?
When you contrast the so-called crimes here with the actual, quite hideous crimes of one William Jefferson Clinton, a serial liar and sexual predator, you begin to see what a stinking den of hypocrisy the Democratic party is.
donald
Really now, well let’s go over some basic civics. Impeachment is a trial conducted by legislative branches against members of government. It was in the impeachment hearings that it was determined that there was a blue semen stained dress containing Bill Clinton’s DNA that belonged to a fat whore named Monica Lewinsky. It was established (And confirmed with a quivering lipped admission by the chief sexual predator himself) that Ms. fat whore was an intern working for the sexual predator. Now, as I mentioned in an earlier post, if this means we can slap asses and bone the staff without recriminations, then great! I’m on board. But if not, then read the fucking law. And please show me where I’ve mis-represented or missed something here. I’ve said it before, I have exactly no love for the republican party. They’re stupid. But the democratic party is like a completely sleazy evil lawyer, who would anal rape ther mother to win a case. Deny the facts all you want. Have a nice day.
John S.
2005
Still all Clinton, all the time.
The way you conservatives continue to rail about the man one would think that he personally came into each and every one of your homes and personally had sex with your wives.
Com Con
Clinton disgraced the White House. He lied before a grand jury. He was a sexual predator. He had the moral fiber of a slug.
Whatever Rove and Libby did or didn’t do, and I don’t think they did much of anything besides discuss information that was already publicly available in many places, what they did was political, not moral. Politics makes people do all kinds of things, and I can accept that. What I cannot accept is immorality. And Clinton had that in spades.
John S.
LOL
That is rich…morality and politics.
scs
Does anyone have an update on who was Novak’s second source from the administration?
DougJ
Scs, I think it was Laura Bush.
Baron Elmo
George H.W. Bush cheated on his wife for years with a woman named Jennifer Fitzgerald, who worked for him “in a variety of positions” as the Washington Post put it, since 1974. Bush put her on the government payroll as the State Department’s deputy chief of protocol after his election in 1984. Damn near the entire Washington press corps knew about her, but apparently every paper was waiting for someone else to break the story first. Dorky persona to the contrary, Bush had quite the reputation as a hardcore skirt-chaser throughout his entire career in the political arena, with more than a few notches on his gun.
But why would good Americans like Com Con or Donald want to know such things? Surely there’s still dirt on Bill and Monica waiting to be unearthed…?
donald
They should have broken the story. If a powerful person uses that sway over subordinates, then there should be hell to pay. Unless of course, it means we get to slap asses, and nail the staff. See, I’m consistent, you’re not.
donald
Oh by the way, applying the laws that existed at the time of course. Also, I’d like to see some actual evidence before proceeding…you know like a semen stained dress etc…actual proof. Ugh, not that I personally would want to look at anybody’s semen stained dress, I think I’d leave that up to the professionals!