Court upholds contempt (Plame)

[varwoche]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two journalists must disclose conversations with their confidential sources to a grand jury investigating a leak that exposed the identity of a covert CIA operative, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

It upheld a ruling that found New York Times investigative reporter Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, the White House correspondent for Time Magazine, in contempt for refusing to testify. They each could be jailed for up to 18 months.
...
Although Miller and Cooper talked to sources about the Plame story, neither had anything to do with leaking her identity.

article


Besides the glaring open questions, it's curious that Bob Novak, the person who actually disclosed Plame's name, is absent from the list. I wonder if he spilled the beans.

 

[Zep]

Gee, some background on this would be nice...

 

[aerocontrols]

article


Besides the glaring open questions, it's curious that Bob Novak, the person who actually disclosed Plame's name, is absent from the list. I wonder if he spilled the beans.

Or plead the Fifth.

 

[varwoche]

Gee, some background on this would be nice...

Plame is the undercover CIA agent who's name was leaked to the press purportedly by someone in the whitehouse, in retaliation for her husband saying that the Iraq/Niger/uranium thing was bogus. Subsequently, several journalists refused to reveal sources and are in legal trouble.

 

[materia3]

Nothing curious about it....Cooper works for TIME which means CNN and Miller for the NY Times. Liberal media. Novak is a conservative. He was used by the White House to out Plame as a retaliation against her husband.

Novak has managed to escape scrutiny in this matter and is not required to accede to these court orders. I seem to recall Judith Miller asking why but she never did get an answer, not one she shared publicly. Yes, Novak is the person who leaked the story and he has remain tight lipped on who his source is. It has been speculated it is Karl Rove and that Rove and the White House is protecting him. In fact Cooper and Miller may not even "offically" know who the source is, having heard it second hand like everybody else. Miller has already been threatened with jail for contempt but this is probaby because she works for the New York Times. Welcome to the USSR.

 

[corplinx]

Novak is a conservative. He was used by the White House to out Plame as a retaliation against her husband.

That is unproven at this time. I'm glad to know that you know something that we do not. Should I ask who your source is or will you plead the fifth?

 

[corplinx]

The current speculation on this that I see as most plausible is:

A. someone told all three journalists
B. Novak ran his story
C. the others ran theirs but after Novak
D. Novak gave up a name for the source before the grand jury
E. The govt thinks Novak is lieing and is busting the chops of the other two to give up the real source (or at least a different false source so that they can go back to Novak).

 

[varwoche]

The current speculation on this that I see as most plausible is:

C. the others ran theirs but after Novak

Not quite. Miller investigated but did not run a story.

Ms. Miller never published an article about Mrs. Plame, although the New York Times said she conducted interviews in contemplation of an article.

article

 

[corplinx]

Not quite. Miller investigated but did not run a story.

Thanks for the correction. I actually knew this and ran across it last night as I was trying to put together the pieces of this story but glossed over it for the bullet points.

 

[aerocontrols]

E. The govt thinks Novak is lieing and is busting the chops of the other two to give up the real source (or at least a different false source so that they can go back to Novak).

I think it's more likely to be

E. The government wants to get the leaker on multiple counts, and is busting the chops of the other two to prove its case.

I think it's strange that you believe Novak fingered the wrong person as the leaker. How many more crimes would that be, (perjury, libel...) and why would Novak's lawyer let him commit them? Some forms of perjury you can hope to get away with. Not this one, I think.


MattJ

 

[materia3]

That is unproven at this time. I'm glad to know that you know something that we do not. Should I ask who your source is or will you plead the fifth?

I know nothing anybody else cannot discern from the facts and chronology. Neither Miller nor Cooper leaked Valerie Plame's name as a CIA agent. Period. Novak did. Miller and Cooper did follow-up research on the story but neither of their publications ran anything that Novak didn't already say save for Plame's husband's complaint about him being the subject of White House retaliation for his spilling the beans, early on, about the fabrication of African uranium being sold to Iraq for WMD.....what did the WH call it? yellow cake uranium.

That's a good theory. Getting Cooper and Miller to spill what they know and if Novak lied to a grand jury get him on perjuiy and obstruction of justice as well as the true source on charges of treason. I like it.

But Miller wants to know why, if she didn't break the law by releasing the name of a CIA operative, and Novak did, why she being compelled to testify and Novak isn't. It is as plain as the nose on your face. Almost from the beginning the cable news and print media speculated Rove was Novak's source. Whoever is found guilty of being the source is a traitor and guilty of treason. I hope they make Novak talk and they fry the bastard.

 

[corplinx]

I think it's more likely to be

E. The government wants to get the leaker on multiple counts, and is busting the chops of the other two to prove its case.

Doh, thats much simpler and mundane. I think you stole the razor.

 

[corplinx]

I know nothing anybody else cannot discern from the facts and chronology.

Yes, but the info coming from the white house is still not concrete.


Also, I don't think they can fry Novak for releasing her name since. They simply can't prove that he was aware that she was a covert op.

The only thing they can try him for is lying to a grand jury (if he did, and thats only speculation since we don't know).

 

[materia3]

Yes, but the info coming from the white house is still not concrete.


Also, I don't think they can fry Novak for releasing her name since. They simply can't prove that he was aware that she was a covert op.

The only thing they can try him for is lying to a grand jury (if he did, and thats only speculation since we don't know).

Okay, let's see what he did write. BTW Valerie was not a deep undercover agent. But she was "covered" by working in a front job outside the agency. However it is my understanding that it is against the law to publicly identify any CIA agent, especially the way Novak did in the press. Novak leaked the story to score points against Wilson (as is obvious in his column) and somebody leaked to Novak that Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. I agree they cannot fry Novak for writing what he did. They can fry whoever leaked to him that Valerie was a CIA agent. If he lied to a grand jury about who that person is, well yeah, they can fry Novak for that.

Novak cites "two senior Administration officials" are his source. Presumably, if he is not lying, this implicates the White House.

Mission to Niger
Robert Novak (archive)

July 14, 2003

Editor's Note: Robert Novak also wrote a column on Oct. 1, 2003 in response to the story that began to unfold three months after this column originally ran.

WASHINGTON -- The CIA's decision to send retired diplomat Joseph C. Wilson to Africa in February 2002 to investigate possible Iraqi purchases of uranium was made routinely at a low level without Director George Tenet's knowledge. Remarkably, this produced a political firestorm that has not yet subsided.

Wilson's report that an Iraqi purchase of uranium yellowcake from Niger was highly unlikely was regarded by the CIA as less than definitive, and it is doubtful Tenet ever saw it. Certainly, President Bush did not, prior to his 2003 State of the Union address, when he attributed reports of attempted uranium purchases to the British government. That the British relied on forged documents made Wilson's mission, nearly a year earlier, the basis of furious Democratic accusations of burying intelligence though the report was forgotten by the time the president spoke.
Reluctance at the White House to admit a mistake has led Democrats ever closer to saying the president lied the country into war. Even after a belated admission of error last Monday, finger-pointing between Bush administration agencies continued. Messages between Washington and the presidential entourage traveling in Africa hashed over the mission to Niger.

Wilson's mission was created after an early 2002 report by the Italian intelligence service about attempted uranium purchases from Niger, derived from forged documents prepared by what the CIA calls a "con man." This misinformation, peddled by Italian journalists, spread through the U.S. government. The White House, State Department and Pentagon, and not just Vice President Dick Cheney, asked the CIA to look into it.

That's where Joe Wilson came in. His first public notice had come in 1991 after 15 years as a Foreign Service officer when, as U.S. charge in Baghdad, he risked his life to shelter in the embassy some 800 Americans from Saddam Hussein's wrath. My partner Rowland Evans reported from the Iraqi capital in our column that Wilson showed "the stuff of heroism." President George H.W. Bush the next year named him ambassador to Gabon, and President Bill Clinton put him in charge of African affairs at the National Security Council until his retirement in 1998.

(Here's where Valerie comes in....)

Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me.

After eight days in the Niger capital of Niamey (where he once served), Wilson made an oral report in Langley that an Iraqi uranium purchase was "highly unlikely," though he also mentioned in passing that a 1988 Iraqi delegation tried to establish commercial contacts. CIA officials did not regard Wilson's intelligence as definitive, being based primarily on what the Niger officials told him and probably would have claimed under any circumstances. The CIA report of Wilson's briefing remains classified.

All this was forgotten until reporter Walter Pincus revealed in the Washington Post June 12 that an unnamed retired diplomat had given the CIA a negative report. Not until Wilson went public on July 6, however, did his finding ignite the firestorm.

During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Wilson had taken a measured public position -- viewing weapons of mass destruction as a danger but considering military action as a last resort. He has seemed much more critical of the administration since revealing his role in Niger. In the Washington Post July 6, he talked about the Bush team "misrepresenting the facts," asking: "What else are they lying about?"(*)

After the White House admitted error, Wilson declined all television and radio interviews. "The story was never me," he told me, "it was always the statement in (Bush's) speech." The story, actually, is whether the administration deliberately ignored Wilson's advice, and that requires scrutinizing the CIA summary of what their envoy reported. The Agency never before has declassified that kind of information, but the White House would like it to do just that now -- in its and in the public's interest.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml

(*)We have since learned just about all of it where Iraq and WMDs were concerned.

 

[materia3]

For the sake of completeness, here is Novak' s follow-up column of October, 2003. I am sure by this time he was sorry he ever wrote the first column even though he doesn't say so, well maybe he does. Anyway, here is his attempt to wiggle out of the situation:

The CIA leak

Robert Novak (archive/same townhall source as above)


October 1, 2003


WASHINGTON -- I had thought I never again would write about retired diplomat Joseph Wilson's CIA-employee wife, but feel constrained to do so now that repercussions of my July 14 column have reached the front pages of major newspapers and led off network news broadcasts. My role and the role of the Bush White House have been distorted and need explanation.

The leak now under Justice Department investigation is described by former Ambassador Wilson and critics of President Bush's Iraq policy as a reprehensible effort to silence them. To protect my own integrity and credibility, I would like to stress three points. First, I did not receive a planned leak. Second, the CIA never warned me that the disclosure of Wilson's wife working at the agency would endanger her or anybody else. Third, it was not much of a secret.

The current Justice investigation stems from a routine, mandated probe of all CIA leaks, but follows weeks of agitation. Wilson, after telling me in July that he would say nothing about his wife, has made investigation of the leak his life's work -- aided by the relentless Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. These efforts cannot be separated from the massive political assault on President Bush.

This story began July 6 when Wilson went public and identified himself as the retired diplomat who had reported negatively to the CIA in 2002 on alleged Iraq efforts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger. I was curious why a high-ranking official in President Bill Clinton's National Security Council (NSC) was given this assignment. Wilson had become a vocal opponent of President Bush's policies in Iraq after contributing to Al Gore in the last election cycle and John Kerry in this one.

During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue.

At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection but said she was delegated to request his help. He asked me not to use her name, saying she probably never again will be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause "difficulties" if she travels abroad. He never suggested to me that Wilson's wife or anybody else would be endangered. If he had, I would not have used her name. I used it in the sixth paragraph of my column because it looked like the missing explanation of an otherwise incredible choice by the CIA for its mission.

How big a secret was it? It was well known around Washington that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Republican activist Clifford May wrote Monday, in National Review Online, that he had been told of her identity by a non-government source before my column appeared and that it was common knowledge. Her name, Valerie Plame, was no secret either, appearing in Wilson's "Who's Who in America" entry.

A big question is her duties at Langley. I regret that I referred to her in my column as an "operative," a word I have lavished on hack politicians for more than 40 years. While the CIA refuses to publicly define her status, the official contact says she is "covered" -- working under the guise of another agency. However, an unofficial source at the Agency says she has been an analyst, not in covert operations.

The Justice Department investigation was not requested by CIA Director George Tenet. Any leak of classified information is routinely passed by the Agency to Justice, averaging one a week. This investigative request was made in July shortly after the column was published. Reported only last weekend, the request ignited anti-Bush furor.

 

[corplinx]

Novak cites "two senior Administration officials" are his source. Presumably, if he is not lying, this implicates the White House.

Yes. He does cite them. You are correct.

However, there is no indication that this was an "outing" meant to pay back for Robert Wilson for using the forged receipt as a platform to distort Iraq's relationship and dealings with Niger.

 

[materia3]

Yes. He does cite them. You are correct.

However, there is no indication that this was an "outing" meant to pay back for Robert Wilson for using the forged receipt as a platform to distort Iraq's relationship and dealings with Niger.

Here is a piece datelined today from Forbes that discusses this subject. I am posting the URL and some brief parts of this much longer piece:

http://www.forbes.com/business/services/2005/02/16/cx_da_0216topnews.html

Top Of The News
Expose The Press Players
Dan Ackman, 02.16.05, 9:12 AM ET



NEW YORK - News accounts of the appeals court decision in the Valerie Plame affair emphasize that reporters must testify to a grand jury or face jail. But that's not quite right. The court's ruling yesterday was really that anyone and everyone must testify to the grand jury, reporters being no exception.

I wouldn't quite say there was no indication. Here's an indication:

The Plame affair, as the court noted, started with a famous 16-word statement by President George W. Bush in his January 2003 State of the Union Address: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This was one of many statements that now appears false if not reckless.

Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, then wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, in which he claimed to have been sent to Niger in 2002 by the Central Intelligence Agency in response to inquiries from Vice President Dick Cheney and that there was no credible evidence of the Iraq-Africa-uranium connection. Soon after, Novak wrote in his column in the Sun-Times, which is owned by Hollinger International (nyse: HLR - news - people ), that Plame was a CIA agent. Other similar reports followed, which led to a federal criminal investigation of who outed Plame. Wilson and others have charged that high officials in the Administration exposed Plame to punish him for telling the truth about the Africa uranium.

Insofar as Novak is concerned, action is being taken against him but it has not received as much press as that against Cooper and Miller who were the targets of this court action. This is covered elsewhere in the piece.

Regarding Novak's shameful attempt at wiggling out by claiming Plame's CIA identity was no secret, he misses the point. He is an American citizen. If he, I, you corplinx or other loyal American citizens knew Plame was a CIA employee working with a cover (which was blown by Novak) so what? We do not call up AlQueda or any other enemy of America and tell them. This is what Novak did when he published this. So I know an FBI agent and a cop working undercover. Do I write a story for the newspapers about them? No. And then there is Novak's uncheckable statement that the CIA didn't tell him his outting Plame would put her in danger. I am really curious about what was in his mind. Did he call the CIA and ask them? What would he expect them to say? Nothing and nothing was what he got. Novak is the biggest dirtbag after the leakers in this whole affair and he'll probably get off. Also according to the Forbes piece he did not testify to the grand jury on the identity of the two highly placed admninistration officials yet and had his lawyers fight off compelling him to do so ... well, so far.

His October 1, 2003 attempt to wriggle his way out of this was more disgraceful then his first column that started it all.

 

[Zep]

Plame is the undercover CIA agent who's name was leaked to the press purportedly by someone in the whitehouse, in retaliation for her husband saying that the Iraq/Niger/uranium thing was bogus. Subsequently, several journalists refused to reveal sources and are in legal trouble.

Thank you kindly. All I have seen of this here was some ruckus about CIA agents being named and the Whitehouse denying something. Everyday stuff...

 

[materia3]

This memorandum came out yesterday detailing a telephone interview with Joseph Wilson who says he was contacted and interviewed by the phoney White House gay prostitute reporter known as Gannon whose real name is Guckert. So the story gets better and better........fascinating stuff.

Sorry to bore you Zep......

http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/2/16/104121/594

A Phone Conversation with Ambassador Joseph Wilson

By WilliamPitt,

Wed Feb 16th, 2005 at 10:41:21 AM EST :: Media ::

I spoke this morning with Ambassador Joseph Wilson in conection with an article I am working on that focuses on Bush's standing as the defender of our national security. Ambassador Wilson had a few thoughts on the Gannon/Guckert story:

"The idea that someone with such a limited track record in journalism would be entrusted with a classified document, or information related to a classified document, is really unheard of unless the information was planted with him. If you talk to any experienced journalist, they will tell you it takes time to develop sources and trust before sensitive information is shared."

More...

"The interesting connection here is between Eberle and GOPusa. Such a connection would definitely get McClellan’s attention. I have read that Gannon managed to get an interview with Karl Rove, which is hard to get. Eberle is Houston political activist involved in Republican party politics. GOPusa and Talon News were clearly organizations designed to put forward the Republican point of view, which is fine of itself. We know they use right-wing blogs to get stories into the mainstream media. The question is did they skip a step by having a right-wing blog with a 'White House Bureau Chief' who is apparently connected inside the administration."

"I don’t think there is a secret CIA memo. When Gannon interviewed me, he said 'a memo prepared by intelligence.' That could be INR. I've heard of a story about an INR memo talking about a meeting in 2002 with my wife (Valerie Plame) discussing sending me to Niger. Valerie wasn't at that meeting. If the memo was talking about another meeting, they don’t know what they’re talking about, because she wouldn’t have been involved. Valerie doesn’t think the meeting actually took place."

"I had one reporter tell me that the person who wrote the memo wasn’t at any meeting, and had quoted someone who had also never been to any meeting. The whole thing is rubbish, and tracks back to the old nepotism charge and the six month smear campaign against me. Bob Novak was quoted as saying I shouldn't have been sent to Niger because I didn’t have any nonproliferation experience. Yellowcake isn’t proliferation, its slightly refined rock."

"I think Patrick Fitzgerald is going to indict. I think he has enough to indict. Miller and Cooper are going to be required to talk about who it was that called them about Valerie. A journalist protecting their sources, protecting sources revealing government wrongdoing is one thing. But these sources were committing a crime, and there isn't any protection there. I'm not offering my own opinions on this Miller/Cooper thing; this is the opinion of the court, which made the distinction between exposing government wrongdoing and protecting those who commit wrongdoing. I have no stake in the case, and no idea if they will testify."

"I don’t know if Gannon was subpoenaed by Fitzgerald. He said he was, and now he is saying he wasn't. Perhaps he was questioned and then they backed off. The real question about him is who did he know, and how did he get the job and the contacts."

"I don’t know how you ever get your honor back."

 

[Orsino]

Bob Novak is an unprincipled whore. I don't imagine that he'll be a stickler for right of a real journalist to conceal his sources. After all, he's forgotten it before.

It is possible that his high-level connections are protecting him, but if he actually feels threatened in this matter, I imagine he'll sing.