Judith Miller Agrees to Testify in Plame Probe
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James Joyner | Thursday, September 29, 2005 |
Judith Miller has agreed to testify in the Valerie Plame leak probe, after being released from her pledge of confidentiality by her source, reportedly Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, “Scooter” Libby.
Miller Agrees to Testify in CIA Leak Probe (AP)
After nearly three months behind bars, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released Thursday after agreeing to testify in the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of a covert CIA officer. Miller left the federal detention center in Alexandria, Va., after reaching an agreement with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. She will appear before a grand jury investigating the case Friday morning.
“My source has now voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality regarding our conversations,” Miller said in a statement. The Times, which supported her contention that her source should be protected, reported late Thursday that her source was Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
“As we have throughout this ordeal, we continue to support Judy Miller in the decision she has made,” said Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. “We are very pleased that she has finally received a direct and uncoerced waiver, both by phone and in writing, releasing her from any claim of confidentiality and enabling her to testify.”
If the source is indeed Libby–or, for that matter, even if it isn’t– allowing Miller to spend three months in prison before releasing her from her pledge is pretty low.
For background, see OTB’s Valerie Plame Affair category archives.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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I'm glad to finally see that Libby has the guts to come forward and release her from her obligation of confidentiality; however, doesn't this just add flames to the fire that the Republican party is having?
Wait a minute, didn't we hear months ago that she already had been released from her pledge -- but refused to testify because she thought her source had been coerced into the release?
So now she decides this time he means it, and it's his fault she was in jail for three months?
Libby had already issued a generalized statement allowing any reporters who had spoken with him to reveal that fact as well as the contents of the discussions if they wished. Apparently, Miller wanted a personalized waiver, not a general one.
The Meeting (top of story's second page)
Okay, y'all, but why would it take this long?
And having waited this long, why now? why ever?
I'm puzzled why Miller, whose lack of regard for the truth is on record, wouldn't just perjure herself anyway. Maybe she & others are scared that Fitzgerald knows enough to catch them at it.
Anderson
I'm with you. There is a fishy smell and no mackerel barrel around, so it's coming from somewhere else. This may be part of a bigger plan and its timing is the key or something being planned has fizzled. I suspect we'll find out shortly.
Since liberals have no guilt - hence never are able to experience shame, it wasn't about saving face, that's for sure!
The latest take seems to be that Libby's 1st waiver was just fine, and that Miller's asking for a 2d waiver was just her way of saving face --- "hey, I'm tired of prison, can I have a waiver?"
We will see.
--Anderson, the Guilt-Free Liberal
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