NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - Time Magazine said on Thursday it would comply with a court order to hand over subpoenaed records to a grand jury in a move that could spare one of its reporters jail for refusing to reveal confidential sources.
A judge on Wednesday gave Matthew Cooper of Time and Judith Miller of the New York Times one more week before deciding their sentence for refusing to reveal confidential sources to a grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative’s name to the news media.
(edit for late-breaking info)
"Meanwhile, columnist Robert Novak, who was the first to identify CIA officer Valerie Plame in print, told CNN he “will reveal all” after the matter is resolved, adding that it is wrong for the government to jail journalists.
Novak, who has not been held in contempt, has not commented on his involvement in the grand jury leak investigation."
It looks like all the reporters or their organizations will burn or have burned their sources except for Time.
This is another example of a “special prosecutor” gone nuts. It is not like we needed another one, but we got it anyway. This investigation should have been closed down once the fact of Plume’s using her CIA post for partisan political activities and nepotism became clear. There is no crime here.
I am guessing this will wind up like the Martha Stewart case. No underlying crime, but with lies told to investigators triggering indictments. Let’s see if I am right.
This is a waste of tax dollars and prosecutorial resources that could much better be spent elsewhere.
Too bad for the reporters, but they have to obey the law just like everyone else.
Novak is a waste of human life and to see him protected because he’s a Bush administration shill while these two had to face jail time is a disgrace to the principle of a democratic society.
He started all this but he’s not going to have to pay for it, all because he’s a Republican drone. What a disgrace this entire government is.
Your statement is just plain silly. Much more likely is that he spilled his guts and gave the prosecutor whatever he wanted, just like everyone but the Time reporter.
So you’re saying that I’m silly because I don’t think that all of that happened completely in secret and Novak is lying when he says he hasn’t revealed his source but will later.
Yeah, what a fool I am to not believe things that have no evidence at all of being true.
As usual, your filters don’t allow you to be accurate. Novak hasn’t said he hasn’t revealed his source. He isn’t saying anything publicly:
Mr. Novak has chosen to maintain his silence about his role in the inquiry despite persistent demands from some journalists, as well as others in the Washington establishment, that he at least disclose whether he had received a subpoena in the case and, if so, how he had responded to it.
You, however, are quite certain the prosecutor has conspired to give Novak favorable treatment since he is a Republican.
You don’t hear. You don’t see. You can’t get through the clutter in your mind, just like my 17 year old.
Novak is a waste of human life and to see him protected because he’s a Bush administration shill while these two had to face jail time is a disgrace to the principle of a democratic society.
More liberal sensitivity and compassion for others. NOT!!
He started all this but he’s not going to have to pay for it, all because he’s a Republican drone. What a disgrace this entire government is.
Really wish you would move to Canada or France or wherever else you think there is a better government.
This investigation should have been closed down once the fact of Plume’s using her CIA post for partisan political activities and nepotism became clear. There is no crime here.
How did Valerie Palme use her CIA post for political activities?
It looks like all the reporters or their organizations will burn or have burned their sources except for Time.
Their sources should get burned. They committed a crime. A serious, national security kinda crime.
This investigation should have been closed down once the fact of Plume’s using her CIA post for partisan political activities and nepotism became clear. There is no crime here.
Good Lord, you can’t be serious. Now it’s OK for journalists to blow a CIA agent’s cover, if it later turns out that the agent in question improperly used her position? I didn’t know the media had that kind of authority. They must have changed things since I held a security clearance.
Novak should be prosecuted, too. My brother-in-law continues to make the argument that he outed Plame in order to expose those in the administration who were trying to expose *her. *Which may or may not be true, but remains irrelevant. The only proper course of action for a journalist in that position is to notify the authorities and provide full and complete information about the incident. Period.
(edited to add: My brother-in-law’s argument seems pretty silly to me, btw. If Novak wanted to expose the government source who leaked Plame’s identity, he’s done a pretty incompetent job of it, hasn’t he?)
I never said its un American. It is every Americans right to ask questions and demand answers from their government. . There are plenty of things I wish President Bush would do differently especially as it relates to out of control spending. Adam is just one of those elitists with nothing good to say about America.
Here’s the choice-
Novak outed a CIA agent in the field, rolled on his source at first bark and has avoided answering simple questions.
-or-
Novak out a CIA agent in the field and is being protected while others are being prosecuted.
Either way he is a waste of human life and a cowardly sack of shit. Either way.
This investigation should have been closed down once the fact of Plume’s using her CIA post for partisan political activities and nepotism became clear. There is no crime here.
How did Valerie Palme use her CIA post for political activities?
Note to Art and Matt: it’s “Plame”, not “Palme” and not “Plume”. C’mon.
That’s nonsense man. Adam may not like our current adminsitration, or Republicans for that matter, but saying people hate Ameica is jsut so lame.
I am sorry but its not lame. Why is it those most critical of the US can NEVER find one thing positive to say? They just constantly complain and offer nothing positive. If its not hate its certainly disdain and all I am saying is what government in this world is better?
Holy shit! Vitus & I agree on something…and yes, your BIN’s argument holds no water. That being said, Art your “This investigation should have been closed down once the fact of Plume’s using her CIA post for partisan political activities and nepotism became clear. There is no crime here.” may have been the stupidest thing you’ve said on this board. Since when do two wrongs make a right?
It seems pretty clear that Novak was told by at least one person in the administration about Plame. Reason–not to be a partisan hack like Art–but the timing at the very least suggests that it was retribution for Yellow Gate. Why he broke the story (Art’s justification about her using her post for “partisan political activities & nepotism” is still cracking me up) is at the very least partisan politics of the worst kind. Assuming this is correct, or at least close to the truth, somebody(s) in the administration + Novak have commited a crime & should be prosecuted. The entire special prosecutor pursuit of the Time/NYT reporters seems to be a bit of a smokescreen/delay tactic, but then again who knows. Regardless, Novak put it out there–he & his sources should be prosecuted. That he most likely turned chickenshit & spilled his guts early, possibly even cutting a deal, speaks volumes about his integrity as a journalist.
Of course Art doesn’t see it this way, in his mind it is all Plame’s fault, and she got what was coming to her. Rapists use similar arguments as well. Art, you never fail to amaze me to what degree you will continue to shill for this administration.
There you go again… there’s a (not too fine IMO) distinction of being critical of a certain government, and being critical of a country. Furthermore, being critical isn’t the same as hating.
You want to rip on Adam because he has nothing nice to say ever about Bush? Fine… doesnt mean he hates America.
It looks like your understanding of this situation is about as good as your understanding of the currency markets. How is that currency speculation of yours going by the way? Presumably your near genius level IQ has enabled you to make money even though the dollar has rallied from $1.30 per euro to $1.20 instead falling to $1.42 as you predicted.
In a meeting at the CIA, Ms. Plame was discussing the intelligence from Great Britian that Iraq had bought, or attempted to buy yellow cake (uranium) from Niger. She lobbied to have her husband, Joe Wilson investigate. Joe Wilson had some association with Niger, but no expertise in this matter. The purpose of Wilson and Plame was to discredit the intelligence and thus Bush who cited the intelligence and its source in one of his major speeches (SOTU I believe).
Wilson travelled to Niger, had tea at a luxury hotel with a number of contacts who apparently denied any purported sales to Iraq. Wilson returned and started a big furor about Bush lying about the story as proven by his “investigation.” In the process, Wilson wrote a book, fantasized about Rove doing a “perp walk”, posed with his wife for Vaniety magazine and denied that his wife had anything to do with his assignment.
Ultimately, the fact that his wife got him the job became public. Great Britian stood by its yellowcake intelligence, and the 9/11 commission found that the intelligence regarding the attempted purchase was “well founded.” Joe Wilson became a joke and promptly disappeared from the Kerry campaign and everywhere else so far as I can tell.
Novak was very suspicious of Wilson’s assignment because he was not qualified. He investigated, learned of the connection with his wife, and printed the story. I don’t think Novak broke any law by doing this since it is up to the government to keep its own secrets. I could be wrong about that, but I don’t think so.
The intelligence laws are pretty specific about when identities need to be kept secret, and this series of events is not going to qualify, and there will be no indictments for the underlying noncrime (or so I predict). The investigation should have ended here, but special prosecutors have nothing to do all day but prosecute one situation. There have been no indictments, two years later. I am guessing there is some lying to investigator situation like Martha Stewart waiting to hit the front pages in order to justify the millions spent on the noncrime. We will see.
If its not hate its certainly disdain and all I am saying is what government in this world is better?
Disdain is actually a pretty good word, and it applies to both sides. Were you such a cheerleader for the US when Clinton was in office? NYT had a good editiorial theorizing that if a Dem had handled the Iraq war + the other assorted admin picadillos (fake reporters, partisan “educational”/news releases, etc) in the same manner that Bush Co. has, the Republican congress would be rolling out the impeachment papers. The hypocrisy of the right is frankly laughable, and yes, some of us actively disdain our current administration…much in the same way that repubs loathed Clinton (who, with the exception of a sexual indiscretion & his assorted moral failings as a husband, was actually a very successful POTUS). I’m not saying that the Dems are any better–the far left is almost as dangerous as the far right, however it is always the right who call it’s critics traitors, America haters, etc. The far left uses phrases such as totalitarian state & fascists. I’m not sure who does more damage.
As for what government in the world is better? Thats another can of worms…I prefer to think of it as what government serves ALL of its citizens better, and in that regard, depending on the criteria you could throw Ireland, Australia, Canada, and most of the Scandanavian countries pretty easily in the top 5-7. Our current gov’t? I don’t think it would make the top 20, however everyone feels very differently about what government should & shouldn’t do, which is why these type of boards exist.