New from Murray Waas of the National Journal comes the revelation that Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald hadn't known of the June conversation between NYT reporter Judith Miller and Scooter Libby before Miller told him about her newly-found notes. More inside.
In two appearances before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's name, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, did not disclose a crucial conversation that he had with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June 2003 about the operative, Valerie Plame, according to sources with firsthand knowledge of his sworn testimony.
Libby also did not disclose the June 23 conversation when he was twice interviewed by FBI agents working on the Plame leak investigation, the sources said.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald apparently learned about the June 23 conversation for the first time just days ago, after attorneys for Miller and The New York Times informed prosecutors that Miller had discovered a set of notes on the conversation.
On four occasions, two with the FBI and two before the grand jury, Libby never mentioned the June 23rd conversation with Miller. Now, the question becomes - did Libby fail to tell Fitzgerald about his June conversation with Miller because he was never asked or because he out-and-out lied to Fitzgerald? Either way, Libby has withheld relevant information. Will Libby join Rove in testifying before the grand jury again?
The article brings more bad news about Libby's fate:
Meanwhile, in recent days Fitzgerald has also expressed significant interest in whether Libby may have sought to discourage Miller-either directly or indirectly through her attorney-from testifying before the grand jury, or cooperating in other ways with the criminal probe, according to attorneys familiar with Miller's discussions with prosecutors.
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A senior Justice Department official said in an interview that "any affirmative statement or action" that "would discourage Miller might be construed to be an obstruction of justice." The official, who has no direct involvement with the Plame probe, requested to speak on the condition of anonymity due to the political sensitivity of the investigation. "Any thorough prosecutor is going to look long and hard at that," the official said.
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But the senior Justice official added that even in the absence of hard evidence of an obstruction, "a prosecutor is going to want to know why a subject of (the) investigation did not want a witness to co-operate, and why they would allow someone to linger in jail for more than eighty days, unless they had something to hide. That is going to lead many prosecutors to redouble his efforts."
Waas' article divulges more info on the July Libby-Miller dates:
During two interviews with FBI agents and in two subsequent grand jury appearances, Libby discussed at length a July 8, 2003, conversation about Plame that he and Miller had at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C., as well as a July 12 telephone conversation with Miller on the same subject four days later.
Update [2005-10-11 19:59:21 by jorndorff]: Judith Miller will appear before the grand jury once again tomorrow.
A federal prosecutor has summoned New York Times reporter Judith Miller to make a second appearance on Wednesday before a federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative's identity, a New York Times official said.
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"She is to return to the grand jury Wednesday to supplement her earlier testimony," New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said in a memo on Tuesday to New York Times staff, a copy of which was forwarded to Reuters.
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Miller's notes could be significant because they suggest that Cheney's office knew who Wilson was and started talking to reporters about him some two weeks before Wilson publicly criticized the administration's Iraq policy in a New York Times opinion piece on July 6, 2003. (Source)