Media want documents on Fitzgerald's subpoenas in CIA leak case

[Judi Lynn]

Media want documents on Fitzgerald's subpoenas in CIA leak case
The Associated PressPublished: December 22, 2006

WASHINGTON: Two news organizations are asking a federal judge to unseal documents in the case of a CIA agent whose name was leaked, arguing that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald never needed the testimony of reporters who were threatened with jail time because he knew the source of the leak all along.

The Associated Press and Dow Jones, in court papers filed this week, asked for the release of the sworn statements Fitzgerald used to justify subpoenas for New York Times reporter Judith Miller — who was jailed in 2005 for refusing to testify — and for Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

Fitzgerald wanted the reporters help in his investigation of the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify. Cooper testified under a court order.

"Recently the public learned that the special counsel's pursuit of those reporters was entirely unnecessary for him to determine who leaked Ms. Plame's name to Mr. Novak," lawyers for the news services wrote.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/22/america/NA_GEN_US_CIA_Leak.php

[Peace Patriot]

1. Blah, blah, blah, blah, these S.O.B.s who served Bush Junta propaganda to

us, 24/7--AP, Dow Jones, the New York Times, Time magazine and all their war profiteering corporate news monopoly brethren--probably all belong in the slammer like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice. Together they cooked up a heinous, illegal war. Together they colluded in marginalizing, silencing and purging voices of dissent within and without the Bush Junta. Together they covered up Stolen Election II and the takeover of our election system by Bushite corporations using "trade secret," proprietary programming code to "count" all our votes. They have covered for the Bush Junta at every turn--on illegal, heinous war, on the slaughter of a hundred thousand innocent people, on the torture of prisoners, on treason, on domestic spying, on grand theft of the federal treasury. Together they contrived to destroy the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution. Now they want the protection of the Constitution. Jerks. Liars. Corporate shills. They are a disgrace their professions. And I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. I think their corporate charters ought to be pulled and their corporate news monopolies dismantled. And if they were to all end up in jail, for a little political re-education in Guantanamo Bay, it would probably help, not harm, American journalism.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Like you said, and besides...

knowing and proving are two different things. The testimony might have been necessary in order to persuade a jury of the facts.

[Pastiche423]

3. Why does the media want the docs?

It isn't mentioned in the article by the media.

Could someone be pushing them?