persons who had been part of the investigation or read the grand jury record. Here's the story and links. It doesn't say Karl wasn't a source, just that Miller had acted as a source for information used to finger Plame as an undercover CIA operative. In other words, Miller was part of the conspiracy to out Plame, not just reporting what she learned from her gov't sources. Judge for yourself:
Valerie Plame Watch
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/20... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carol D. Leonnig writes in The Washington Post: "A special prosecutor demanded yesterday that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper answer questions about his confidential sources and again urged a federal judge to jail him and New York Times reporter Judith Miller if they continue to refuse to comply. . . .
"In unusually blunt language, Fitzgerald told Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan that Cooper and Miller pretend that journalists have a broader right to protect confidential sources than lawyers, presidents and law enforcement officers."
Leonnig also offers this tantalizing paragraph: "Fitzgerald may learn more details from Cooper's notes. Sources close to the investigation say there is evidence in some instances that some reporters may have told government officials -- not the other way around -- that Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA employee."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20... Adam Liptak writes in the New York Times: "Mr. Fitzgerald, who had been restrained in his public filings, was harshly critical of the position taken by Ms. Miller and of statements supporting her by The Times. His response to Mr. Cooper was barely 4 pages; to Ms. Miller, 21 pages.
"In October, Judge Hogan held the reporters in civil contempt, sentencing them to up to 18 months in jail. He suspended the sentences while the reporters appealed, and he said last week that the maximum time they faced was 120 days, as the term of the grand jury will expire in October.
"Civil contempt is meant to be coercive rather than punitive. In yesterday's filing, though, Mr. Fitzgerald suggested that criminal prosecution was also a possibility."
Here's my take on it. This would explain why Rove seems so confident that he won't be convicted under the Covert Agents Identies Protection Act (CAIPA). He compartmentalized the leak so that Plame's full role as an undercover CIA operative was sourced through Judy Miller to the other reporters. Miller is not a gov't employee, so she'd be more difficult to prosecute under CAIPA. Rove provided other information, but not that Plame was undercover CIA. Very clever, but not nearly clever enough. By structuring the crime as they did, the conspirators showed that they intended to evade a law, and that the leak wasn't just an inadvertant slip of the tongue. Now, Rove and the other government source have set themselves up for obstruction of justice, perjury, and possible conspiracy charges.
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