Reply #183: CNN: Judith Miller-Cheney Chief of Staff Was Secret Source

[GOPAgainstGW]

Judith Miller-Cheney Chief of Staff Was Secret Source
Jailed reporter reaches deal in CIA leak probe

(CNN) -- After spending 12 weeks behind bars protecting a confidential source, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from jail after receiving permission from her source to provide evidence to a federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative's name.

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Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, called Miller in prison September 19 to personally free her from the pledge of confidentiality, a move that apparently contributed to her release, Libby's attorney, Joseph Tate of Philadelphia, told CNN.

New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said the newspaper supported Miller's decision to testify. "We are very pleased that she has finally received a direct and uncoerced waiver, by phone and in writing, releasing her from any claim of confidentiality and enabling her to testify," he said in a statement.

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The chain of events that led to the contempt charges against Miller began in July 2003, when syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who is also a CNN contributor, identified Plame as a CIA operative in his column. He cited unidentified senior administration sources for the information.

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"In recent days, several important things have changed that convinced Judy that she was released from her obligation," Keller said in a statement. He did not provide details of what those changes were. Miller said in her statement that she would not comment until after she testifies before the grand jury.

'Why didn't someone call us?' Tate said Libby signed a waiver of confidentiality more than a year ago, which Tate followed with a phone call to New York Times attorney Floyd Abrams assuring him that Libby's waiver was voluntary. Over the Labor Day weekend, Miller's attorney, Robert Bennett, tracked Tate down in Martha's Vineyard to tell him she had not accepted the waiver as valid because "it came from lawyers." "I assured Bennett that it was voluntary, and he asked, 'Would Scooter say that to Judy?' And I said, 'Scooter doesn't want to see Judy in jail,'" Tate said. "My reaction was, why didn't someone call us 80 days ago?" he said of his conversation with Bennett.

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GOPA Says>>>READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE - THIS IS VERY STRANGE, IMO

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/30/cia.leak/