Interesting notes and questions about the Judith Miller story

[question everything]

From The Wall Street Journal

A long story, I just picked interesting notes:

July 7, 2005

- Mr. Novak has never said whether he has spoken with Mr. Fitzgerald, nor has the prosecutor made public statements about him. Many observers assume Mr. Novak has communicated with the prosecutor as part of the probe.

= Several major questions remain unanswered. Chief among them: Who was the source for Mr. Cooper and Ms. Miller? Was it the same person? Were there multiple sources?

- Another unanswered question is whether Ms. Miller received a waiver from her source but refused it. Ms. Miller and Mr. Cooper both referred in court to "coercive" waivers from sources which they didn't consider to be true waivers. The waivers, said people involved in the case, were signed by a number of executive-branch employees during Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation, and automatically waived their rights to keep their names confidential if they provided information to reporters who were later subpoenaed.

- Yet another puzzle is that Mr. Fitzgerald's office hasn't said what crime it is pursuing. To charge someone with violating the antileaking statute, prosecutors need to show that there is intent to damage national security. Mr. Fitzgerald could be pursuing a perjury charge against a source for lying to the grand jury, or a charge for illegally revealing classified information.


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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112067431587178606,00.html