Reply #7: Judge Threatens to Bar Leak-Case Comments

[WhiteTara]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/washington/14leak.html

By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: April 14, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 13 — The judge in the C.I.A. leak case against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff threatened Thursday to issue an order barring the defense and prosecution from speaking publicly about the proceedings.

The judge, Reggie B. Walton of Federal District Court, acted after a prosecutor's court filing was provided to reporters on Tuesday evening before it was officially filed on Wednesday.

Judge Walton reminded lawyers in a written order that he "would not tolerate this case being tried in the media." He directed each side to submit written responses by next Friday explaining why he should not issue an order restricting public statements about the case.
snip
Mr. Libby's lawyers blamed the prosecutors for escalating the case beyond the narrowly drawn charges of false statements that are the core of the indictment in the case. They said prosecutors had opened the door to a broadly based defense when they cited, in a brief last week, actions by Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney allowing disclosure of parts of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.

In that brief, the prosecutors disclosed testimony by Mr. Libby before the grand jury in which he said that the vice president had told him that Mr. Bush had authorized Mr. Cheney to divulge parts of the intelligence report concluding that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium.

Did Fitz get tired of the games and start leaking himself?