Reuters reports that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has filed a request for a new grand jury. The report stated "'the investigation will involve proceedings before a different grand jury than the grand jury which returned the indictment' against Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby." (tip)
Legal experts assert that Fitzgerald "is considering additional criminal charges in the case." In a related matter, 16 former CIA officers have written President Bush, "asking for a pledge not to pardon anyone involved in leaking Valerie Plame's name to reporters and to pull security clearances of anyone at the White House who spoke to reporters about her CIA status."
Meanwhile, the fallout from WaPo editor and reporter Bob Woodward's involvement in the case continues. On Saturday, WaPo editorial board wrote that White House "punishment" is merited only if "administration officials deliberately set out to unmask a secret agent" and says that "[i]t's not in the public interest for reporters to be forced to reveal their confidential sources in cases such as this." [Note - the editorial board does not say that Woodward should be allowed to withhold information from a grand jury - only the "public." This is not Woodward's position.]
Earlier this week, Woodward testified under oath in a deposition before Fitzgerald. Woodward stated that he learned of Wilson's wife in mid-June 2003, opening the curtain on the WaPo's own Judy Miller show. An unnamed administration official told Fitzgerald on 3 November that he told Woodward about Wilson's wife in June 2003.
Others are not so sanguine, asserting that Woodward's lucrative book deals have caused him to value access more than honor. From Marketwatch:
Just when you thought that journalists couldn't bring any more embarrassments to the craft, Woodward says, Gotcha! He now takes his place along side the others who have caused members of the profession to be mortified and, at the very least, apologize to the public about our ethical lapses...
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
Is the MSM liberal?
I don't think so. I think the press sucks up to whoever is in power, the establishment. They are apolitical, just ambitious. Currently, we have a rightist regime in power and the MSM reflects that. If someone on TV or in the newspapers is insufficiently supportive of The Establishment they are described as "Liberal" by everyone else.
What points this out lately is the circumstances of Judy Miller and Bob Woodward. Both of these people are customarily described as 'liberal', and maybe they are, but both of them have been carrying water for the rightists for at least the last two years. Miller reported "WMD" propaganda that was gossiped to her by Libby without critical examination and without corroboration, thus negating her claim to being an "investigative reporter". She investigated nothing! She slavishly reported what she was TOLD to report by a known propagandist. That makes her a clerk, not an "investigative reporter".
Woodward is the same. Of course, the rightists chose him to argue their case because of his excellent 'liberal' credentials, it being assumed that he exposed Nixons perfidies because he would be a 'liberal' opposed to Nixons 'conservative' stance. Did people ever consider that he exposed Nixon not for some notion of 'justice' but just for cheap fame and money?
Both of these people (and probably many others, like Novak) were told state secrets (in violation of the law) to manipulate their reporting. Thus, they said things in their reporting that were conditioned by these secrets and NOT by info available to citizens. They were used by clever manipulators who took advantage of their greed and ego.
No one seems to be worried that government officials, Senior Administration Officials (SAOs), are telling important secrets to any old reporter who is well known. What's to say these 'reporters' are not criminal spies for foreign powers? They have NO security clearance. Is it NOT a crime to tell secrets to these unclassified people? IS it not the responsibility of the recipients to report these national security leaks to the FBI?
Aside from the dire security implications (shouldn't Libby, Novak, Miller and Woodward all be locked up for their security violations?) how can one ever trust 'reporters' again? When you know that their opinions and reporting are manipulated by secrets?