by antiaristo » Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:55 am
<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Times Reporter to Face Grand Jury Again</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Wednesday October 12, 2005 10:31 AM<br><br><br>By PETE YOST <br><br>Associated Press Writer <br><br>WASHINGTON (AP) - New York Times reporter Judith Miller is giving prosecutors details of a previously undisclosed conversation she had with Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, adding a new dimension to the criminal investigation into the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity. <br><br>Miller was to testify for a second time to a federal grand jury on Wednesday, a day after she turned over notes from her June 23, 2003, contact with I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby and underwent questioning by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. <br><br>Miller's notes, according to a story published last weekend in the Times, refer to Bush administration critic and former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson. <br><br>The prosecutors have been examining the roles of Libby, presidential aide Karl Rove and others in the Bush administration in the leak to reporters of the identity of Wilson's wife, covert CIA officer Valerie Plame. <br><br>Before the June 23 Miller-Libby conversation, the Times and The Washington Post had both anonymously quoted Wilson questioning the Bush administration's handling of prewar intelligence on Iraq. On July 6, 2003, the Times published an op-ed piece by Wilson suggesting the Bush administration had twisted intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq's nuclear weapons program. Eight days later, columnist Robert Novak exposed Plame's identity as a CIA officer, saying his information had come from two administration officials. <br><br>Miller never wrote a story about Wilson or Plame. She testified Sept. 30 about two conversations with Libby in the days after Wilson's op-ed piece in The Times came out. <br><br>The newspaper said in a memo to its staff that once Miller's obligations to the grand jury are fulfilled, The Times intends to write ``the most thorough story we can of her entanglement with the White House leak investigation. It's a complicated story involving a large cast, and it has required a meticulous reporting effort - in part to chase down and debunk some of the myths kicked up by the rumor mill.'' <br><br>The newspaper said the ``story is incomplete until we know as much as we can about the substance of her evidence.'' It contrasted its intentions to reveal the evidence Miller has given with other reporters who have testified, including two from the Post. <br><br>The Times added that Novak has not disclosed the details of his grand jury testimony. Novak has refused to say whether he cooperated with Fitzgerald's investigation. <br><br>Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to cooperate with Fitzgerald's probe. She testified Sept. 30 before the grand jury after getting a waiver from her source, Libby, and after receiving assurances from Fitzgerald that questions would be limited to her conversations with Libby. <br><br>Presidential aide Karl Rove had conversations about Plame with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper and Novak. Cooper also spoke with Libby about Plame. <br><br>Fitzgerald also is calling Rove for additional testimony. It will be Rove's fourth appearance. The grand jury, which has been hearing evidence in the investigation for the past two years, is due to expire Oct. 28.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5338251,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/worldl...51,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>