Some journalists who made careers out of questioning government officials and bearing witness to history may soon find themselves answering questions from prosecutors as key witnesses in a CIA leak case.
Ten or more reporters from some of the most prominent news organizations could be called to testify in the perjury and obstruction case of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
It is rare enough for reporters to become witnesses.
But the Libby case is even more unusual because journalists will be dueling witnesses -- some called by the defense team, some by prosecutors.
"It will be unprecedented and, as far as I'm concerned, horrifying," Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press, said of the case, for which jury selection begins in two weeks.
Prosecutors want to show that Libby lied to investigators about his conversations with journalists regarding outed CIA officer Valerie Plame. They are expected to rely on former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert to make their case.
Libby, the former top aide to US Vice President Dick Cheney, has said he had no reason to lie and simply did not remember those conversations.
His attorneys have said they will call as many as seven unidentified journalists to testify about their conversations with Libby to bolster his case.
The Libby case has rankled news agencies for nearly three years, since special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald began subpoenaing journalists to testify before a grand jury.
Fitzgerald said it was the only way he could thoroughly investigate whether any laws were broken.
After a lengthy court fight that included an 85-day jail term for Miller, Fitzgerald won cooperation from journalists.
When Libby was indicted, it was clear reporters would be key witnesses. That puts them in the awkward position of aiding a criminal investigation, something journalism groups say erodes the wall between the government and an independent press.
Plame's identity was first revealed by syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
She believes she was outed as retribution for her husband's criticism of the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Jurors likely will not hear much about the leak itself because the original source, former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, has already confirmed his role and Libby is not charged with the leak.
But the trial is certain to renew questions about whether the administration used reporters to drum up support for the war.
Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute said he worries about the fallout of the trial.
If it is perceived that reporters grant anonymity to officials engaged in political gamesmanship, prosecutors are more likely to subpoena them in cases where anonymity was granted in serious issues of public importance.
"This case, it's magnified by the fact that it's in Washington and the status of the players," Clark said. "It's a bizarre and I'd say dangerous case."
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion