Washington, D.C., August 24, 2004—A contempt of court
ruling against a Time magazine correspondent was dismissed yesterday
after he agreed to testify in the CIA leak case. Matthew Cooper agreed
to give a deposition after one of his sources, vice presidential aide
I. Lewis Libby, waived confidentiality.
Cooper was held in contempt this month by a U.S. District Court judge
in Washington, D.C. He had declined to answer questions for a grand jury
investigating a leak by government officials in which a clandestine CIA
operative was identified by name.
Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered that Cooper go to jail and the magazine
be fined $1,000 daily for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by
special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. The penalties were suspended pending
appeal.
On Monday, Cooper agreed to answer the subpoena after Libby, in an unusual
step, relieved the journalist of his promise of confidentiality.
"Mr. Cooper agreed to give the deposition because the one source specifically
asked about by the Special Counsel, I. Lewis Libby, the vice-president's
chief of staff, gave a personal waiver of confidentiality for Mr. Cooper
to testify," Time magazine said in a statement. "Mr. Libby also
gave Time permission to release this information to
the public."
Earlier this month, another journalist who was issued a subpoena in the
case, NBC's Tim Russert, agreed to speak with prosecutors, but was not
asked any questions requiring him to reveal confidential sources, the
network said.
The grand jury was convened after columnist Robert Novak named Valerie
Plame as a CIA operative in his syndicated column on July 14, 2003. Plame
is married to former U.S. diplomat Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was enlisted
by the Bush administration to travel to Niger to investigate allegations
that Iraq was attempting to buy enriched uranium.
The willful disclosure of an undercover CIA officer is a federal crime
under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.
Novak's column, which cited two unnamed administration sources, appeared
eight days after Wilson wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that
challenged the administration's assertions on the uranium issue. Other
reports surfaced later with Plame's identity, some suggesting that administration
officials leaked the name in retaliation against Wilson.
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