Sunday, July 31, 2005
Bolton Didn't Testify in Plame Case
John Bolton, the nominee for U.N. ambassador, has not testified to a grand jury or been interviewed by prosecutors about the leak of a CIA officer's identity, the State Department said Thursday in reply to a Democratic critic.
In paperwork filed with the Senate earlier this year in connection with his nomination, Bolton denied a role in any investigation over the past five years. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who opposes the nomination, questioned the veracity of that response, prompting the State Department reply.
"That answer is truthful then and it remains the case now," spokesman Sean McCormack said. But after McCormack's statement, Biden, sent a new letter to the State Department asserting Bolton was interviewed by State Department internal investigators in July 2003 on a related matter. He did not say how he knew this and the State Department had no immediate response.
A federal grand jury is investigating who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the news media. Biden's initial request followed a report that Bolton was among State Department undersecretaries who "gave testimony" about a classified memo that has become an important piece of evidence in the leak investigation.
It is unknown whether Novak has cooperated with investigators, but prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has said in court papers that his investigation was complete as far back as October 2004, except for the testimony of two reporters - Cooper and the Times' Judith Miller.
Cooper testified to the grand jury this month following a protracted legal battle over whether the reporters should be compelled to reveal their confidential sources. Miller was jailed July 6 for contempt of court because she refused to cooperate with Fitzgerald.
Bush political aide Karl Rove and vice presidential chief of staff Lewis "Scotter" Libby were among Cooper's sources, he reported following his grand jury appearance. They are among several high-ranking administration officials who have given grand jury testimony.
While Rove has not disputed that he told Cooper that Wilson's wife worked for the agency, he has insisted through his lawyer that he did not mention her by name.
Among the many mysteries in this case is that there was apparently at least one other government official who disclosed to a reporter that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Walter Pincus, a Washington Post reporter, wrote in the summer edition of the Nieman Foundation publication Nieman Reports that the official talked to him two days before Novak published his column.
Pincus did not disclose his source. But he said he has cooperated with prosecutors and that his source also has been interviewed.
Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University professor and criminal defense lawyer, said he continues to believe that, based on reports of what the grand jury has been told, Fitzgerald's focus is more on the veracity of witnesses than on the initial disclosure of Plame's name.
"Historically, people are indicted for how they respond to investigations more than the original cause of the investigations," Turley said.
John Bolton, the nominee for U.N. ambassador, has not testified to a grand jury or been interviewed by prosecutors about the leak of a CIA officer's identity, the State Department said Thursday in reply to a Democratic critic.
In paperwork filed with the Senate earlier this year in connection with his nomination, Bolton denied a role in any investigation over the past five years. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who opposes the nomination, questioned the veracity of that response, prompting the State Department reply.
"That answer is truthful then and it remains the case now," spokesman Sean McCormack said. But after McCormack's statement, Biden, sent a new letter to the State Department asserting Bolton was interviewed by State Department internal investigators in July 2003 on a related matter. He did not say how he knew this and the State Department had no immediate response.
A federal grand jury is investigating who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the news media. Biden's initial request followed a report that Bolton was among State Department undersecretaries who "gave testimony" about a classified memo that has become an important piece of evidence in the leak investigation.
It is unknown whether Novak has cooperated with investigators, but prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has said in court papers that his investigation was complete as far back as October 2004, except for the testimony of two reporters - Cooper and the Times' Judith Miller.
Cooper testified to the grand jury this month following a protracted legal battle over whether the reporters should be compelled to reveal their confidential sources. Miller was jailed July 6 for contempt of court because she refused to cooperate with Fitzgerald.
Bush political aide Karl Rove and vice presidential chief of staff Lewis "Scotter" Libby were among Cooper's sources, he reported following his grand jury appearance. They are among several high-ranking administration officials who have given grand jury testimony.
While Rove has not disputed that he told Cooper that Wilson's wife worked for the agency, he has insisted through his lawyer that he did not mention her by name.
Among the many mysteries in this case is that there was apparently at least one other government official who disclosed to a reporter that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Walter Pincus, a Washington Post reporter, wrote in the summer edition of the Nieman Foundation publication Nieman Reports that the official talked to him two days before Novak published his column.
Pincus did not disclose his source. But he said he has cooperated with prosecutors and that his source also has been interviewed.
Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University professor and criminal defense lawyer, said he continues to believe that, based on reports of what the grand jury has been told, Fitzgerald's focus is more on the veracity of witnesses than on the initial disclosure of Plame's name.
"Historically, people are indicted for how they respond to investigations more than the original cause of the investigations," Turley said.
