I have warned the liberal press that they made a huge mistake in demanding a full investigation of the phony Plame "outing." Looking at the first move of Scooter Libby's defense team last Friday, it seems my prediction that the press will regret  jumping on the rickety Wilson  bandwagon is about to come true.

"WASHINGTON (AP) Lawyers for a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney told a federal judge Friday that they want to subpoena journalists and news organizations to seek additional documents they may have related to the leak of a CIA operative's name.

In a joint filing with prosecutors, lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, 55, warned U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton that a trial likely will be delayed because of their strategy in seeking more subpoenas of reporters' notes and other records."

Because of Department of Justice regulations and Fitzgerald's felt need to get media cooperation in his probe, the questioning of journalists was very limited.

They were not asked about their independent knowledge of Plame's position at the CIA or about their other sources of information relevant to the case. If the Court finds the subpoenas warranted (criminal discovery is more limited than wide—ranging civil discovery), the journalists will not be testifying with these limitations and will have to be more forthcoming  about their sources than they have been or suffer the consequences of contempt rulings (jail or fines).

Since it seems clear that some  of the reporters at the heart of this benighted case did have such knowledge  about Plame from others besides Rove or Libby  which was not fully disclosed in the circumscribed inquiry , and  some reporters who had such knowledge were never even questioned by Fitzgerald, I think this is a smart move by Libby.

Clarice Feldman   1 23 06