From: @   
      
   "My Leak Case Testimony   
      
   by Robert Novak   
   Posted Jul 11, 2006   
      
   Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has informed my attorneys that, after   
   two and one-half years, his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning   
   matters directly relating to me has been concluded. That frees me to reveal   
   my role in the federal inquiry that, at the request of Fitzgerald, I have   
   kept secret.   
      
   I have cooperated in the investigation while trying to protect journalistic   
   privileges under the First Amendment and shield sources who have not   
   revealed themselves. I have been subpoenaed by and testified to a federal   
   grand jury. Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea   
   bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue.   
      
   For nearly the entire time of his investigation, Fitzgerald knew --   
   independent of me -- the identity of the sources I used in my column of July   
   14, 2003. A federal investigation was triggered when I reported that former   
   Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, was employed by the   
   CIA and helped initiate his 2002 mission to Niger. That Fitzgerald did not   
   indict any of these sources may indicate his conclusion that none of them   
   violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.   
      
   Some journalists have badgered me to disclose my role in the case, even   
   demanding I reveal my sources -- identified in the column as two senior Bush   
   administration officials and an unspecified CIA source. I have promised to   
   discuss my role in the investigation when permitted by the prosecution, and   
   I do so now.   
      
   The news broke Sept. 26, 2003, that the Justice Department was investigating   
   the CIA leak case. I contacted my longtime attorney, Lester Hyman, who   
   brought his partner at Swidler Berlin, James Hamilton, into the case.   
   Hamilton urged me not to comment publicly on the case, and I have followed   
   that advice for the most part.   
      
   The FBI soon asked to interview me, prompting my first major decision. My   
   attorneys advised me that I had no certain constitutional basis to refuse   
   cooperation if subpoenaed by a grand jury. To do so would make me subject to   
   imprisonment and inevitably result in court decisions that would diminish   
   press freedom, all at heavy personal legal costs.   
      
   I was interrogated at the Swidler Berlin offices Oct. 7, 2003, by an FBI   
   inspector and two agents. I had not identified my sources to my attorneys,   
   and I told them I would not reveal them to the FBI. I did disclose how   
   Valerie Wilson's role was reported to me, but the FBI did not press me to   
   disclose my sources.   
      
   On Dec. 30, 2003, the Justice Department named Fitzgerald as special   
   prosecutor. An appointment was made for Fitzgerald to interview me at   
   Swidler Berlin on Jan. 14, 2004. The problem facing me was that the special   
   prosecutor had obtained signed waivers from every official who might have   
   given me information about Wilson's wife.   
      
   That created a dilemma. I did not believe blanket waivers in any way   
   relieved me of my journalistic responsibility to protect a source. Hamilton   
   told me that I was sure to lose a case in the courts at great expense.   
   Nevertheless, I still felt I could not reveal their names.   
      
   However, on Jan. 12, two days before my meeting with Fitzgerald, the special   
   prosecutor informed Hamilton that he would be bringing to the Swidler Berlin   
   offices only two waivers. One was by my principal source in the Valerie   
   Wilson column, a source whose name has not yet been revealed. The other was   
   by presidential adviser Karl Rove, whom I interpret as confirming my primary   
   source's information. In other words, the special prosecutor knew the names   
   of my sources.   
      
   When Fitzgerald arrived, he had a third waiver in hand -- from Bill Harlow,   
   the CIA public information officer who was my CIA source for the column   
   confirming Mrs. Wilson's identity. I answered questions using the names of   
   Rove, Harlow and my primary source.   
      
   I had a second session with Fitzgerald at Swidler Berlin on Feb. 5, 2004,   
   after which I was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury. I testified   
   there at the U.S. courthouse in Washington on Feb. 25.   
      
   In these four appearances with federal authorities, I declined to answer   
   when the questioning touched on matters beyond the CIA leak case. Neither   
   the FBI nor the special prosecutor pressed me.   
      
   I have revealed Rove's name because his attorney has divulged the substance   
   of our conversation, though in a form different from my recollection. I have   
   revealed Harlow's name because he has publicly disclosed his version of our   
   conversation, which also differs from my recollection. My primary source has   
   not come forward to identify himself.   
      
   When I testified before the grand jury, I was permitted to read a statement   
   that I had written expressing my discomfort at disclosing confidential   
   conversations with news sources. It should be remembered that the special   
   prosecutor knew their identities and did not learn them from me.   
      
   In my sworn testimony, I said what I have contended in my columns and on   
   television: Joe Wilson's wife's role in instituting her husband's mission   
   was revealed to me in the middle of a long interview with an official who I   
   have previously said was not a political gunslinger. After the federal   
   investigation was announced, he told me through a third party that the   
   disclosure was inadvertent on his part.   
      
   Following my interview with the primary source, I sought out the second   
   administration official and the CIA spokesman for confirmation. I learned   
   Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in "Who's Who in America."   
      
   I considered his wife's role in initiating Wilson's mission, later confirmed   
   by the Senate Intelligence Committee, to be a previously undisclosed part of   
   an important news story. I reported it on that basis.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)