PLAME SUBPOENAS….This is peculiar: a federal judge has held Tim Russert (of Meet the Press) and Matthew Cooper (of Time magazine) in contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame affair. (Update: apparently it was only Cooper who was cited for contempt. See below.)
Legal issues aside, what does this mean? There are lots of journalists connected with the Plame investigation, chief among them Bob Novak, who was the original recipient of the Plame leak. I also recall that Chris Matthews was mentioned in Joe Wilson’s book and that Knut Royce of Newsday did some original reporting. There were others too, although I don’t remember them off the top of my head.
So why were only Cooper and Russert held in contempt? Were the others ever called to testify? If not, why not?
There are no further clues in the story, so stay tuned for more. Something seems off kilter here.
UPDATE: The New York Times has more here. Apparently Russert agreed to testify and it’s only Cooper who was cited for contempt. The Times says that the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler has also testified. Novak refuses to say whether he received a subpoena or whether he testified.
