Journalist Testifies in White House CIA Leak Case

A federal judge yesterday canceled a contempt-of-court order against Time magazine and one of its reporters, Matthew Cooper, after Cooper was interviewed by Justice Department prosecutors investigating who leaked the identity of a covert CIA operative to journalists. Officials at Time said Cooper, who had been threatened with jail time for refusing to respond to a grand jury subpoena, gave a deposition Monday about his conversations with a single anonymous source -- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Cheney -- after Libby waived Cooper's responsibility to keep their conversations on the topic confidential. Time officials said Libby was the only source of Cooper's that special counsel prosecutors asked about. Cooper is at least the third journalist to answer questions under pressure from prosecutors about private conversations with Libby in July 2003. The inquiry seeks to determine whether any senior administration official knowingly revealed the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak and other journalists. It can be a felony to do so intentionally. [more ]