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 ]
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