ROGER SIMON COLUMN
OCTOBER 12, 2005
WASHINGTON - - A large table full of journalists. Chit-chat. Small talk. Issues of the day.
"So," the person next to me asks, "what do you make of the Crazy Woman?"
I am baffled. Any number of candidates swirl through my head.
"Judy Miller," the person says. "What do you think?"
One would think that Miller, the New York Times reporter who went to jail for 85 days rather than reveal her source, would be a hero among her fellow journalists.
Not in this town.
A few days after the "Crazy Woman" incident, I bumped into a very respectable, very well-known reporter in the green room of a TV station and he, too, brought up Miller.
"I hear she went to jail because she needed it for her book," he said.
A few days later, there would be a report that Miller had negotiated a seven-figure book deal and a rumor (denied) that while in jail, she had committed to a speaking tour that lasted through 2007.
I don't know Judy Miller, but I doubt any journalist would spend 85 days in jail for money, even a lot of money.
Why exactly Miller did what she did - - she ended up revealing the source she was protecting - - is something we don't yet know.
But to say there are bigger targets in this case is to put it mildly.
The special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, has been investigating who leaked the name of a CIA agent to the press for two years now. The leaker, most assume, worked in the White House.
This week, Karl Rove, the president's closest adviser, was called back before the grand jury for a fourth time. Getting called before a grand jury four times officially falls into the category of "not a good sign."
One possible scenario for such a repeat appearance goes like this:
Prosecutor: "Sir, in March you said (fill in the blank.) But we have testimony that the truth is to the contrary. Would you care to change your testimony?"
At which point the witness can:
A: Change his story and open himself up to a perjury charge.
B: Refuse to change his story and open himself up to a perjury charge.
C: Take the Fifth Amendment.
Rove may be innocent of any wrongdoing and may not even be a target of the probe. But it is hard to believe after all this time that the White House is going to skate on this.
If you are a young, ambitious prosecutor, you don't spend two years and millions of tax dollars, and come up empty.
And I have the feeling that when this story is over, Judy Miller is going to be one of the smaller fish to be fried.
Posted by rsimon at October 12, 2005 12:01 AM