Why Wasn't Robert Novak Threatened With Jail?

Now We Know. Time's up, Judge Thomas F. Hogan of New York's Federal District Court said in effect today. Hogan will put Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper in jail in one week if they don't give the grand jury the names of their sources. Last October, Judge Hogan said the two reporters would be jailed up to 18 months (or until the grand jury completes its work) for not revealing confidential sources. Judith Miller of the NYT and Matthew Cooper of Time mag said they'd rather go to jail than name names. This whole firestorm started when former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson disputed a statement made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union speech. Bush said Iraq had tried to buy yellow cake (an ore that is rich in uranium) in Africa. Wilson said he'd been sent to Africa by the CIA the year before and found that Iraq had not tried to buy the nuclear material. Wilson published an article in the NYT on July 6, 2003 stating his position. Eight days after Wilson's article, syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak reported that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." Novak said two senior administration officials gave him the information. Cooper wrote an article about Plame that appeared in Time mag after Novak outed her. Miller wrote an article for the NYT but it was never published. The New York grand jury is investigating the identities of the senior officials who gave info to Novak, Miller and Cooper. Patrick J. Fitzgerald is the special prosecutor on the case. Miller and Cooper said through their lawyers today that they would elect to go to jail rather than rat out their sources. Judge Hogan says the grand jury will be finished with its investigation in 120 days, so the most the reporters would be in jail would be for 4 months, not 18 months. However, everyone has been wondering why Novak emerged unscathed. The NYT reported very clearly this morning the reason Novak isn't going to jail: “Since Mr. Novak appears not to be facing jail time, he presumably supplied information to Mr. Fitzgerald. It is not clear why that did not conclude the investigation. Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Novak have consistently declined to discuss the matter.” This sleazy, unprincipled, craven, loud-mouth, neocon stooge, Robert Novak, not only put Plame in jeopardy by divulging her undercover status, but then without batting an eye, told Fitzgerald and Co. who his informants were. Now that we know for sure that Novak is a low-life lying fink and coward, the next question is: Since Novak immediately rolled over and named names, why did Fitzgerald demand Cooper and Miller's sources?