Keep the drumbeat going on the Plame investigation, folks.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040809/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leakReporters Ordered to Testify Over CIA Leak
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Monday ordered "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert and Time magazine's Matthew Cooper to testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of a covert CIA (news - web sites) officer.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago wants Russert and Cooper to testify "regarding alleged conversations they had with a specified executive branch official," wrote U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan of Chicago. The official he referred to was not further identified in court papers.
Hogan ruled that Russert, who is also NBC's Washington bureau chief, and Time's Cooper must testify because the Supreme Court has ruled that reporters do not have an absolute privilege under the First Amendment to refuse to appear before a grand jury.
"There have been no allegations whatsoever that this grand jury is acting in bad faith or with the purpose of harassing these two journalists," Hogan wrote.