'National Journal'': Libby Failed to Tell Fitz About June 23 Talk with Miller

By: E&P Staff No word has yet emerged today about what happened when New York Times reporter Judith Miller sat down again with Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor in the Plame probe, ostensibly to talk about newly found notes from a June 23, 2003, conversation with I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney?s chief of staff.

But this afternoon, Murray Waas reported at NationalJournal.com that Libby failed to disclose that conversation in two appearances before the federal grand jury investigating the Plame leak.

Waas, who has broken several stories while pursuing the Plame case, wrote that this report was based on sources with firsthand knowledge of Libby?s sworn testimony.

Libby also did not disclose the June 23 talk when FBI agents working on the Plame leak probe twice interviewed him, the sources told Waas.

"Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald apparently learned about the June 23 conversation for the first time just days ago, after attorneys for Miller and The New York Times informed prosecutors that Miller had discovered a set of notes on the conversation," Waas wrote Tuesday.

He added: "Meanwhile, in recent days Fitzgerald has also expressed significant interest in whether Libby may have sought to discourage Miller -- either directly or indirectly through her attorney -- from testifying before the grand jury, or cooperating in other ways with the criminal probe, according to attorneys familiar with Miller's discussions with prosecutors."