I have a new theory on Judith Miller. Might she be named as an unindicted conspirator? ...
The NY Times says that Miller is
"not yet clear of legal jeopardy," but could that jeopardy extend beyond the contempt charge for refusing to testify?
She says in her account of her testimony that she was asked about her own security clearance. She did not recall whether her clearance would have been active at the time of the conversations with Scooter Libby.
If it was active, that might seem to give Libby an out. He might say that he can't be guilty of revealing secret information if the recipient was authorized to receive it.
In such a scenario, Fitzgerald would have to consider Libby and Miller to be coconspirators. He would not be looking at getting Libby for leaking secrets but at getting both Libby and Miller for conspiring to reveal secrets.
The problem for Fitzgerald with indicting Miller is that he loses her as a witness. He may feel he needs her. His smart move is then to threaten her with indictment and get a plea bargain. This deal might result in her pleading to something that gets her time served plus probation, or it might involve naming her as an unindicted coconspirator.
A problem that Fitzgerald has is that he might view Miller as a liar. Miller was very clear that she would testify about Libby but not about any other source. Conveniently, whenever she was asked about something that she said did not come from Libby (e.g., "Valerie Flame" and "Victoria Wilson"), she could not remember the source. Her credibility there is weak. Giving her a deal and using her as a witness could backfire. Fitzgerald reportedly really hates being lied to, and he might be very unhappy with giving a deal to someone who he sees as continuing to protect other potential coconspirators.