Lawyered Up

It’s almost spooky that I’ve been writing about Novak all this week — even before he had his hissy fit yesterday. Perhaps I have some sort of psychic powers of which I’ve been unaware up to now. I hope so. If this works out I’ll get back in the market.

Actually, there is a more prosaic explanation. I’ve been writing about Bob Novak all week because he wrote an odd column about the Plame case on Monday. It was the first time he’s written anything about it in many months. And he said that he’d done it against his lawyers’ wishes. Atrios is reporting a rumor that Novak is being called before the Grand Jury all of a sudden. I would suspect that if it’s true, it’s because of something he wrote in that column.

We all know that it is quite strange that he had not been called before (although we don’t know that for sure.) It’s even more strange that he seems to have cooperated. Otherwise, unless Pat Fitzgerald was the most incompetent boob in the DOJ, he would have been in the same boat as Matt Cooper and Judith Miller. It’s the nature of the “cooperation” that’s most curious.

Of the major media players, Walter Pincus has spoken to the public and the prosecutor. Matt Cooper has spoken to the public and the prosecutor. Tim Russert made a deal and spoke with the prosecutors and NBC released a statement to the public relaying the substance of his conversation. Judith Miller hasn’t spoken to either the prosecutor or the public and is in jail. Robert Novak, the only one who actually published the leak information, hasn’t spoken to the public but (we assume) he has spoken to the prosecutor. He has repeatedly said that he cannot discuss the case in any way because his lawyers have advised him not to say anything publicly.

Why would that be? Here’s one little hint, although it may just be an accidental turn of phrase. The day after Novak had his little contretemps with Ed Henry in June, miracle of miracles, the NY Times actually did a tiny little story on why Novak has not been on the hotseat like every other reporter in town. And Novak’s publisher said this:

Among those defending Mr. Novak yesterday was John Cruickshank, publisher of The Sun-Times.

“We, as news people, never want to be in a position of saying, No comment,” Mr. Cruickshank said. “But he cannot respond and at the same time abide by the legal strategy his counsel has been recommending.”

Why is his legal counsel recommending a legal strategy at all? Nobody else is using that excuse. Obviously, as a journalist he cannot use the white house excuse that the prosecutor has requested he not talk about the case because … well, that would make him the worst kind of journalistic sissy there is. Especially compared to macho Judy Miller. While it’s true that Miller is practising shoddy journalism by refusing to write what she knows (without revealing her source) she at least is following the general principle that the press shouldn’t knuckle under to the government, which is, after all the reason for the confidentiality rule in the first place.

Novak hasn’t upheld anything at all. He’s almost certainly given up his sources and also refused to answer questions. He is being totally unprincipled. It’s left him open to being called a hack and a liar and he’s restrained from responding by his “legal strategy.” It’s clearly driving him crazy. And that leads me to believe that his lawyers know that there is a grave danger that if Bob keeps talking he’s going to find himself in a big heap of trouble.

It’s possible that Novak wrote something he shouldn’t have in that column on Monday. Not knowing what he’s told the authorities I don’t know specifically what it said that would be cause for worry but Bob is clearly having a very hard time with the fact that he is not allowed to spin his way out of this defend himself :

Though frustrated, I have followed the advice of my attorneys and written almost nothing about the CIA leak over two years because of a criminal investigation by a federal special prosecutor. The lawyers also urged me not to write this. But the allegation against me is so patently incorrect and so abuses my integrity as a journalist that I feel constrained to reply.

Again, why would Novak have to be so careful? He’s not covered under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act nor is he really prohibited from publishing classified information. His only reason for having to be so cautious is because he either has an immunity deal with the prosecution, which I sincerely doubt, or his lawyers believe that Fitzgerald thinks he may have lied to the authorities or obstructed justice.

Based on his meager public statements alone you can easily see why Fitzgerald would have ample reason to suspect him of participating in a cover-up. He’s been changing his story from day one. In his original column he said that Wilson was a fine, well qualified non-partisan, ex-diplomat and that the administration had told him that his wife suggested him for the mission. He explained a few days later, “I didn’t dig it out — they gave it to me — they thought it was significant.” Shortly thereafter, he changed his story and wrote that it had been just an “off-hand remark” in the midst of another conversation. Then when the justice department began its investigation he said he pursued the story because he was “curious” as to why a partisan Democrat like Joseph Wilson with no qualifications was sent on the mission — a characterization that is entirely at odds with what he actually wrote.

You can see why his lawyers wanted him to shut up. He tends to draw suspicion on himself every time he opens his mouth. And let’s not forget that Karl Rove and others, through their mouthpieces, have been using the same line with respect to other reporters like Cooper — “it was an offhand comment.” Indeed, the administration figures involved seem to want us to believe that they were just offhandedly mentioning this little factoid with no coordination or plan at all — to a reported half dozen elite DC journalists. Robert Novak, contrary to his earlier statements and the tenor of his original piece, seemed to want to enthusiastically back that up and imply that he was independently pursuing the story of the partisan democrat Joe Wilson’s trip all on his own. How very convenient.

And there is another aspect to this story as well. Novak seems to have finally lost the protective insular cloak of the celebrity proess corps brotherhood. But that doesn’t abslove them of their absurd silence all these months.

It is one thing for a reporter to withhold the names of his sources. It is quite another for a reporter to withhold information from the public to protect each other. But this case has shown in numerous ways that the press feels perfectly comfortable trafficking in gossip about a president’s sex life — and funneling that gossip through the foreign press and back to sleaze sites like Drudge in order to “get it out there.” But they have been remarkably willing to stay silent when their “stars” are involved in a legal tangle.

That’s one big reason why this ridiculous spectacle of Bob Novak and Tim Russert and Judith Miller the rest of these guys, who clearly have pertinent information, has been played out for two years as kabuki while the rest of us keep scratching our heads and wondering why they don’t just tell us what they know.

Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei changed the dynamic last week when they printed Bill Harlow’s comments about Novak. Novak lost his composure, both in print and then on television. He is a spoiled DC elder who believes that he is above the petty humiliations and character assassination he deals every day to politicians of whom he disapproves. He can’t believe that he has to sit back and let people trash his reputation while he’s constrained from responding by the possibility of legal consequences. Poor baby. Maybe he ought to spend some time in jail reading some of his columns and reviewing tapes of his Crossfire and Capital Gang appearances in which he ruthlessly destroyed Democrats for the last 40 years. Maybe he could write a novel about his experiences on the other side of the fence — where Bob Novak is subjected to … Bob Novak.

Update: Mark Leon Goldberg at TAPPED has a delicious little piece of speculation about Novak’s “cooperation” and his little temper tantrum yesterday:

Picking up on what Atrios hints at, if James Carville was engaging in some privy, insider goading when he told Robert Novak that he has to “show the right wingers that you are a stand-up guy, and The Wall Street Journal is watching your every move,” does that suggest that Novak already named names? If so, is the VRWC silently sharpening their knives in the event that Novak’s spilled the beans? Will they sacrifice one of their own?

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