Why hasn't Robert Novak been indicted?

[mongo]

If you tell me some sort of state secret and I post it on the internet, wouldn't I be arrested?

Shouldn't Novak have known that outing an undercover CIA agent is treason against the United States?

Why the hell isn't he rotting in jail? I just don't get it.

[FlashHarry]

1. He flipped

Rumor has it, he flipped early and cut a deal with Fitzgerald. Weasel that he is.

[H2O Man]

2. He didn't break the law.

Those who told Novak broke the law.

[sam sarrha]

13. , he should have been immediately fired anyway

[H2O Man]

14. ***

edited when response to my post was edited!

[warrens]

16. Why? What he did was sleazy, but legal

The sleazy part was publishing the name strictly to spread a lie that this was nepotism. He was helping a character assassin. I don't think, though, that we want a law that says journalists can't publish names the government tells them not to publish. You know where that would end. Just like they said they were only keeping a handful of dangerous terrorists from having lawyers and names, and it turned out that so far half have been let go because they had done nothing wrong.

[Clark2008]

17. Correct.

These situations presented themselves all the time to me since I used to cover court for a newspaper.

For example, it wasn't against the law for me to print a juvenile charged with a crime's name - but it was against the law for anyone in law enforcement, except the presiding judge, to release the info. If I found out from the judge or through some other method, I couldn't be touched.

Same situation applies here.

Novak, repugnant as he is, did not break the law in printing Plame's name, but the person who told him, if that person was a governmental official charged with protecting that info, did.

[mongo]

21. Even if it's the law, it just seems wrong to me.

Especially in the area of giving away classified information.

[orwell]

25. A question

Would you be held responsible for revealing a secret told to you by an official if it directly jeopardized the security of the United States.

Say for example you were told by a government official in WWII that the US has cracked the Japanese codes which allowed them a distinct advantage in communications intercepts or that the US was using Navajo "windtalkers" to communicate in the pacific theater. If you published an article with those facts wouldn't both you and your source be tried for treason during a time of war?

[AlCzervik]

3. He's not a government official and i believe thats what the law

states and 2, i think he fully co=operated with Fitzgerald.

[ClusterFreak]

4. Didn't he flip right away??

I thought I read the other day that he sang like a canary very early on in Fitz's investigation. Made some sort of deal. I think, anyway.

[Walt Starr]

5. No, you wouldn't be arrested.

Novak cooperated and testified.

And the law about revealing the identity of a covert agent does not apply to people who are not employed by the government.

[RobertSeattle]

6. He's squealing like the pig he is

[electropop]

7. He's been squealing to Fitz.

If he helps send half a dozen top WH people to jial, it's worth it to leave one right wing asshole alone.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. And think of the irony!

This clown has been defending these repukes for years-now he gets to be the instrument that causes their comeuppance!

[Roon]

18. I know

Can you imagine how tough it must be for him to sleep at night?

[skids]

22. I don't think he sleeps at all.

I mean, look at him.

[Roon]

24. LOL

He is looking rough!

[electropop]

27. I think he sleeps in the daytime

in a coffin.

[emulatorloo]

8. many theorize (as do I) that he provided much info to Fitz

OTOH, Grand Jury hasn't issued indictments, so maybe he will be.

However -- think about it. Fitz jailed Judy because she wouldn't testify. Fitz almost jailed Cooper, but he decided to testify.

Novak sang like a canary. IMHO

[Spazito]

9. Because he cooperated right away, turned on his buddies to save

his ugly, wrinkled hide.

[sam sarrha]

10. he's just too slimy they dont want to touch him.. he is his own punishment

[notadmblnd]

11. No one has been indicted yet

so we may still see that. On the other hand.. perhaps he is one of the ones that flipped. We'll just have to wait and see.. won't we?

[endarkenment]

15. No crime - at least that is my understanding.

He could simply claim that he had no idea that the information was classified. But I think even if he knew it was classified his actions are not criminal. I think it is the officials who signed up for security clearance - the ones who knowingly revealed classified information they had legitimate access to - who are in trouble. Novak is just another citizen like you and me, and we are not constrained from blabbering anyone's name to anybody.

Novak would have rotted in jail had he not blabbed to the GJ, but in addition to be a vile shithead, Novak is a spineless ratbastard fink who wouldn't lift his lttle finger to protect his buddies.

[kstewart33]

19. He's been cooperating with Fitz from the beginning. nt

[EVDebs]

20. Not if Novak himself is an agent of Operation Mockingbird

...the illegal domestic CIA media manipulation project outed in the '70s

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmockingbird.htm

and not unless Fitzgerald's investigation delves into this aspect of the crimes of these 'patriots'.

Also, the limited inquiry deal with Judy Miller may hinge on her own CIA media asset status.

What scares me is if they don't investigate Op Mockingbird and intelligence agency abuse. This abuse of federal agencies was the basis of the impeachment charges against Nixon if you remember back that far.

Is Fitz giving * a getoutofjailfree card ?

[Fla Dem]

23. Because he folded like a cheap suit...all bluster; no guts. God bless

his yellow bellied soul.

[melody]

26. probably because he's got bigger dirt on other people

If it was just about legality, George Will would be doing time for treason for stealing Jimmy Carter's playbook and handing it over to Reagan, but such is the nature of justice in this country.

[kskiska]

28. He's paying for it anyway.

He ran his foul mouth on CNN and he's as good as fired. He used to be a king there - Crossfire; Novak, Hunt & Shields; The Capitol Gang; plus appearances on many of their shows all day long. Now all he's got left is his newspaper column and lots of time to sit with his cane and think.

[baldguy]

29. Because he squeeled like a stuck pig to Ealre.

He has no sense of ethics, either as a journalist nor as a human being.

[garybeck]

30. no one has been indicted yet.

[hiaasenrocks]

31. He's an old buzzard with nothing to lose anymore....

so he's not interested in the cocktail circuit or getting "inside info"...and he flipped. He probably squealed before he was sworn in!