WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Washington held a New York Times reporter in contempt Thursday for refusing to name her sources in the White House leak investigation.
A special counsel is investigating whether administration officials illegally revealed the name of a covert CIA official to columnist Robert Novak and others, and had subpoenaed the Times reporter in the investigation.
The official's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, says the leak was retaliation after he cast doubt on President George W. Bush's allegation that Iraq was trying to get uranium from Nigeria.
Judith Miller, a Times investigative reporter, did not write an article about the matter, but a judge said she was thinking about doing so, and ordered her jailed for up to 18 months for not revealing her sources to the special counsel.
The sentence is stayed while an appeal takes place, the Times said.
It is not known if the prosecutor has subpoenaed Novak to discover the source of his story.
