WASHINGTON, April 7 (UPI) -- The probe into the leak of the name of a covert CIA operative has been over for months, except for interviews with two reporters, a U.S. court filing shows.
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald filed a document March 22 with the U.S. Court of Appeals saying the investigation into the disclosure of the operative's name was completed last October, except for testimony from two reporters who have refused to appear before the grand jury looking into the incident.
Fitzgerald has asked that the reporters be held in contempt. They have appealed a court decision saying they should testify.
The Washington Post cited unnamed legal experts and sources as saying it was not likely Fitzgerald would seek an indictment charging a government official knowingly uncovered a covert officer. There may, the Post said, be a perjury charge filed.
The case began when columnist Robert Novak disclosed Valerie Plame was a CIA operative. The columnist alleged Plame's husband -- Joseph Wilson -- was chosen for a CIA trip to check reports about Iraq's nuclear program on her recommendation. Wilson later wrote an op-ed article in The New York Times saying the Bush administration used faulty intelligence to argue for invading Iraq. Novak's column argued against Wilson's points.
