Rove/Plame: Judy Miller gets out of jail, will testify today

New York Times reporter Judith Miller, jailed since July for refusing to talk to the grand jury investigating the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson, got out of the hoosegow last night and will testify today. Afterward, we'll see whether Patrick Fitzgerald has plugged the press leaks that regularly sprang from the grand jury last summer.

Why now? Miller says she was at last released from her pledge of confidentiality by the source in question, Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. This flies in the face of what Fitzgerald and Libby's own attorney have said. They claim Libby's waiver has existed for a long time. According to today's WashPost:

Joseph Tate, an attorney for Libby, said yesterday that he told Miller attorney Floyd Abrams a year ago that Libby's waiver was voluntary and that Miller was free to testify. He said last night that he was contacted by Bennett several weeks ago, and was surprised to learn that Miller had not accepted that representation as authorization to speak with prosecutors.

"We told her lawyers it was not coerced," Tate said. "We are surprised to learn we had anything to do with her incarceration."...

One lawyer involved in the case said Miller's attorneys reached an agreement with Fitzgerald that may confine prosecutors' questions solely to Miller's conversations with Libby. [emphasis added]

Read the WashPost story.