Leak Prosecutor May Share Evidence

(AP)  The prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation offered a compromise that might give the news media access to some of the evidence against former White House aide I. Lewis Libby before his trial.

In a court filing late Thursday, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald backed away from a blanket protective order which he had sought earlier this week which would have kept secret all materials turned over to Libby's defense team.

Fitzgerald also said that because he plans to submit evidence in his on-going probe to a new grand jury, he will need the court's protection to keep the testimony secret. The term expired last month for the grand jury that indicted Vice President Cheney's former top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The prosecutor's latest filing said that he is "mindful that as much of the conduct of pretrial litigation and the trial itself should be conducted in open court with publicly filed documents."

The compromise would restrict the defense's disclosure to the media of grand jury transcripts and personal information about witnesses such as phone numbers and addresses.

Courts have "recognized that there is no First Amendment right to access to grand jury proceedings," Fitzgerald wrote.

"The need to preserve the confidentiality of grand jury proceedings is of course most acute, as here, the grand jury's investigation is ongoing," the prosecutor added.

Dow Jones & Co. and The Associated Press went to court to fight an earlier proposal by Fitzgerald that would have barred Libby and his legal team from publicly disclosing "all materials produced by the government."

The compromise deals with information in the case that is not classified.

Fitzgerald said he will pursue a separate protective order covering classified information, which is expected to inundate the case.

Regarding unclassified material, Fitzgerald said he wants to keep some records out of public view because they include calendars, e-mails and telephone logs of witnesses and other people containing communications from relatives, doctors and other personal contacts.

"The protection of the personal privacy rights of witnesses is a legitimate basis on which to restrict disclosure and use of discovery materials," Fitzgerald said.