Political Headlines: Prosecuting The New York Times

Sunday, July 16, 2006

By Brit Hume and Jim Angle, Fox Special Report

June 26, 2006

BRIT HUME, HOST: Next on SPECIAL REPORT, the president says the revelation of that secret program to track terror money is a disgrace, and that it hurts the nation's security. Other critics say "The New York Times" should be prosecuted. We'll see if that's possible.

Is there really a settled plan for withdrawal of troops from Iraq? We'll see about that, too. The Israelis prepare to respond to a terrorist kidnapping. The Supreme Court throws out Vermont's spending limits. And a struggle in Congress over the Voting Rights Act. Plus, is Joe Lieberman in danger? First the headlines.

(NEWSBREAK)

HUME: Welcome to Washington. I'm Brit Hume.

Reaction to "The New York Times" publication of a secret U.S. program to track terrorist money continues to build tonight. There were further calls today for the prosecution of the newspaper. President Bush, for his part, however, was content to denounce the paper in the strongest terms. We have two reports beginning with Chief White House Correspondent Bret Baier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRET BAIER, FOX CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After meeting at the White House with representatives of organizations that support the U.S. military, President Bush sharply condemns the disclosure of a program that monitors financial transactions of suspected terrorists around the world.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We are at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America. And for people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America.

BAIER: While other papers ran the story Friday, administration officials say "The New York Times" had been working on it for more than a month before other reporters got word of the up-until-then secret program.

The program tracks terrorist money transfers by using broad government subpoenas to tap into a huge data base of financial transactions maintained by a company in Belgium.

BUSH: What we were doing was the right thing. Congress was aware of it, and we were within the law to do so.

BAIER: The president went on to say the American people expect the government to protect constitutional liberties, while at the same time hunt down terrorists looking to attack the U.S.

BUSH: If you want to figure out what the terrorists are doing, you try to follow their money. And that's exactly what we are doing. And the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror.

BAIER: "The New York Times" Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote a response to what he called questions and concerns about the decision to publish the story. Writing, quote, "Nobody should think that we made this decision casually, with any animus toward the current administration, or without fully weighing the issues."

On discussions with the administration officials who asked "The Times" not to run the story, Keller said one reason officials gave was that it would lead terrorists to change their tactics.

But Keller wrote, quote, "that argument was made in a half-hearted way. It has been widely reported, indeed trumpeted by the Treasury Department, that the U.S. makes effort to track international financing or terror. Terror financiers know this, which is why they have already moved as much as they can to cruder methods."

The White House spokesman was anything but half hearted in his afternoon press briefing.

TONY SNOW, WHITE PRESS SPOKESMAN: If "The New York Times" decides that it is going to try to assume responsibility for determining which classified secrets remain classified, and which don't, it ought to accept some of the obligations of that responsibility. It ought to be able to take the heat as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAIER: In a blunt letter sent to "The New York Times" late this afternoon, Treasury Secretary John Snow writes that Keller's reasoning and charge that the administration was half hearted in its effort to persuade the paper not to publish the story was quote, "incorrect and offensive", pointing to a meeting the secretary had with Keller in Snow's office for that explicit purpose.

Snow goes on to write that Keller's reasoning for running the story, quote, "betrays a breathtaking arrogance and deep misunderstanding of the financial tracking program." -- Brit.

HUME: Bret, thank you.

So, is there a law under which a newspaper or journalist in the country committed to freedom of the press, could be prosecuted for publishing a true story about government secrets? Some people think there is, and one member of Congress thought the law of treason might apply. Chief Washington Correspondent Jim Angle reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ANGLE, FOX NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The anger over "The New York Times" actions is felt well beyond the White House. One member of Congress calls the newspaper's exposure of classified programs disgraceful and treasonous. And wants the administration to do more than complain about it.

REP. PETER KING (R-NY), CHRMN., HSE HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE: I'm calling on the attorney general to begin a criminal investigation and prosecution of "The New York Times," its reporters, the editors that worked on this, and the publisher.

ANGLE: But even analysts who believe "The Times" was wrong to publish the story, say the only law that applies is the Espionage Act of 1917.

GABRIEL SCHOENFELD, SR. EDITOR, "COMMENTARY": It is a very tough statute to prosecute newspapers with. There has never been a successful prosecution. In part because it has intent requirements; it has to show that that newspaper acted with intent to injure the United States. That's very difficult to prove.

DAVID RIVKIN, NATIONAL SECURITY LAWYER: A very bad fit, I think it would be a very farfetched possibility. The statute clearly is very broadly drafted; quite arcane, 1917 was a long time ago.

ANGLE: If a source had supplied this information directly to, say, Osama bin Laden or one of his deputies, that could be easily prosecuted.

SCHOENFELD: If somebody had provided this information to Al Qaeda on a microdot, there would be no question that they would be prosecuted for espionage. Here "The Times" has put it out there for the whole world, including every reading member of Al Qaeda to see, and they're calling it a public service.

ANGLE: "The Times" defended the story based on the public's right to know, but that doesn't satisfy the critics.

RIVKIN: Under that standard, nothing is safe. I can see a headline which says, Tomorrow, United States Closing on bin Laden. You know, he is two hours away, in a cave. Well, does the public have a right to know? This is insane. It is not the way to win this war.

ANGLE: Several analysts say Congress may now want to look at how to change the law to make it easier to prosecute such things when there is leak after leak tipping off the terrorists. And even some members of the 9/11 Commission appear to agree that in this case, publication was not justified.

TIM ROEMER, FMR. 9/11 COMMISSIONER: The financial tracking has been approved, for the most part, by Supreme Court decisions and courts. That's something we have known about and they're important, and integral to tracking terrorists.

ANGLE: In fact, 9/11 Commission Co-Chairman Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton had been briefed on the terrorist financing program and called "The New York Times" and asked them not to run the story, to know avail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANGLE: For now, even the critics don't think it's possible to prosecute "The New York Times" but many do ask what the rationale could possibly be for a newspaper to expose a classified program that is effective against the terrorists, when its own investigation uncovers no wrongdoing or legal abuses -- Brit.

HUME: Jim, thank you.

Next on SPECIAL REPORT, does General Casey have a firm plan for withdrawing troops from Iraq? We will look into another "New York Times" report when we come back.

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