Every man has his price

It looks like a very quiet end to the Wen Ho Lee lawsuit. If your memory has faded, Lee was the Los Alamos scientist accused of transferring state secrets to China back in the 90s. More background here, which includes the now popular buzz phrase "a chilling effect".

Funny, Mr. Lee's case was looking good as of late last year, but now he appears ready to accept some form of a settlement. Wonder how large the check will be?

Guess that precludes any jail time for the likes of James Risen and Walter Pincus. It also precludes the public from ever knowing which democratic operatives leaked, and why. Finally, it precludes a Supreme Court chilling effect on the practice of getting out the truth or trash on folks using anonymous government sources. You've still got the courts for redress.

CNN had a reporter involved, Pierre Thomas, and their report on the story is here. Interestingly, they made the natural connection between the Plame leak and the Lee story, but only in context of cases involving the shielding of journalistic sources. They played the disassociation game thusly:

Unlike that criminal probe, Lee's case is a civil lawsuit brought by a private citizen and involves whether he has the right to learn what officials might have told reporters.

Libby is also a private citizen and former government worker who's been accused of something, but he's asking the court to compel the journalists to divulge whether they had prior knowledge about Plame's identity:

For Libby, that means raising questions about whether Miller, Russert and Cooper could have learned about Plame and her CIA connection from other reporters at their respective news organizations or government officials besides Libby.

Jeffress also wanted one page of undated notes kept by NBC's Andrea Mitchell that seemed to be of a conversation she had with Libby.

In other words, if Libby can prove that the reporters he spoke with already knew Plame was married to Wilson, and.. if it can also be proved that in conversation he only vaguely acknowledged their assertion, well it might be exculpatory. Or conspiratorial.

Ironically, Tim Russert was on Sean Hannity's radio show this afternoon and a caller asked why he failed to tell the truth in the matter. Mr. Russert replied that neither he nor NBC ever lied, and that Libby called to complain about one of his TV shows on another subject, not to discuss Plame.

As to any effects of Lee's case on Libby's, probably none if he settles. But it might represent a model depending on how the court of public opinion judges the many leaks from both sides and the political circumstances in play next year.

MORE 5/23

Hmm. Based on the MSM's desire to settle the Lee case out of court, wonder if this development will have any impact on their feelings about fighting the Libby case while simultaneously being subpoenaed to give up their leak sources?

Keep in mind the judge in the Lee case already ruled the involved reporters were compelled to testify, and we know about Judy Miller, so precedent is set. I'd say a deal might become possible at some future point unless Fitzgerald can elevate the Plame case past Libby. Otherwise it could be a standoff.