Bush braces for a stormy week

Libby letter scrutinized
Sources said Libby could be in legal jeopardy over one sentence in a Sept. 15 letter he sent to Miller while she was still in jail. In that letter, Libby urged Miller to testify about their conversations and noted that other reporters had made clear to the grand jury that “they did not discuss Ms. Plame’s name or identity with me.”

Miller wrote in the Times that part of Libby’s letter surprised her ”because it might be perceived as an effort by Mr. Libby to suggest that I, too, would say we had not discussed Ms. Plame’s identity.”

“Yet my notes suggested that we had discussed her job,” Miller said.

Bennett called Libby’s reference to the testimony of other reporters “very troubling.”

“Our reaction when we got that letter, both Judy’s and mine, is that was a very stupid thing to put in a letter because it just complicated the situation,” Bennett said.

Libby’s lawyer, Joseph Tate, has not returned calls seeking comment.

But in an e-mail to the Times on Friday, Tate called Miller’s interpretation “outrageous.”

“I never once suggested that she should not testify,” Tate wrote. “It was just the opposite. I told Mr. Abrams that the waiver was voluntary.”

“‘Don’t go there’ or ‘We don’t want you there’ is not something I said, would say, or ever implied or suggested,” Tate added.

Miers heads back to Senate
On a second front, the president’s Supreme Court nominee was headed back to Capitol Hill Monday to meet with more members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Miers is scheduled to meet with Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.. Both voted against confirming John Roberts as the court’s chief justice.

Feinstein said she remained open to voting to confirm Miers, citing in part concerns raised by conservative Republicans. “The way she’s being beaten up by the far right is very sexist. People should hold their fire and give people an opportunity to come before a hearing,” Feinstein said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

Miers is also expected to turn in the committee's 12-page questionnaire this week, possibly as early as Monday.

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