The lawyer for New York Times reporter James Risen has requested a meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder as part of the journalist's effort to avoid testifying in the leaking case of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling.
In a July 25 letter to Holder, published Wednesday on
Politico, Risen's lawyer David Kelley asked the Justice Department "to reconsider its stance in this case and withdraw the subpoena directed at Mr. Risen for testimony."
"To that end, we request a meeting with you to discuss the DOJ's next steps in the case," Kelley added.
Justice Department officials want Risen to testify about sources for his 2006 book "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration." Sterling has been indicted for allegedly leaking information for the book.
Kelley maintains that demanding Risen's testimony contradicts the Justice Department's recently revised rules for investigating members of the media. Those rules state that subpoenas for journalists should be treated as "extraordinary measures" that should be used "only as a last resort," Kelly wrote in the letter.
He sent the missive a few days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, ruled 2-1 that Risen must testify, reversing a trial court's verdict that the First Amendment protected Risen from
discussing his sources.
Risen's lawyers have requested a rehearing of the case before the 4th Circuit's full set of judges, and Risen has vowed to protect
his sources.
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