NYT:

Federal prosecutors in New York yesterday withdrew a subpoena to the American Civil Liberties Union that had sought to retrieve all copies of a classified document.

In an opaque and defensive four-page letter to the judge in the case, the prosecutors said they were acting “in light of changed circumstances” and their determination that “the grand jury can obtain the evidence necessary to its investigation from other sources.”

Another factor may have played a role. A transcript of a closed hearing in the case that was unsealed yesterday suggested the government was going to lose.

And this: "In yesterday’s letter, [assistant US attorney] Ms. Rodgers suggested that the A.C.L.U. had set up the government, creating a fight that could have been resolved informally. [...] Judge Rakoff, too, in last week’s argument, appeared unconvinced by the government’s contention that it thought the matter could have been resolved short of litigation."

Also, White House denies that it tried to suppress publication of sections of a NYT oped by former NSC official Flynt Leverett. At an event at the New America Foundation today, Leverett said the he was warned he would be prosecuted if he published the oped, although it was just a shorter version of a published paper the CIA pre-publication review board had already approved. Among those Leverett contends played censor, three officials from the NSC. More from the Post.

Posted by Laura at December 18, 2006 09:39 PM