Many of us have

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Many of us have had a hard time crediting the claim that Judy Miller had any more reason to believe Scooter Libby’s second voluntary waiver of privilege was any more ‘voluntary’ than his first one. And now, it seems, we have some tangible evidence to back up that suspicion.

According to a story out this afternoon from Reuters, Libby “got a push from a prosecutor before telling New York Times reporter Judith Miller that he wanted her to testify.”

The article describes the particulars. But, in sum, Patrick Fitzgerald contacted Libby’s lawyer and said he’d really “welcome” Libby giving Miller yet another waiver, with the case coming to a close and all.

One can’t really blame Fitzgerald. It’s the prosecutors job after all to squeeze these guys and get all the information he can using the looming threat of indictment to secure as much assistance as possible.

So Fitzgerald you can understand. And Libby too. After all, by all accounts he’s looking at a felony indictment coming down the pike. So you try to be as helpful as you can to the guy who has your fate in his hands.

But what about Miller? Her claim that she didn’t crack now seems, well … like a crock. This ‘voluntary’ doesn’t seem any different from the first ‘voluntary’. And ‘voluntary’ has, of course, a withered meaning when it’s the prosecutor calling for volunteers.

It seems a lot more like she just got tired of sitting in jail.

Or, some other jeopardy not yet spelled out made her give up the game.

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