There’s been a lot of discussion on the timing involved in Judy’s deal with Fitzgerald. Was it Franklin’s plea bargain? Was it DeLay’s indictment? Of course, none of these make sense, since she has been working on a deal for almost a month and a half.
Actually, Murray Waas tells us what the catalyst to Judy talking was. In large part, his own article.
A short time after that story appeared (indeed a very, very short time– about a week later), Miller’s attorneys and Libby’s attorney, Joseph A. Tate, began prolonged negotiations that would lead to Libby finally providing her a personal waiver that would lead to her release and testimony. There is quite a backstory there, and my then unnoticed Prospect story paved the way, in large part, I am told for those negotiations.
My guess, from this, is that Judy used the news that Scooter had already talked about the meeting himself as an entre to start negotiations. Moreover, I imagine she felt a little exposed here. Imagine going to jail to protect a source, but in so doing, allowing him to tell his side of the story but not you to tell your side of the story. I think that’d make me a whole lot less willing to take the fall, particularly if I felt Libby had misrepresented the story. Particularly if I were as interested in self-preservation as Judy.