‘I’m not going to scoop myself’

In what we hope closes a chapter of the Miller/Cooper/Rove/Plame leak investigation, Matt Cooper testified in front of the grand jury yesterday. “It is my hope to get back to being a normal journalist on the other side of the microphones,” Cooper said upon leaving. “I hope to go back to Time magazine and write up an account of what took place here today and my story.”

In his best line, when the assembled reporters pressed him on his testimony, he responded, “But I’m not going to do it here, right now…. I’m not going to scoop myself today.”

He did say that while he cited Karl Rove as his source, he has no idea whether a crime was committed.

Cooper also had some tough words for Time Inc., his employer: “I believe that once a journalist makes a commitment to protect the confidentiality of a source, only the source can end that commitment–not a court, not a corporation. That’s the principle I’ve upheld for two years now.”

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