To: Bill who wrote (709157 ) 10/28/2005 1:28:07 AM From: Peter Dierks Respond to of 769669 Patrick Fitzgerald Defended Martha Stewart Prosecution Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005 9:36 a.m. EDT Before he was appointed special counsel in the Leakgate case, Patrick Fitzgerald defended the prosecution of Martha Stewart against criticism that the Justice Department indicted her only after it couldn't prove the underlying crime she was accused of - insider trading. The Stewart prosecution was run by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, the same person who tapped Fitzgerald to run the Leakgate probe in Dec. 2003. A June 2003 "Today Show" transcript unearthed on Monday by ABC Radio host Sean Hannity shows Fitzgerald defending Comey for throwing the book at the domestic diva. NBC's Anne Thompson introduced Fitzgerald as Comey's "close friend," before asking him why Comey pushed the envelope against Stewart. "I think what drives him is a commitment to justice and wanting to do the right thing in a right way," Fitzgerald told "Today." "The people who get involved in the system, witnesses, jurors, judges, defense lawyers and even defendants, come away with a respect for what he does and how he does it." What about charges that Comey was using Stewart's indictment to boost his profile? Fitzgerald told NBC's Thompson that the showboating charge against his old friend was simply not true.Fitzgerald's defense of Comey's prosecution could turn out to be significant, since it's widely expected that any indictments he brings in the Leakgate case will mirror tactics used against Stewart - where the prosecution pursues "process" crimes after determining that the original allegations were unprovable. newsmax.com