"....expect Fitzgerald to signal his intentions as early as this week."

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/01/AR2005100101317.html

Role of Rove, Libby in CIA Leak Is Clearer
Bush and Cheney Aides' Testimony Contradicts Earlier White House Statement

By Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 2, 2005; Page A05

As the CIA leak investigation heads toward its expected conclusion this month, it has become increasingly clear that two of the most powerful men in the Bush administration were more involved in the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame than the White House originally indicated.

...

His story is similar to that of Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser. Rove, who was not an initial focus of the investigation, testified that he, too, talked with two reporters about Plame but never supplied her name or CIA role.

Their testimony seems to contradict what the White House was saying a few months after Plame's CIA job became public.

In October 2003, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that he personally asked Libby and Rove whether they were involved, "so I could come back to you and say they were not involved." Asked if that was a categorical denial of their involvement, he said, "That is correct."

What remains a central mystery in the case is whether special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has accumulated evidence during his two-year investigation that any crime was committed. His investigation has White House aides and congressional Republicans on edge as they await Fitzgerald's announcement of an indictment or the conclusion of the probe with no charges. The grand jury is scheduled to expire Oct. 28, and lawyers in the case expect Fitzgerald to signal his intentions as early as this week.

[Greeby]

1. Get the snacks ppl

This is gonna be fun :popcorn:

[Lochloosa]

I like the kettle corn myself...

:popcorn:

[jobycom]

9. Or maddeningly outrageous.

I'm more than half expecting everyone to be largely exonerated and the whole affair to be blamed on lose security measures from the Clinton administration. "Well, a lot of people contributed a little bit to the leak, but no one person was really responsible for it, and no one broke any laws."

But hey, I'm so hoping I'm wrong!

[FreedomAngel82]

10. I hope someone is held accountable

I hope I'm not disappointed again.

[Independent_Liberal]

2. Kick!

[Straight Shooter]

3. As bush is so fond of saying, let's get to the bottom of this.

:popcorn:

[bluestateguy]

4. I'll be on pins and needles

I wonder which 25 year old White House staffer will be chosen to take the rap.

[fooj]

5. Let the good times roll...

:smoke:

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. I find one element a bit ominous. Do you?

The article writes "whether ... Fitzgerald has accumulated evidence ... that any crime was committed." and then continues that one possibility is that it might conclude with no charges.

I find that a bit ominous. To me it seems clear that the crime of outing the agent was committed, and that any dodge about not actually speaking her name seems to be an ineffective shield against being charged and convicted. Further, the front company that Plame was involved in that was researching WMDs was collapsed as a result of the outing, and other agents and human assets were outed.

So why the hesitation that there might not be any charges?

[Kagemusha]

Because these people get yelled at to tell both sides of the story.

Simple as that, really..

[sabra]

7. taking the neutral approach? I was wondering the same thing...

[Stephanie]

8. That is the "anonymous source" from the White House

That is McClellan or Matalin or some other mouthpiece espousing the best case scenario for BushCO. Note that the entire story is written from anonymous sources. The fun is in figuring out what came from where.

[H2O Man]

11. Keep in mind

that the judges who heard the journalists' appeals all believed Fitzgerald has something so big that they felt it necessary to force the journalists to testify. He had to show something significant, or they would have ruled in favor of the journalists, as the law allows.

The journalists speculating on what he will do, do not know what those judges know. Hence, they write about the range of possibilities that in theory exist.

[shraby]

14. I was just going to bring that up, H20.

They said because of the seriousness of the crime they decided to jail the reporters. I don't think the perps will walk...I just hope they televise the trials.

[H2O Man]

15. Checl LBN ....

... on the WP report coming out. It nails it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. Excellent reminder, H2O Man, thanks.

Could be the journalists forgot those judges.

[jobycom]

12. Because Republicans have gotten away with worse, and it's hard to imagine

they won't get away with this, too.

[Garbo 2004]

13. Having read a bit of the judges' rulings on forcing Cooper and Miller to

testify, I'd suspect this rosy surmise by anonymous lawyers may not be the case:

"Other lawyers in the case surmise Fitzgerald does not have evidence of any crime at all and put Miller in jail simply to get her testimony and finalize the investigation. "Even assuming . . . that somebody decided to answer back a critic, that is politics, not criminal behavior," said one lawyer in the case. This lawyer said the most benign outcome would be Fitzgerald announcing that he completed a thorough investigation, concluded no crime was committed and would not issue a report."

Even the judge who supported a federal shield law said the evidence presented to the court (the so called "secret evidence" since it's not public) was of such seriousness in terms of national security that Fitz made his case for the need to compel testimony from Cooper and Miller. Doesn't sound like it was just a perfunctory matter of tidily wrapping up the case so the investigation could be closed.

[sabra]

16. Excellent post! Thanks for laying it out...

[RC]

17. Get it fresh and hot here!

[madrchsod]

19. fitzgerald will be using

the major league baseball referee`s hand signals....