"WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - As he weighs whether to bring criminal charges in the C.I.A. leak case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel, is focusing on whether Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, sought to conceal their actions and mislead prosecutors, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday.
Among the charges that Mr. Fitzgerald is considering are perjury, obstruction of justice and false statement - counts that suggest the prosecutor may believe the evidence presented in a 22-month grand jury inquiry shows that the two White House aides sought to cover up their actions, the lawyers said.
Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby have been advised that they may be in serious legal jeopardy, the lawyers said, but only this week has Mr. Fitzgerald begun to narrow the possible charges. The prosecutor has said he will not make up his mind about any charges until next week, government officials say.
With the term of the grand jury expiring in one week, though, some lawyers in the case said they were persuaded that Mr. Fitzgerald had all but made up his mind to seek indictments. None of the lawyers would speak on the record, citing the prosecutor's requests not to talk about the case."
And so the beat goes on. Notice the "lawyers involved in the case" who won't "speak on the record" because "The prosecutor reguested they not talk about the case"?
Balderdash! This is a secret Grand Jury - anyone caught leaking can be jailed - so let's get that straight. Lawyers, tigers and bears Oh My!
I've been reading articles like this through the years, they follow the same MO. A unsubstantiated claim followed by an opinion, slide in a few more claims, etc.
"The case has cast a cloud over the White House, as has the Congressional criticism over the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers. On Thursday, responding to a reporter's question, Mr. Bush said: "There's some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining. But the American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to."
The possible violations under consideration by Mr. Fitzgerald are peripheral to the issue he was appointed in December 2003 to investigate: whether anyone in the administration broke a federal law that makes it a crime, under certain circumstances, to reveal the identity of a covert intelligence officer.
But Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby may not be the only people at risk. There may be others in the government who could be charged for violations of the disclosure law or of other statutes, like the espionage act, which makes it a crime to transmit classified information to people not authorized to receive it."
Yeah, peripheral issues. Can you see the "back tracking"? Before it was it was "outing a CIA op to get back at Wilson!" I mean that was it! Rove and Libby outted that poor uncover agent Valerie Plame!
Well, for the last two weeks we haven't heard that line too much, because they know, they've always known, it's crap. Instead it's "Peripheral issues". It's obstruction and lying and cheating, and not brushing their teeth after eating....The only charge they haven't mentioned Fitzgerald looking to pin on Rove and Libby is the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance.
Yeah, you can indict a ham sandwitch, but from what we know - and that's very little, about this case there wasn't any effort to deceive or obstruct by Rove and Libby or anyone else in the White House. Heck, Rove and Libby had been to the courthouse so many times they had their own parking spaces! Months before Rove's celebrated and MSM hyperventilated fourth visit to the Grand Jury, he had volunteered to return.
Sorry, people who cooperate and volunteer aren't usually the one's who get indicted. Those who stand on the periphery pointing fingers and who you don't see making more than one visit are usually the indictees. And just a little note - Fitzgerald doesn't make the decision to indict, the jury does.
At this point I'm hoping that Fitzgerald is wrapping things up - the Grand Jury meets today, so we'll see. Just a little Here's to the good guys!
Filed under: judith miller valerie plame karl rove Valerie Plame PlameGate john hannah cheney
Subscribe by Email
Follow Updates Articles from This Blog via Email
No Comments