Will this be the lyric? The Plame endgame and Karl Rove is the same…
Informed speculation is increasing that the endgame in Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into who outed the identity of a CIA operative will come as early as today — with indictments. And reports continue to suggest that White House political maven Karl Rove is the prosecutor’s target:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is focusing his investigation into the leak of a CIA operative’s identity on whether White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove committed perjury, two lawyers involved in the case told CNN.
Fitzgerald is expected to announce Friday the results of his investigation and whether he has come up with indictments, a source said.
In case you’re not a political junkie, and aren’t into this case revolving around whether high White House officials outed a CIA operative to get back at her husband, MSNBC offers you this excellent summary here. The Guardian offers this excellent Who’s Who in the case here.
But suffice to say this: if indictments come down, this will be a news story that will dwarf all others — including President George Bush’s next pick for the Supreme Court in the wake of the Harriet Miers nomination. Why? Because it involves the identity of a CIA operative, allegations that the White House in effect had no boundaries in going after its perceived enemies, touches on national security concerns, and — if perjury indictments are brought — will pitchfork the issue of perjury by high officials back into the national spotlight as prominently as during Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings.
If GOPers take a party line, it’ll usher in a new epoch of partisanship…which is likely to be heightened greatly when Bush announces his next Supreme Court pick (which is likely to be a hard-line conservative who’ll spark a bitter Democrat/Republican Senate confrontation).
The AP reports an expectant mood at the White House:
The White House braced for the possibility that Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, could become a criminal defendant by week’s end. Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, remained in jeopardy of being charged with false statements….
Rove’s legal team made contingency plans, consulting with former Justice Department official Mark Corallo about what defenses could be mounted in court and in public.
Fitzgerald met with Rove attorney Robert Luskin at a private law firm office Tuesday, heightening White House fears for Rove’s future.
In 2003, eight days after former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat, columnist Robert Novak disclosed the identity of Wilson’s wife, covert CIA officer Valerie Plame.
After checking with Rove and Libby, the White House categorically denied that either aide was involved in leaking Plame’s identity.
Fitzgerald was appointed nearly two years ago to determine whether any presidential aides violated a federal law that prohibits the intentional unmasking of an undercover CIA officer. The prosecutor also has discussed other charges with defense lawyers in recent weeks, including false statements, obstruction of justice and mishandling of classified information.
The Washington correspondent for Australia’s The Age:
At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said Mr Rove and Mr Libby were “doing their jobs”.
Most Administration officials are resigned to what they consider the almost certain indictment of both of them. One was quoted as saying there was disappointment that the long wait to see whether indictments would proceed, because “everyone just wants to get this over with”.
Meanwhile, there is considerable risk for the White House and the GOP depending on how they handle any indictments. How the White House and Republicans respond could have consequences (one way or another) — apart from the large consequences if Rove and/or other administration bigwigs are eventually convicted.
Remember that there is lots of videotape of George Bush and White House press spokemen on this case. If there are indictments and no resignations — or resignations that don’t happen immediately but need to be pried out of the administration like a bad tooth by the dentist — it’ll further damage the White House’s credibility and increase the growing weight of an administration that is rapidly becoming a political albatross around the necks of Republicans who want to run for office in 2006.
See above post. Latest is that Libby will be likely indicted while the Special Prosecutor continues to look at Rove.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.