The New York Times reports that when the expected indictments in Plamegate come down, Vice President Dick Cheney’s right-hand man Lewis “Scooter” Libby will be charged and White House political guru Karl Rove will remain under the Special Prosecutor’s investigatory microscope:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 – Associates of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, expected an indictment on Friday charging him with making false statements to the grand jury in the C.I.A. leak inquiry, lawyers in the case said Thursday.
Karl Rove, President Bush’s senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, would not be charged on Friday, but would remain under investigation, people briefed officially about the case said. As a result, they said, the special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, was likely to extend the term of the federal grand jury beyond its scheduled expiration on Friday.
Good news for Rove? Perhaps, perhaps not. Perhaps it means the goods aren’t there yet to make an iron clad case (good news for Rove). Or the prosecutor is making sure the noose inescapably tight (bad news for Rove). AND:
As rumors coursed through the capital, Mr. Fitzgerald gave no public signal of how he intended to proceed, further intensifying the anxiety that has gripped the White House and left partisans on both sides of the political aisle holding their breath.
Mr. Fitzgerald’s preparations for a Friday announcement were shrouded in secrecy, but advanced amid a flurry of behind-the-scenes discussions that left open the possibility of last-minute surprises. As the clock ticked down on the grand jury, people involved in the case did not rule out the disclosure of previously unknown aspects of the case.
White House officials said their presumption was that Mr. Libby would resign if indicted, and he and Mr. Rove took steps to expand their legal teams in preparation for a possible court battle.
Among the many unresolved mysteries is whether anyone in addition to Mr. Libby and Mr. Rove might be charged and in particular whether Mr. Fitzgerald would name the source who first provided the identity of a covert C.I.A. officer to Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist. Mr. Novak identified the officer in a column published July 14, 2003.
Stay tuned for potentially the biggest political story of the Bush administration. If this eventually winds up as both Libby and Rove being indicted, look for President George Bush to give conservatives exactly the kind of candidate they want this time for the Supreme Court. He’s going to need allies in the battle in the court of public opinion..
AND THIS, TOO:
If today ends with Libby being indicted and Rove still in legal and political limbo, it’ll be a touchy situation for the White House. Because if Rove’s situation isn’t actually resolved, it can’t accurately be said that he got off and is cleared. But it can’t accurately be said that he has been formally accused of anything. Some partisans on the left and right could jump the gun with their respective positions…but if the Times is correct, it’ll end today with a somewhat unresolved situation.
So what does Rove do? He can continue in his post. Why should he resign (using the President’s last yardstick) if he hasn’t been indicted? But if an investigation continues to swirl around him it’ll keep that part of the story alive. And if Libby is indicted first, then not Rove, and Rove is indicted later, Rove’s later indictment will be a huge second story on this case. So could Rove go the way of Harriet Miers and decide to move onto other endeavors?
Undoubtely if Rove is not formally charged but the investigation continues there will be some who will say it proves nothing is there. But none of this is over until the actual issue (indict Rove or give him a clean legal bill of health) is resolved. A danger for Fitzgerald is that if he doesn’t indict but continues putting Rove under the microscope, some will say he’s spent enough time and hasn’t found anything, so why is he continuing to investigate him?
The bottom line: if these reports are correct, today may not end with a resolution of some of these longstanding issues and allegations but a continuation of the process — which is, no matter how you slice it, politically debilitating for the Bush administration.
UPDATE: Citizen Smash, who rightfully now calls himself the IndePundit (he is very independent) has THIS TO SAY about Plamegate. Note his comment about South Carolina (like TMV Smash was a huge John McCain fan in 2000):
If anyone is waiting for me to rush to the defense of Karl Rove or Scooter Libby, prepare be disappointed. I’ve never liked Rove (I haven’t forgotten South Carolina), and I’d never even heard of Libby before his name came up as a potential target of this investigation. I have absolutely no sense of obligation of loyalty to either of these two operatives, and I won’t waste any time or energy defending them.
Neither will I join the feeding frenzy of those eager to give the Bush Administration a black eye at any cost. The desire to see your own government disgraced is the lowest form of partisanship. I won’t play that game.
If any laws were broken, the guilty should be punished — no one should be above the law. People at this level, however, tend to get off with light punishments, if they are punished at all. In any event, I expect both sides to be disappointed before all this has ended.
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.