Iowa politics and beyond.
Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC says she can report that the “Under Secretary” in the indictment of Scooter Libby is Marc Grossman, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
That would make sense to me. He’s been involved in the investigation all along.
From a CBS News Report:
“Rove’s lawyer said he was told by the prosecutor’s office that investigators had “made no decision about whether or not to bring charges” and would continue their probe into Rove’s conduct.
Fitzgerald’s spokesman, Randall Samborn, said the investigation will continue but with a new grand jury. The term of the current grand jury cannot be extended beyond today.
The lack of an indictment against Rove is a mixed outcome for the administration. It keeps in place the president’s top adviser, the architect of his political machine whose fingerprints can be found on virtually every policy that emerges from the White House.
But leaving Rove in legal jeopardy keeps Mr. Bush and his team working on problems like the Iraq war, a Supreme Court vacancy and slumping poll ratings beneath a dark cloud of uncertainty.”
So, what does all of this mean?
We honestly don’t know. It is looking like the next investigation won’t last more than a couple of weeks or a couple of months.
Raw Story is reporting that Fitzgerald is still going after Rove, probably with tougher charges. Take that with a grain of salt.
According to Fitzgerald, the investigation is still ongoing. The grand jury’s term has expired by statute, however, they can still be called back to consider charges in the same investigation.
To any lawyers out there: Can you confirm this? Is it a typical tactic?
And does that mean Rove still can be seriously indicted under this same grand jury?
From the indictment of Scooter Libby (PDF):
“On or about July 10 or July 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House (“Official A”) who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson’s wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson’s trip. LIBBY was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson’s wife.”
David Schuster was just on MSNBC speculating that Official A is Karl Rove, since his name is mentioned nowhere in the actual indictment. The only problem is that this would be contrary to Novak’s claim that his source was “no partisan gunslinger.” Unless that was meant to be an inside joke for Novakula. And I’d say his whacky-ass Republican mind might actually do that.
And then there is this:
“On or about May 29, 2003, in the White House, LIBBY asked an Under Secretary of State (“Under Secretary”) for information concerning the unnamed ambassador’s travel to Niger to investigate claims about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium yellowcake. The Under Secretary thereafter directed the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research to prepare a report concerning the ambassador and his trip. The Under Secretary provided LIBBY with interim oral reports in late May and early June 2003, and advised LIBBY that Wilson was the former ambassador who took the trip.”
The speculation, of course, on this official is John Bolton. I can’t confirm or deny anything about that.
Time for the Fitzgerald press conference.
UPDATE: CNN has a confirmed copy of a letter written to four House Democrats (including John Conyers) from Patrick Fitzgerald stating that he will NOT be releasing a public report.
“Fitzgerald tells members of Congress he believes “there is no legal authority to issue a public report in the Special Counsel matter”, also confirms that the Plame grand jury is not a ’special grand jury’.”
That doesn’t seem like good news if we ever wanted a full story behind the investigation. Information will come out spinning a tale from the indictments, but we don’t get the full scope of the information collected by Patrick Fitzgerald.
Then, there is this information from Hotline On Call:
“From a Washington Post chat with Jim VandeHei: “Here is what I can report on Rove front: Rove provided the special prosecutor something in recent days that gave in the words of one person close to him “pause” about charging Rove. The Rove team anticipates the special prosecutor will make a decision within weeks, not months.”
A source close to Rove confirms that, in discussions with Fitzgerald, Rove’s attorney provided new information that “gave him pause.”"
Has Rove gotten off the hook?
Jeralynn Merrit has been predicting that he had cut a deal for a while now, here is some of her most recent speculation.
Indicted for perjury, making false statements, and obstruction of justice.
What else to come?
“Lied to federal agents twice in 2003, committed perjury twice in 2004 before the grand jury, obstruction of justice by impeding the grand juries investigation.”
…I’m watching MSNBC right now and Tim Russert is finally answering questions. He says he wasn’t the source of the leak and had no idea who Valerie Plame was or if he knew she worked at the CIA.
I can’t believe it took until today to get anyone to ask Russert this. But I guess Brian Williams finally felt he had to stand up.
…Libby asked about Plame from an Undersecretary in the State Department, where he got a report, and he also found out information from Dick Cheney.
According to Wonkette and Fox News, Scooter Libby has resigned. Dan Abrams is saying that he thinks there is no chance Cheney will get any more deeply involved.
I’m watching CNN right now. I’m glad I woke up just in time to watch this. Evidently, the release of some documents is coming quite soon. Here is the Fitzgerald website to keep up to date on things.
An official announcement will be coming at 1 PM (CDT) today from Fitzgerald.
The latest details, as reported by the press, are that Scooter Libby will be indicted and Rove is still in legal jeopardy. Like Atrios said, however, we should take all of this media guessing with a grain of salt.
After reading this post from Hotline On Call last night, I was pretty damn sure that Harriet Miers would be withdrawing her nomination:
“BTW: the Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to receive its updated questionnaire from nominee Harriet Miers We’re told it’ll get to them around 11 p.m. ET. Said NY Sen. Chuck Schumer in a statement at 8:45 pm: “This is another in a series of disappointments. The Miers nomination is suffering from a serious bout of delay, distraction, and disorganization and needs a dramatic turnaround.”"
Schumer’s statement, I think, was part of the strategy of whoever was leading Miers’ nomination to give her an out to some Senate Democrats.
Anyway, Hotline is telling us to be prepared for a new nomination in just a couple of days. The bigger impact of this whole set of events, in my eyes, is that its a big body blow to the President. He pissed off his base and felt their rath. It’s pretty sad when wingnuts dominate your party.
But, like I said, there was a pretty large consensus that this nomination was going to fail in some way. It didn’t just fail, it was killed.
For a break from FitzMas (though, I will admit, there’s very much a “but I wanna open presents nooowww” attitude about it) note this sadly typical blog story quotes Trent Lott:
“Bloggers claim I was their first pelt, and I believe that. I’ll never read a blog,” says the former Senate majority leader
Seems like a mistake to eliminate the very media source which might still defend his policies, but you know, whatever.
The Washington Post is reporting the latest:
“The prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation presented a summary of his case to a federal grand jury yesterday and is expected to announce a final decision on charges in the two-year-long probe tomorrow, according to people familiar with the case.
Even as Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald wrapped up his case, the legal team of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has been engaged in a furious effort to convince the prosecutor that Rove did not commit perjury during the course of the investigation, according to people close to the aide. The sources, who indicated that the effort intensified in recent weeks, said Rove still did not know last night whether he would be indicted.”
I can only imagine what things are like inside the Bush White House right now. I’m sure Rove’s finding it hard to sleep…especially if he’s going to have to explain to his son why daddy’s going to be indicted and arrested by the federal government. Paul Begala has a post over at TPM Cafe that catches the assumed feeling pretty closely. I’m sure the Clinton White House was nothing like the Bush II White House, but there most definitely are still comparisons to be made.
According to Raw Story, the summary Fitzgerald offered Wednesday already included some requests for indictments:
“Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked the grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to indict Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, lawyers close to the investigation tell RAW STORY.
Fitzgerald has also asked the jury to indict Libby on a second charge: knowingly outing a covert operative, the lawyers said. They said the prosecutor believes that Libby violated a 1982 law that made it illegal to unmask an undercover CIA agent.”
The grand jury’s term is set to expire on Friday. There is some speculation that Fitzgerald has sought to empanel a new grand jury or even extend this curent grand jury. The likelihood of either of these events happening is unclear, especially to a DC-outsider like myself. If so, then I’m guessing that Fitzmas comes more than once a year.
My reasons for thinking that Fitzmas comes often is this from Steve Clemons:
“Well, news has just reached TWN that Patrick Fitzgerald is expanding not only into a new website — but also into more office space.
Fitzgerald’s office is at 1400 New York Avenue, NW, 9th Floor in Washington.
What I have learned is that the Office of the Special Counsel has signed a lease this week for expanded office space across the street at 1401 New York Avenue, NW.
Another coincidence? More office space needed to shut down the operation?
I think not. Fitzgerald’s operation is expanding.”
I agree with Steve that the operation is expanding. But I’m not going to place full weight (maybe half of mine, which is still a lot) on the possibility that it’s expanding for another grand jury or for an extension. I think it is absolutely entirely possible that his office is going to need more space to prosecute five different people (at least) stemming from the indictments he brings.
And finally, if you’re looking for comedy late tonight, check out wingnuts smoking crack.
Ok, things have become quite confusing today. I’ll try to recap the information that’s out there today.
First, stay up to date with Josh Marshall on the breaking Italian news reports about the Niger document forgeries. He’s leading the way with that. Richard Sale, former UPI reporter, has more as well.
Secondly, we know the indictments weren’t announced this morning. However, the reports are that at least Rove and Libby were indicted (Raw Story) and Sale is reporting that a Washington official told him that indictments ARE coming down this afternoon, at least in some kind of announcement.
Finally, the Grand Jury did adjourn for the day. However, Fitzgerald met with the chief judge in the case, possibly seeking an extension or a new grand jury to be empaneled so that he can continue a different investigation of some sort.
What does all of this mean? I’m not entirely sure yet. More later.
Evidently, instead of working to campaign to against the Democrats preparing to run for governor, they’ve decided to go after Tom Vilsack because he’s travelling so much and supposedly ignoring Iowa. Today, they unveiled their new attack website, Travelling Tom. To be honest, it looks like an elementary school child made it.
And it isn’t even that funny. Try harder next time, Iowa GOP. Contact the wacky Drake College Republicans…maybe they can help you attack us “hippies” as they like to call us.
It is really weird to read things in The Times about Judy Miller and not have them be hack-ish editorials asking for her release (or simply stories in general that should include references to her but don’t). So, I was pleasantly surprised to find this story in today’s paper:
“A Senate Democrat said Tuesday that he would ask the Pentagon inspector general to investigate why journalists are allowed to have temporary access to classified information while they are assigned to military units in overseas operations.
The senator, Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, said his request was prompted by an assertion by Judith Miller, the reporter for The New York Times who spent 85 days in jail for refusing to identify a confidential source, that she had “security clearance” during her assignment with a military unit in Iraq in 2003.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Mr. Dorgan said, “What kind of clearance would that reporter have to see classified or secret information?”"
Fair enough question. Though I doubt it is one we’ll get an answer to unless we can somehow take the Senate back before next November. Maybe she’ll fess up in her book someday.
From theFinancial Times:
“Indictments in the CIA leak investigation case are expected to be handed down by a grand jury on Wednesday, bringing to a head a criminal inquiry that threatens to disrupt seriously President George W. Bush’s second term.”
Getting kind of excited.
From Roll Call:
“Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was spotted Tuesday at the law offices of Patton Boggs paying a visit to Robert Luskin, the eccentric (for Washington, D.C.) lawyer who represents Karl Rove.”
Even more excited.
“Prosecutors investigating the leak of a CIA agent’s identity returned their attention to powerful White House advisor Karl Rove on Tuesday, questioning a former West Wing colleague about contacts Rove had with reporters in the days leading to the outing of a covert CIA officer.
Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald also dispatched FBI agents to comb the CIA officer’s residential neighborhood in Washington, asking neighbors again whether they were aware — before her name appeared in a syndicated column — that the agent, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA.
The questioning, described by lawyers familiar with the case and by the neighbors, occurred as Fitzgerald was thought to be readying indictments in the long-running inquiry into the leak of Plame’s identity.”
So, the focus is back on Rove. The indictments are coming.
Oh, and Stephen Hadley, National Security Adviser, helped bring the forged Niger uranium documents to the US. That makes me think he’ll be receiving one of the five indictments that are coming tomorrow. Lauren Rozen has more at The American Prospect. And you know that things are bad when the AP puts out a report on the history of indictments coming to folks who work at the White House.
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Hallmarks of a Good Judge
If you don’t know by now, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is Bush’s new nominee for the Supreme Court.
Now, if you needed any more proof that Bush is a tool, there you have it. I hate to say that–I don’t want to have to call the President derogatory terms in any situation (though I do it more often than I should) but President Bush has proven himself a tool of the right wing. He nominated Harriet Miers before hand, and for various reasons (undoubtedly the most overriding one that Miers wasn’t convinvingly conservative enough) the rigth wing focused their time, money, and energy on destroying her nomination. This, of course, gave Bush a chance to help himself. The right wing wanted an ideological conservative, the left wing wanted a moderate (realistically speaking) and the public-at-large wanted a moderate. Bush, caving to his critics, decided to toss the right-wing a bone (or perhaps the other way around…) and nominated someone who is reliably conservative.
Well, fine. He’s no Robert Bork, but he’s not what most of us want or what the country needs. Bush really had a chance to reach ought and nominate someone maybe not conservative enough to satisfy the extreme right-wing, but someone who would be widely respected as a moderate, sensible, pragmatic justice. He squandered this by pandering to those who threaten to sink their party’s own President (someone who they used to love, but, like rats jumping from a sinking ship, turned their backs on the President who pushed for many of the things they wanted) and choosing someone who nobody can trust to make an independent decision.
A good judge approaches a case without bias, without an ideological mindset–neither liberal nor conservative–and looks long and hard and thoughtfully at the case infront of them. A good judge looks at everything, and makes a sensible decision that makes sense and, if possible, makes a decision in the benefit of the greatest number of people and not for special interests and big business.
I have little doubt Alito is a smart man, perhaps a thoughtful justice, but I don’t think anyone can trust him to not be ideologically conservative, to approach cases with a free and unadultered mind. One can only hope he turns out to be a Justice with the people’s interests–not the parties’ interests–in mind.