Friday, October 28, 2005

Dame rumor

Like everyone else, I'm confounded. Who knows what to think about the latest rumors concerning the Fitzgerald probe?

Can't catch Karl! The NYT reported yesterday that Libby will receive an indictment, while Rove will escape the hook -- for now. Fitz, we are told, will seek an extension of the Grand Jury to continue to look into the Rove matter. Some are speculating that Rove has "turned" -- against Cheney.

Heh heh heh. He said "extend." Can Fitzgerald extend the Grand Jury? Nobody "on the outside" seems to know! Joshua Marshall consulted his more legal-minded readers, who give the answer as a very (very) cautious "yes."

Or will Fitz get a do-over? Raw Story says that the current Grand Jury will not receive an extension -- instead, Fitzgerald will seek a new Grand Jury to look into the origins of the Niger forgery.

The other cover-up. According to Murray Waas, Cheney and Libby orchestrated another, related cover-up in 2004, when they kept key materials from the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation of pre-war Iraq intelligence. Can't have stuff like that come out in an election year, y'see...

Libby's source. Everyone, even Fox, seems to agree that Libby's going to "get it." Libby's notes, according to previous report, held that he received the Plame information from Cheney. But Richard Sale says otherwise.
"That is simply not accurate," a very former senior CIA official told this repoter. "Libby's notes on this are misleading and inaccurate or both."
How, I wonder, does one attain the status of "very former senior"?

Mr. Very Former Senior (Tenet or McLaughlin?) and three others tell Sale that Libby received the information from someone within the State Department -- probably from John Bolton.

What do I think of all this? The only progressive who might receive some pleasure at Rove's escape would be...me.

I've been preparing a Halloween costume of Karl-as-Satan, a la that hilarious episode of "American Dad." For the past week, I've worried that I might have to toss out those cool devilish robes and go with black-and-white horizontal stripes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fitz is only getting started. Not much doubt he wants another Grand Jury. As for current indictments, I don't think Mr. Fitzgerald is letting ANYONE off the hook who didn't give him a lot of help. If anyone broke any law but refused to cooperate, they'll be indicted. Conversely, anyone who is NOT indicted, helped him out a lot. And that's why he's wanting a new Grand Jury.

Anonymous said...

i agree with unirealist; fitz is not going to just back off when he has something - even viable leads. my sense all along has been that most of the public retains the ken starr mentality on this, and assumes that what we know is what the prosecutor knows. it just ain't so in this case. fitz knows so much that is just not getting out, and i therefore believe the indictments could be explosive. and yeah, we can bet that anyone who slides out of this gave him a good deal of help. novak first leaps to mind, but also rove, given all the reported negotiations going on (and given what a woos rove is in real life).

and with regard to the 'very former senior official', doncha thin it was just a typo, meaning 'former very senior'?

this is just so way better than who shot jr!

Anonymous said...

folks, take heart; josh marshall got the real legal eagle poop on this matter of extending special grand juries.

seems that regular grand juries can only run a total of 24 months, but specials run 18 months, with another 18 months of 6 month extensions.

this means this sitting special grand jury could potentially go on for ANOTHER FULL YEAR!!

actually, another full year plus two months, as the official brief says the grand jury was originally convened in january 04 when fitz took over.

this is very good news, folks. a lot of info has likely spilled from the cowardly cabal crew in these last frenetic days of panic (and i would not be surprised if rove has begun to at least hum fitz's tune, if not sing outright), which may well have played right into fitz's hands. and then there are the forgery issues and all those links to hadley and cheney's office, and the exposure of libby and cheney withholding documents from the senate, etc....

this is just way too cool, folks. BE PATIENT. and get comfy; our own mr. eliot ness is not going to rest until every stone is turned.

and don't be disappointed about the few indictments. one thing a prosecutor knows well: you NEVER present the indictment without getting ALL possible evidence. remember oj? it binds the case, so you never want to jump the gun.

and fitz strikes me as just the master of detail to work that to his advantage, every time. very appropriately cautious.

and hey, he can still stick libby for more indictments if he uncovers more evidence. and what else he can do is list a number of unindicted co-conspirators, which may well flush them out of the underbrush. heck, we could find ourselves in a regular springtime songbird singalong fest!

Anonymous said...

I think you should still wear your costume with the black-and-white stripes, Joseph. Sometimes "tempting Fate" is a bad thing. Sometimes Fate likes that kinda thing.