Prosecutors Are Said to Have Expanded Inquiry Into Leak of C.I.A. Officer's Name

New York Times ^ | April 2, 2004

[cyncooper]

prosecutors have widened the range of conduct under scrutiny and for the first time raised the possibility of bringing charges peripheral to the leak itself.

I've stated all along they would widen the range, but I don't think it's in the direction this article states.

[cyncooper]

Don't forget, "peripheral to the leak" could include Wilson himself.

[chiller]

"Republican lawyers worried that the leak case, in the hands of an aggressive prosecutor, might grow into an unwieldy, time-consuming and politically charged inquiry,"

This is the playbook from now until November. If they've got nothing, theey're forced to make it up and start an official inquiry. Repubs better grow some cajones and stop this crap. You'd never guess we were in charge. Never.

[piasa]

I tend to agree, too. Though there is the interesting detail that according to Maureen Dowd, Wilson admitted that Plame told him she was CIA at their 'first kiss.' That might be bullshiess he's adding for color just as he added the dimestore novel atmospheric details about his trip to Niger in his op ed, but it does mean he witnessed that SHE blew her own cover. I think he knew it was a dumb thing to say to Dowd since he added something along the lines of "I had a security clearance." (As if that makes it OK for Plame to inform a guy who doesn't 'need to know' that she is CIA.) But then, he can't exactly be compelled to testify against her since he's married to her...