Posted on 10/05/2005 6:57:48 PM PDT by dogbyte12
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal prosecutor investigating who leaked the identity of a CIA operative is expected to signal within days whether he intends to bring indictments in the case, legal sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday.
As a first step, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was expected to notify officials by letter if they have become targets, said the lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Fitzgerald could announce plea agreements, bring indictments, or conclude that no crime was committed. By the end of this month he is expected to wrap up his nearly two-year-old investigation into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
The inquiry has ensnared President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The White House had long maintained that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with the leak but reporters have since named them as sources.
Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, declined to say whether his client had been contacted by Fitzgerald. In the past, Luskin has said that Rove was assured that he was not a target.
Libby's lawyer was not immediately available to comment.
"It's an ongoing investigation and we're fully cooperating," said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.
The outcome of the investigation could shake up an administration already reeling from criticism over its response to Hurricane Katrina and the indictment of House Republican leader Tom DeLay on a conspiracy charge related to campaign financing.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified to the grand jury on Friday about the conversations she had with Libby.
Plame's diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, has accused the administration of leaking her name, damaging her ability to work undercover, to get back at him for criticizing Bush's Iraq policy.
Fitzgerald's agreement to limit the scope of Miller's testimony to her conversations with Libby -- a proposal he rejected a year earlier -- suggested that Libby had become "the focus of interest," said one of the lawyers involved in the case.
After initially promising to fire anyone found to have leaked information in the case, Bush in July offered a more qualified pledge: "If someone committed a crime they will no longer work in my administration."
Let it be Timmy Russert who is indicted.
Thank You.
ROFL!
May I add..
Amen.
YA think???
indeed. not only is it directed at the wrong people to begin with, but i do not have that confident feeling in my stomach about this one.
judith miller did not just sit in jail so she could wait for the personal call from libby. she either sat there for a book deal, correct timing for the offensive on the GOP, pending a deal to not reveal the actual sources, agreement to not have to testify on her part in tipping off terrorist mosques, or some combination of the above.
Why would Wilson and Plame be indicted?
indeed, I see little reason to have faith that Fitzgerald has the stones to take down the whole gang.
Can I add a pretty please?
50/50 that the real story is that someone tried to frame Libby for a reporter's leak.
Luskin's silence worries me....he didn't hesitate in the past to say that Rove was not a target...
What is really funny is that the report names the people from the Administration who are 'ensnared' in the investigation. Without naming allof the media types who have had to testify, or go to jail, or who went ot jail. More of the same media BS.
and if it does happen - once again, the white house has been on defense on this from day one. do you think if Libby or Rove are indicted, that the white house is going to go on the attack like DeLay did against Earle? not a chance. what the hell was Libby and his lawyer even doing talking to Miller last week - didn't they know that this was part of the lefts plan to spin her exit from prison and GJ testimony "because my source, Libby, released me". hang up the damn phone.
I tell you, if Libby is indicted. both he and his lawyer are idiots for what they did last week to help Miller ease her way out of jail.
the only thing that matters are the indictments.
Two possible examples:
Plame gave her uncleared husband access to the secret documents that he would later claim were forged. It was found out later that there was no way he could have seen them when he said he did -- unless his wife showed them to him.
Wilson was the one who on the DC cocktail circuit regularly talked about his wife being a covert CIA agent.
You're on to something...... I want to see Chris Matthews face when the indictments come down
Fyi..
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