US officials brace for decisions in CIA leak case Wed Oct 5, 2005 9:07 PM ET

Reuters ^ | 10-5-05 | Reuters

[savedbygrace]

I think Reuters is just stirring the pot. I don't think they have any inside info on when Fitzgerald will hand dwon indictments, or whatever.

[REDWOOD99]

I think he was just clearing up loose ends. Unless someone did something stupid in front of the grand jury, there is nothing indictable here.

[frankjr]

Yes welcome. And the terror mosque case had nothing to do with the agreement. Per DOJ rules, Fitz could not question her on that anyway. The other sources relate to Plame case - her previous attorney Abrams made that clear the other day.

[stocksthatgoup]

Fitzgerald is a Democrat. Expect a slew of ham sandwich indictments.

[Texas Songwriter]

I don't think the target of an investigation (you proposed Miller) is required to testify before a Grand Jury. Is that correct?

[Perdogg]

That's my guess. He has nothing to justify to continue to GJ. Remember, his office stated or hinted that "the preliminary" crime had not been committed and that he was looking to investigate periphery crimes.

I cannot see conspiracy because there is no underlining crime. Perjury is impossible to prove. My guess is that he will slap Rove and Libby on hand, lecture about good government and move on.

[oceanview]

what did Libby get it return? now we have a system of justice that dictates the accused fear "pissing off" the prosecutor - the fact that the re-affirmation was legally meaningless doesn't matter?

[razorback-bert]

That the investigation took TWO years is the real crime.

[Perdogg]

That is correct.

[cohokie]

From what I have heard ( I am not a lawyer) a prosecutor generally notifies a target before they would testify if they are indeed a target. However, they are not obligated to do that.

[Texas Songwriter]

Why not leave her in detention if he means to indict her?

[frankjr]

" I cannot see conspiracy because there is no underlining crime."

Didn't stop Ronnie Earle ;)

[Archon of the East]

Sad but likely true.

[West Coast Conservative]

HERE'S MY GUESS ABOUT PLAMEGATE... [John Podhoretz]
...for what it's worth (and what it's worth is about a nickel if you want inside information). My guess is: It has amounted to nothing.

Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald is tying up loose ends, one of which is Judith Miller, toward whom he is hostile for reasons having nothing to do with Valerie Plame (she busted up his investigation of an Islamist terror front called the Holy Land Foundation by calling its officials for comment just before he was about to stage a midnight raid on the place). My guess: He has already determined there was no crime in the naming of Plame. Remember: He could have indicted people all along the way if he'd had the goods on them and probably would have done so in order to secure cooperation. (Remember that Ken Starr indicted, among other people, the McDougalls and Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker well before he got involved in Monica-gate.)

If there was no underlying crime in the outing of her name, the idea that there was a conspiracy to hide the fact of her naming (which is what the Washington Post is hinting at today) is a major, major stretch. Not an impossible stretch, but a major stretch, and a pretty unfair one too by any reckoning. Total runaway prosecutor stuff, and I trust people like Andy McCarthy who say Fitzgerald is a fair man.

So, unless somebody perjured himself explicitly before his grand jury -- and I submit to you it's highly doubtful that Scooter Libby committed perjury before a grand jury because he's one of Washington's toughest lawyers and would know how dangerous it would be to do so -- Fitzgerald is done. He will end the grand jury next month, will not indict anyone for anything, will not provide a long written report on the matter, and will be accused of being a White House shill by the Kos-maniacs.

Look, I could be wrong. But given everything we know and the fact that there have been no indictments by now and that Judith Miller is the last witness for Fitzgerald's grand jury, I think this is the most plausible scenario for the Plamegate endgame.

NRO: The Corner

[oceanview]

Fitzgerald was the one who put Miller in jail - her claim was litigated all the way to the SCOTUS. then suddenly he becomes concerned that Libby was "letting her rot"? he could have declared her testiomony no longer relevant at any time if he wanted her to be freed.

[Perdogg]

Because he needed her testimony to conclude his report. Think about this logically. If Miller, or any body else said any thing bad about Libbey or Rove in the GJ, wouldn't this have been reported by now?

[Texas Songwriter]

I hear this special prosecutor, though a democrat, shoots straight as a grizzleys d**k. I admit I am concerned. The Administration does not neeed anymore hickeys anytime soon.

[Perdogg]

Why? Have you not been called into the office at work during an investigation and told not to talk about it? I have. I wasn't the target.

[frankjr]

"He could have indicted people all along the way if he'd had the goods on them and probably would have done so in order to secure cooperation."

I find this part interesting. Fitzgerald is currently leading a Grand Jury investigation in Chicago (city hall) and he has handed out indictments all along the way.

[Perdogg]

He still has to prove a criminal case beyond reasonable doubt.

I think if Rove or Libby perjured themselves they deserve jail. Perjury is so difficult to prosecute, I am surprised it's still on the books.