It strikes me that the language of the code gives the Prosecutor wide lattitude to say that the inquiry was impeded or that the suspect changed his story out of fear of being caught.
Even if Rove later brought the memo in voluntarily, Fitzgerald could claim that he set back the investigation or only brought it in to cover himself.
So, we're back to square one. We need to hope that Fitzgerald is a decent guy and an honest prosecutor.
And if that goes before a jury, Rove will skate.
I won't rely on Fitz doing that. So far..we have seen that he backed Comey when he refused to investigate Pardongate/Rich.
AND...It seems that Fitz gave money to Kerry during the campaigns...... Fitz was assigned to this case back then...If I recall.
It's hard to imagine, based on what we know from the media reports about this case, that (assuming the worst case) there is any reasonable argument that Rove's failure to tell the GJ about his conversation with Matt Cooper until after being confronted with the email could have "substantially affected the investigation."
However, we certainly don't have access to all of the facts about how the investigation has proceeded.
apparently the email was found within a day of Rove's initial testimony. It might have been the same day.