Posted on 10/26/2005 9:36:57 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
A special prosecutor who has spent nearly two years investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity is not expected to announce his long-awaited conclusions on Wednesday.
Sources told FOX News that no indictments or other legal action were expected just yet by the federal grand jury investigating the leak.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, was making his final presentation to the 18-member grand jury on Wednesday. The jury's term expires on Friday.
Meanwhile, the White House was attempting to go about its normal business, albeit under a very dark cloud: two top aides, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Karl Rove, are at the center of the probe, and on Tuesday lawyers involved in the case revealed Vice President Dick Cheney may have tipped off Libby, his chief of staff, to the agent's identity.
Fitzgerald and the grand jury convened at the U.S. District Courthouse at 9 a.m. EDT, just two days before the jury's term is set to expire. Until then, when they decide to announce their findings is entirely at their discretion. Fitzgerald also has the option to extend the grand jury's term.
On Tuesday, investigators interviewed neighbors of the woman at the heart of the case, Valerie Plame. Marc Lefkowitz, who lives across the street from Plame, was interviewed by two FBI agents who arrived at his house without notice, his wife told FOX News. Lefkowitz was asked if he knew that Plame worked for the CIA before her name appeared in a July 14, 2003, column by Robert Novak.
Lefkowitz's wife told FOX News that she and her husband believed Plame was "some kind of consultant," and did not know she worked for the CIA.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
" No friendly neighbor is going to rat out Valerie and Joe."
One of the neighbors named in the article, David Tillotson, is listed in opensecrets.org as having given 2,000 to Kerry and he and the wife gave 500 to the DNC. Same zip as Wilson, I assume it's the same guy.
Agreed. I heard her boss say say that. I don't understand why that's even considered not established fact at this point.
Very interesting. Nice catch. I bet the MSM won't report that.
because Miller is going to be indicted.
where are you getting this from?
If the President could arbitrarily declassify any classified information, why would it be necessary to refer it back to the originating agency or establish a procedure for them to appeal the declassification?
Does it make sense that any President can divulge sensitive, classified information to a foreign power and can escape prosecution because he can automatically declassify it? No man is above the law, even the President.
If she did, it was a bureaucratic oversight. Aldrich Ames killed her undercover career.
I've lived in the same house for 15 years, and had several jobs over that time. And very often, my neighbors did not know where I worked. Nor do I know where they work.
Of course, I can tell you how often they cut their grass, and how much trash they put in the dumpster each week.
The fact that a NOC was outed by a mole isn't the kind of thing that people confirm for the press. Anyone who says it definitely happened doesn't know what they are talking about.
The media (even Fox) keeps talking as though it was a crime, but I've heard many say that no law was broken, even in the worst case scenario.
I'm beginning to agree that this is over. Friday we'll find out.
Some have said that assigning her to work for a front company was just that.
Her bosses in 2003 sent a criminal referral to the DOJ after Novak published her name, and the spokesman for her bosses told Novak not to publish her name.
IOW, Rustmann doesn't have the final say on her status, and may not even have a basis to know. That's why it is not considered established fact.
I hope so. Unless Wilson himself is indicted. Well, I can hope, can't I? I heard Joe DiGenova sound rather positive that Fitzgerald may be looking into the role of the CIA against the president. I personally can't believe that would be the case, but I've read that Fitzgerald is a pretty independent prosecutor. I just hope for justice. We see it too seldom in these times.
Thanks for clearing that up.
"Although the routine is that the jury does whatever the prosecutor asks . . ."
So that's why Earle was so angry at the jury that refused to indict DeLay.
As I said, I know from experience that people in these kind of neighborhoods don't know much about their neighbors and, if they do have passing relationships with them, it's considered gauche to ask too much (if anything) about where people work, what they do, etc. It's assumed your some kind of professional. Also many people in the D.C. metro area work in sensitive or political positions and people really don't want that dynamic to intrude onto whatever social dynamic there is in the neighborhood.
What about this? What if they are going after Wilson and Plame, instead of Rove and Libby?
If their neighbors did not know Plame worked at the CIA, that would make it worse and more intentional when Wilson and Plame embarked on a course (getting him sent to Niger and publishing a piece in the NYT) that pretty much ensured she would be found out.
Even then Libby does nothing wrong if the person who first passed the information did not info the recipients that the info was classified and appropriate procedures/safeguards applied.
OK. I see your point now.
But my belief is that the senior White guys like Cheney, Libby and Rove would all have the necessary tickets. You cannot be an advisor to the President of the United States and be excluded from the key security data and meetings. My arguments are based on that assumption. I'm certain I'm right about that. I used TOP SECRET as an example of a high level clearance. The Valerie Plame info could be compartmentalized special access or could be only SECRET. Hard to tell. You are correct that it would probably be on Need To Know basis.
LOL. I assume you left out House.
The Valerie Plame info could be compartmentalized special access or could be only SECRET.
Believe me, it is far above SECRET.
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