Fitzgerald meets with Judge

CNN

[the Real fifi]

I never said the judge has anything to do with who is indicted. I was responding to a comment about Hogan. If the jury was about to be discharged, Hogan might sign that order, and I expect he'd be the person to go to if Fitz was seeking an extension and the empaneling of a new gj.

[popdonnelly]

"One thing I never thought of before is that Wilson immediately floated the self-serving "outing-my-wife-to-silence-me" interpretation of events, which the MSM latched onto like a boa constrictor. But maybe this spin was put out to insulate Wilson and Plame from any serious inquiry into who at the CIA ultimately sent him to Niger, and what the real reason was. Maybe Wilson didn't want his wife's role known because that would open up a can of worms."

The same thought occurred to me, Steve. Actually, it seems like a natural. Cover your butt by pointing the finger at somebody else.

[Phsstpok]

I have said 999,999 times, to a conviction YOU MUST PROVE MENS REA.

No argument, however, the question at hand was can he indict, not can he convict. I stated that Martha was convicted of giving false info, so it is assumed that she was indicted for that crime (which she was). I should have spelled that out. My stated bottom line was "yes, he can indict them if he wants to."

Now, I think that there's plenty of available evidence to prove intent of the postulated cabal, particularly the actions of Wilson and the recently revealed involvement of the French DGSE in the overall scandal (the forged docs and a French government company being the operator of the Niger uranium operation).

You at least have motive on the part of the French government to discredit the since confirmed intelligence about Saddam's attempts to buy yellowcake by creating fake documents to muddy the waters. You further have France's overt and covert actions to undermine us at the UN and in the EU over Iraq and the heavy involvement of French diplomats in UNSCAM and you get more confirmation. If the information about Wilson's ex wife being a DGSE spook also prove true a lot that otherwise is obscure suddenly becomes clear.

My feeling is that this is an attempt by rogue elements in our bureaucracy colluding with a foreign government's intelligence agency in time of war to undermine the actions of our elected government.

If Fitzgerald is working that angle I think he may go down as a modern Horatius at the Bridge.

[CyberAnt]

I sure hope you're right! The media will be jumping out of high-rises!

[Steve_Seattle]

"Fitzgerald has a stellar reputation."

So did Kenneth Starr before he ran into the Clinton machine. And DC does funny things to people. It's like Jerusalem, where some visitors literally go crazy, overcome by the historical significance of everything - they start thinking they are Jesus, etc. So what am I saying? One, that Fitz might fear the Starr treatment if he fails to indict anyone, and therefore go for a weak case. Two, that the idea of being part of history, of being a key player in a Watergate-type historical moment, of being praised and memorialized by the media, might fill him with big ideas and cause him to pursue indictments that he would normally reject as insubstantial.

[popdonnelly]

"Wilson said that he did not confirm his wife worked for the CIA but that Novak told him he had obtained the information from a "CIA source."

Wilson knows that Novak's information came from a CIA source? And he launches into his attack on the White House anyway? Curious.

[not2worry]

Karl Rove really moved to the South of France several months ago. The guy serving in the White House is really a Karl Rove double, formerly a mistress of Bill Clinton.

Amazing what plastic surgery in those San Fran clinics can do these days.

Surprised the CIA and FBI haven't figured this out yet...guess they think it's standard operating procedure to use the stall in the White House men's room everyday.

[SevenMinusOne]

My guess is Fitz has come to find out his Grand Jury won't indict (he doesn't have the votes) - He's asking the judge to convene a new grand jury -

[CyberAnt]

Joe testified! Oh boy - that's encouraging! Hope he lied under oath!!

[popdonnelly]

"The person, whom Wilson declined to identify to The Post, asked Novak about the "yellow cake" uranium matter and then about Wilson, Wilson said."

So Wilson's friend sees Novak on the street and starts pumping him about uranium and Wilson. Curious.

[Great Caesars Ghost]

Powell was better than Rice.

[BushisTheMan]

Here's Larry Johnson's Web blog link:
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/

He's ex-CIA and a Bush hater.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Wilson knows that Novak's information came from a CIA source? And he launches into his attack on the White House anyway? Curious."

Good catch. Sometimes I think that a conspiracy-Lite approach is more reasonable, i.e., that Wilson went to Niger on a lark, or maybe for personal business reasons, with the uranium investigation just as an excuse. So he did his half-assed investigation, made a cursory verbal report to the CIA, and maybe thought that was the end of it.

Then, later on, he started getting involved with the political campaign and the Kerry people, and the anti-war sentiment started to steamroll, so he went to the media and sourced these Bush-lied stories about Niger and his trip. Those had some impact, so he got more bold and wrote a story himself, embellishing the story as he went. Then his wife's name came out and he panicked, realizing that perhaps HE and her superiors could be blamed, since they were the ones who sent him on the trip and jeopardized her cover, such as it was.

So to cover his own motives, lies, and incompetence, and that of the CIA handlers who recruited him, he floated the "they outed my wife to 'get' me" story, and the rest is history, with the anti-Bush CIA faction helping out in whatever ways they could.

[BushisTheMan]

Read elsewhere that Fitz was in Italy getting information about the yellow cake incident from the investigation the Italian Government is doing on that so-called false information.

It's all going back to that yellow cake...and who is in the center of that? Joe Wilson.

[syriacus]

I thought Wilson was connected to the Oil-for-Food scandal. He's so much like that other jerk, Galloway.

[pepperhead]

NOW BREAKING......... Fitzgerald just had a bowel movement.

[colorado tanker]

Yep. Whether the Jury was wrapping up or being extended, I'd expect Fitz to go see the Judge in either event.

[Paraclete]

No kidding.

[SevenMinusOne]

and who is in the center of that? Joe Wilson.

I understand Joe Wilson is a complete liar and fool. He is without a doubt responsible (willingly) so in much of this -

However, I'll be completely shocked (not because the facts don't merit it...just because) if Wilson is who Fitz goes after -

I still think Fitz found out today he has a juror or two he still needs to convince to get his indictments he thought he already had -

He went and saw the judge to either tell him he needs a little more time then he thought to flip these jurors back or to ask for a whole new grand jury to be brought in (restarting this whole process).

[popdonnelly]

"So to cover his own motives, lies, and incompetence, and that of the CIA handlers who recruited him, he floated the "they outed my wife to 'get' me" story, and the rest is history, with the anti-Bush CIA faction helping out in whatever ways they could."

I agree with you, Steve.