not on a simple "mis-statements" charge, which it appears that Libby will be charged with. His trial will not involve all kinds of discovery into the CIA, Wilson, etc. Its going to be a simple trial about the inconsistencies in his testimony - versus his own notes - as crazy as that sounds - or an obstruction charge regarding his letter to Miller. So I don't think the left fears the trial. If Fitzgerald has joined "team DNC", this Libby move is a squeeze play, and he will use an extension of the GJ to keep Rove under a dark cloud.
We were asking this question last night - does anyone know who has the authority to shut Fitzgerald down?
Attorney General can go to the judge and asked that he be shut down down -- then it is up to the judge.
This is going to get the RATs unless I am way off with the lawyer group that Libby has hired. It may start off simple but it won't end that way.
This is a fascinating situation.
Typically, one shuts something down by removing its power source. To paraphrase Bill Cosby, I plugged you in, I can unplug you. But acting Atty. Gen. Comey gave his creation its own independent and dedicated power source. There's no plug to pull.
In appointing Fitzgerald, Comey bestowed on him all the authority of the Attorney General, while at the same time specifying that Fitzgerald was not under the oversight or authority of the Dept. of Justice or anyone else. How do you fire someone over whom you have no authority?
Ok, then why wouldn't the President have the authority to pull the plug? In setting this thing up, certain aspects of the expired Independent Counsel law were invoked and agreed to by congress, the Justice Dept and the GAO. Having invoked and incorporated Independent Counsel precedent into the workings, they effectively subject themselves to another precedent: the Independent Counsel is specifically put outside the reach of the president. Of course, there's much room to argue the technicalities, and in the end, it would be determined that such individual, absolute omnipotence is unconstitutional. But even broaching that line of thought would be just the nixonian branding the libs and media are itching for.
Bottom line, imho: Fitzgerald is Hal, the computer in 2001:A Space Odyssey.