From the NYT, Oct 28:
Lawyers in the C.I.A. leak case said Thursday that they expected I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, to be indicted on Friday, charged with making false statements to the grand jury.
Karl Rove, President Bush’s senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, will not be charged on Friday, but will remain under investigation, people briefed officially about the case said. As a result, they said, the special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, was likely to extend the term of the federal grand jury beyond its scheduled expiration on Friday.
As rumors coursed through the capital, Mr. Fitzgerald gave no public signal of how he intended to proceed, further intensifying the anxiety that has gripped the White House and left partisans on both sides of the political aisle holding their breath.
Mr. Fitzgerald’s preparations for a Friday announcement were shrouded in secrecy, but advanced amid a flurry of behind-the-scenes discussions that left open the possibility of last-minute surprises. As the clock ticked down on the grand jury, people involved in the investigation did not rule out the disclosure of previously unknown aspects of the case.
White House officials said their presumption was that Mr. Libby would resign if indicted, and he and Mr. Rove took steps to expand their legal teams in preparation for a possible court battle.
Among the many unresolved mysteries is whether anyone in addition to Mr. Libby and Mr. Rove might be charged and in particular whether Mr. Fitzgerald would name the source who first provided the identity of a covert C.I.A. officer to Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist. Mr. Novak identified the officer in a column published July 14, 2003.
The investigation seemed to be taking an unexpectedly extended path after nearly two years in which Mr. Fitzgerald brought more than a dozen current and former administration officials before the grand jury and interviewed Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney to determine how the identity of the officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, became public.
Mr. Fitzgerald is expected to hold a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington on Friday. His spokesman, Randall Samborn, declined to comment.
Not sure the extent to which this briefing is “official,” but there you have it.
The best news though? An extension of the grand jury! Which means another year of speculation and innuendo! Man. Tom Maguire has gotta be in heaven.
(h/t Pej)
“people briefed officially about the case said”
Who are these people, and why can’t I get officially briefed?
Sounds like BS on a stick to me…
Assuming this is true, not what Libby is NOT being indicted for: anything doing with “outing” Plame.
Only in America could a two-year federal investigation into the unintentional leak of the identity a non-covert CIA analyst result in tangential perjury charges for a non-crime being handed down to two high-level White House appointees named Scooter and Turd-Blossom.
Oh yeah, well how about that guy aboveâ€â€a guy with five freaking Grammy awards posting on an obscure website named after a Tangerine Dream album in the middle of the night about an obscure story involving two administration appointees named Scooter and Turd-Blossom….
Well…..?
I mean, Jesus Christ, Christopher Cross for crying out loud! He wrote Ride Like the Wind when I was in high school or something. (Still beats that Saling crap if you ask me.)
You should know that Christopher Cross is not having anything today. As he stands there totally crossed out, he will commence to make you jump jump.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – you can’t “out” someone who is not actually “in”.
She’s a GD analyst for crying out loud. There is nothing secret about being an analyst at the CIA.
Y’ep.
It Wilson who publicized his wife’s former undercover status.
The equivalent pop culture film-derived analog would be if an aide to the Mayor of NYC said ‘You know, Frank Serpico works for the Police Dept.’
Which he does, as a desk sergeant.
And Serpico’s wife goes ‘How DARE you tell everybody about my husband’s undercover drug enforcement work against the Columbians!’
The ‘oops’ factor here is on the wife, not on the aide.
Conversely, the oops factor is on Wilson, not the reporters or the Administration
But, regardless, another year of PlameGate fulfills the Full Employment contracts of several bloggers.
All the moonbats got for Fitzmas was a Scooter?
On the plus side, if this is true it’s going to be totally sweet watching our esteemed colleagues on the left of the aisle suddenly realize that lying during a grand jury investigation is actually a big deal, even if no crime is uncovered. Some might even say it makes it up to “high crimes and misdemeanors” status…
TW: Support, as in “never give any politician your unconditional support”
Ah, the ol’ Martha Stewart gambit: get an indictment for lying to investigators. Essentially, Fitzgerald is all but concluding that he cannot get an indictment for the underlying “crime”.
Hmmmm.
Personally I’m going to enjoy all the liberals who will bash Scooter for “lying”, no idea yet if he did, and yet defend Clinton for *lying*.
sigh.
Another frigging year of this madness.
Oh this is too much–now the Rove/Cheney regime have gone TOO FAR. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
I’d like to think Tom Maguire is more miffed than the rest of us that this thing could continue beyond today. If we all chipped in we could probably get him a 2 night/3 day trip to some cabin without electricity somewhere, for him and the companion of his choice.
I’m just saying, I think he’s earned some time away from this subject…if he so chooses.
– Some interesting questions….
– What is the punishment for evading/lying about actions/statements of whitehouse staff covered by executive privalege…..
– Why did we spend 22 months and the ancillary costs to the taxpayer to investigate the “outing” of a non-covert cia agent….
– Why isn’t the grand jury at all interested in the whole nefarious scheme of the Dems to use a mole to plant false information and bolster the anti-war agenda, repeatedly lying on the facts of the case….
– Is Fitzy going to “expand” into areas that will be even more embarissing to the Liberals behind this whole partisan scheme….
– How much longer will the NYT get away with publishing Liberal lies….
Now you’re wearing the blue dress.
Howzit feel?
Actually, I was living in Bologna Italy at that time, and I had voted for Clinton. So anonymous schadefreude doesn’t really sting.
Y’all better get your shit in order, or I will “Jump Jump” all over your asses.
“Think of Laura?” That’s the last thought you gonna have, mo-fos.