No Indictment of Rove in CIA-Leak Case!

NRO ^ | 6/13/06 | Byron York

[The G Man]

June 13, 2006, 6:44 a.m.

No Indictment of Rove in CIA-Leak Case
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald makes a decision.

By Byron York

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has informed top White House adviser Karl Rove that Rove will not face indictment in the CIA-leak investigation, National Review Online has learned. The word came yesterday, when Fitzgerald told Rove lawyer Robert Luskin that he, Fitzgerald, did not plan to seek charges against Rove. This morning, Luskin released a brief statement:

 

On June 12, 2006, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove.

In deference to the pending case, we will not make any further public statements about the subject matter of the investigation. We believe that the Special Counsel’s decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove’s conduct.

 Rove appeared five times before a grand jury investigating the CIA-leak case; the most recent was in April. Before appearing before the grand jury, Rove was interviewed by FBI agents assigned to the investigation. Fitzgerald’s inquiry, it appears, focused most intensely on the first two sessions — the FBI interview and the first grand-jury testimony.

The key question to be resolved by Fitzgerald was said to be whether to charge Rove in connection with his testimony regarding a brief July 11, 2003, conversation with Time magazine’s Matthew Cooper. In both his interview with the FBI and in his first grand jury appearance, Rove did not tell investigators about the conversation with Cooper. By the time Rove appeared for a second time before the grand jury, Rove had discovered evidence — an internal White House e-mail — showing that he did indeed talk to Cooper. Rove gave the evidence to Fitzgerald, who then questioned him about it at length.

Rove is thought to have testified that he simply did not remember the Cooper conversation until he discovered the e-mail. (Cooper himself described the talk as being about two minutes long and occurring right as Rove was leaving on vacation.) Supporting Rove’s contention was the fact that Rove, apparently, testified from the very beginning that he talked to columnist Robert Novak, which suggested he was not trying to hide his involvement in the case from Fitzgerald.

A decision by Fitzgerald — one way or the other — had been anticipated for months. There was widespread speculation that Rove might face charges for lying to Fitzgerald’s grand jury much like those filed by Fitzgerald last October against Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff. Now, it appears that will not happen. And so far, at least, no one has been charged with violating any of the underlying laws in the case — either the Intelligence Identities Protection Act or the Espionage Act.

Rove’s fate has been the subject of intense discussion among critics of the Bush administration. Perhaps foremost among them is former ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, was the CIA employee at the center of the affair. In August 2003, Wilson vowed to pursue Rove vigorously, saying, “At the end of the day it’s of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.”

— Byron York, NR’s White House correspondent, is the author of The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President — and Why They’ll Try Even Harder Next Time.

---

National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjQzM2QxZWFmNDRkMTBkZDg5ODI3OTNkNjgwYmJiZjc=

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Let the DUmmie suicide watch begin!!!

[areafiftyone]

Check out my post #158 Heh heh!

[Sacajaweau]

When the "frog march" was at its' peak, they had an episode on West Wing....showing what a "frog march" looked like...but I suppose it was just a coincidence. :-)

[FreedomPoster]

LOL! I don't know why I didn't see that aspect of this, it's *SO* obvious!

[LibertyLee]

It's possible (and Bahbah and I are looking for a Tony brief) BUT since they're all up at Camp David for the Iraq Summit, they're probably not going to upstage the President.

[Raycpa]

But what about the great and powerful prophet Jason Leopold?

Monday 12 June 2006 Four weeks ago, during the time when we reported that White House political adviser Karl Rove was indicted for crimes related to his role in the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, the grand jury empanelled in the case returned an indictment that was filed under seal in US District Court for the District of Columbia under the curious heading of Sealed vs. Sealed.

As of Friday afternoon that indictment, returned by the grand jury the week of May 10th, remains under seal - more than a month after it was handed up by the grand jury.

[Suzy Quzy]

geesh, who is Jason leopold? I'm a regular freeper, but this gut I've never heard of.

[Raycpa]

Timing have anything to do with Bush's rise in approval ratings?

[Redleg Duke]

It is scary that people so disturbed have access to a computer and the INTERNET!

[rwa265]

Speaking of which, have you seen the dowdy one's take on the convention?

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2006/06/bloggers-double-down.html

(excerpt)

If I had to be relegated to the Dustbin of History, I'm glad it was in Vegas.

I, Old Media, came here to attend a New Media convention of progressive political bloggers aiming for a technological revolution that would dispatch mainstream media to the tumbrels. It was the journalistic equivalent of mingling with your own pod replicant in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

"Bloggers, meet mainstream media," crowed one young man, as he had a friend take a picture of us together at the Riviera Hotel. His friend chimed in: "Where the rubber meets the road." Old media and new circled each other "like kids at a seventh-grade dance," said Jennifer Palmieri, a Democratic operative.

Markos Moulitsas, the 34-year-old provocateur from Berkeley who runs America's most popular and influential political blog, Daily Kos, said in a keynote speech that "The old media are no longer the gatekeepers" and that "Republicans have failed us because they can't govern; Democrats have failed us because they can't get elected."

[LucyJo]

"Fitz pulled a Nifong."

That's a good name for this type of shenanigan...The Fitz-Nifong Tactic. They aren't the first to employ it, but they have certainly claimed enough ink and air time to highlight their abuse of taxpayer time and money using it toward their own ends.

[evad]

aw shux..
I'm sure they just didn't look hard enuf ;-)

[tobyhill]

Chrissy Mathews is probably writing his resignation notice right now since he staked his whole show on a Rove indictment.

[soccermom]

Wow -- first Zarqawi is taken out, now the EEEEEEEVVVVILLLL mastermind of the world is vindicated! Quick -- someone pull down all the dirty laundry over at democratsunderrocks before they try to committ suicide behind it.

[tiredoflaundry]

The journalist who wrote that Rove was indicted on May 12, 2006. It was the "big" story in DU.

[freedumb2003]

FYI Ping...

[advance_copy]

So much for Fitzmas.

[doug from upland]

Bad hair day for wacky Will Pitt.

[RAldrich]

Mein Ruh' is hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer;
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.

DU'ers' lament.

[Panzerlied]

"The DUmmies will deny it and say an indictment is still possible.

In 24 hours????"

Remember, that's three working days!