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.

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

[LucyJo]

Much "weeping and gnashing of teeth" amongst the political Left.

[Suzy Quzy]

Who does he work and report for? Is he just a DU poster?

[soccermom]

"Or am I approaching the definition of insanity, here?" LOL! approaching? He or she got on that train a long time ago. Thanks for the window into DU. I don't like to go slumming, but I love it when someone else brings us reports from the slums!

[tiredoflaundry]

I think it is truthout.org.

[IMRight]

Merry Fizzlemas!

[advance_copy]

Zarqawi is dead. No indictment for Rove. The democrats are definitley on suicide watch now.

AND, there's a new Ann Coulter book out, which appears to be a real lefty head-popper.

[newzjunkey]

Uh oh, what about those bloggers? They must be very sad today. Very, very sad.

[cake_crumb]

Another DUer posted this ... "Cspan caller: 'Ha ha, Bill Clinton Impeached, Karl Rove is Free'!"

I love the smell of leftists burning in the morning....

We'll know they've hit critical mass when one of them claims the evil Rove is controlling Fitz's mind with that super duper top secret machine he keeps here in PA.

[RobFromGa]

enough already (498 posts) Tue Jun-13-06 08:34 AM

71. This doesn't make sense
Is it possible that Rove was actually indicted on May 12 like truthout reported, but somehow Bush got involved to stop it? Maybe Bush told Fitz that he was going to pardon Rove so Fitz dropped it. Or maybe Rove has some dirt on Fitz so Fitz dropped it.

[LucyJo]

I had the same thought. lol.

[Not A Snowbird]

This should cause a meltdown in DUmmie land today.

The DUmmie FUnnies later should be priceless. You know they'll say that the Justice Dept. put the "squeeze" on Fitzgerald.

[Raycpa]

Definitely sounds like a religion to me.

[ChuckShick]

I took a look and it appears that the DUmmies all getting in the Kool-Aid line over at Jim Jones' house.

[tiredoflaundry]

Check out the DUmmie FUnnies. PJ has a bunch of threads about Leopold, Pitt, and the "super secret" indictments.

[JCEccles]

I hope this news got out in time to rain on the moonbat parade in the Land of Kos (Las Vegas).

[weegee]

Merry Fitzmas to all!

[Republican Red]

Yesterday's Leopold thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1648099/posts

Truthout link still carrying article announcing Rove indictment sealed case number "06 cr 128."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061206Z.shtml

[cake_crumb]

"It's a shame hypocritical pathetic piece of SH*T is more than 30 characters. It would make a heck of a screen-name!"

Hmmmmm......there's a good tagline in there, which I am too undercaffeinated to figure out yet. Also, if you spelled it "hypocritical pathetic POS" it's only 23 characters. ;-)

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

Oh, how I would love to have one of those billboards that keeps a running count of dollars spent. How much is this witch hunt going to cost the taxpayers?

[Preachin']

2funE!