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=

[steveegg]

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

[Rocko]

Al-Zarqawi and Rove's indictment ... both killed in the same week.

Bears repeating.

[snugs]

Amen to that but great news about Rove at least the Republicans will not have this hanging over them in the run up to the elections.

[Sacajaweau]

Hillary will be violent this morning. Bubba said if they could get rid of Rove, they could win back the Whitehouse and Congress.

Matt Cooper started this cr**. He's the hubby of Mandy Grunwald, Hillary's best friend and media advisor and Bubba's former campaign manager.

[commonguymd]

Happy for Mr. Rove and will find the meltdown that is coming fun to watch. Will Chrissy Matthews and the gang at DU ever recover? Gonna be a day in mourning for the MSM.

[leadpenny]

Russert will be on with Imus shortly. I wonder if he'll be breathing a sigh of relief too?

[jslade]

The liberals' dreams of Fitzmas got the door slammed in their face again!

Yup! Lucy done yanked the football away AGAIN!

[Right_in_Virginia]

Another great start to the day!

[beezdotcom]

cribbing your thunder...

[bcsco]

[RobFromGa]

They are losing it: DU: Rove Won't Be Charged in C.I.A. Leak Case, one litle snippet...

Demeter (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-13-06 07:01 AM

6. My Heart Is Broken, My Spirit Crushed, My Faith in America Destroyed

On the other hand, I am sure that there are numerous other criminal enterprises that Kkkarl has participated in, so we just have to keep digging. Perhaps Fitz is doing just that--he has the license to do so. Or am I approaching the definition of insanity, here?

[mylife]

The wailing and gnashing of teeth at DU has already begun

[ChadGore]

I don't care what liberals think.

Their approval is not required.

[rockabyebaby]

Good thing Katie Koran Couric isn't on the air, she'd be blathering all over the place, LOL!

[Timeout]

What?!

No Frog March???!!!

Poooooor Joe. He was having such a good week being a superstar at that Trekkie KOS convention in Vegas!

[mylife]

better get Pitt and Leopold on a suicide warch

[carlr]

An early comment from one of the DUmmies.

My Heart Is Broken, My Spirit Crushed, My Faith in America Destroyed

Edited on Tue Jun-13-06 07:02 AM by Demeter
On the other hand, I am sure that there are numerous other criminal enterprises that Kkkarl has participated in, so we just have to keep digging. Perhaps Fitz is doing just that--he has the license to do so.

Or am I approaching the definition of insanity, here?

The good stuff hasn`t started yet.

[tiredoflaundry]

hehehehehehehehehe !

[The G Man]

Special thanks to Byron York for his consistantly dead-on insights and who has been second to NONE in his coverage of this issue.

[frankjr]

About time. Woo hoo!