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=

[1Old Pro]

Ah. The Rather-Mapes "Fake But Accurate" play.

Indeed, also a play on the Kerry I voted for it before I voted against it logic.

[rdl6989]

I can't wait to read William Rivers Pitt's explanation for this turn of events.

[matt1234]

This should cause a meltdown in DUmmie land today.

Yep, I was just monitoring DU. They are passing out the razor blades.

[Cinnamon]

depression pills stock went through the roof!

[matt1234]

They are evil - all of them

Darn. I've been trying so hard to hide it.

[norwaypinesavage]

That article by the NYT is amazingly accurate, and that admission by the DU'er is amazingly candid. I'm amazed. As was stated earlier: "Kennedy is guilty, Rove is innocent, and Zaquari is dead". What a difference a week makes.

[Bush gal in LA]

''I like the caller that claimed Rove practices witchcraft in the WH basement!''.................I heard that this morning! I cracked up. I don't know how that moderator on C-span can keep a straight face. I would have been literally ROTF! The DUmmies are sick and delusional!

[nopardons]

Many thanks for the ping!

;-)

[STARWISE]

It's a Glitter Graphics">

DAY !!!

[nopardons]

It most certainly is!

[Still Thinking]

Excellent. Now, can we un-indict Libby and get on with bidniz?

[freeangel]

Great news! How many DUmmies have had strokes today?

[petercooper]

Where are all these idiots today?

[popdonnelly]

Let's move on to important things, like investigating the Wilsons. Valerie was put in a position of public trust, and she sent her husband, who had economic interests of his own in Niger, on a phoney mission to supposedly investigate yellowcake sales. How is it they get away with that?

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

"So the only indictment is Scooter Libby who supposedly lied about something that was not a crime."

Yep. That is the way I see it also.

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

"watch the freepers rally around this g.d. traitor, never once asking themselves how they would behave if this was a DEMOCRAT."

Hey Dummie, (not you jslade), we have asked ourselves that, and the answer is simple. It was a democrat. We just don't know if it was Joe or Valerie.

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

"My condolences to all you liberals and "real conservatievs" out there. But look at the bright side. There's a hurricane out there that may devastate Florida and the East Coast!"

Ummmm, I hate to break it to the liberals and "real conservatives" but Alberto never became a hurricane, only a tropical storm.

Coop,

I thought they needed that news too.

[Tennessean4Bush]

It is "national slit-your-wrists-day" for liberals.