Posted on 10/26/2005 9:36:57 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
A special prosecutor who has spent nearly two years investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity is not expected to announce his long-awaited conclusions on Wednesday.
Sources told FOX News that no indictments or other legal action were expected just yet by the federal grand jury investigating the leak.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, was making his final presentation to the 18-member grand jury on Wednesday. The jury's term expires on Friday.
Meanwhile, the White House was attempting to go about its normal business, albeit under a very dark cloud: two top aides, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Karl Rove, are at the center of the probe, and on Tuesday lawyers involved in the case revealed Vice President Dick Cheney may have tipped off Libby, his chief of staff, to the agent's identity.
Fitzgerald and the grand jury convened at the U.S. District Courthouse at 9 a.m. EDT, just two days before the jury's term is set to expire. Until then, when they decide to announce their findings is entirely at their discretion. Fitzgerald also has the option to extend the grand jury's term.
On Tuesday, investigators interviewed neighbors of the woman at the heart of the case, Valerie Plame. Marc Lefkowitz, who lives across the street from Plame, was interviewed by two FBI agents who arrived at his house without notice, his wife told FOX News. Lefkowitz was asked if he knew that Plame worked for the CIA before her name appeared in a July 14, 2003, column by Robert Novak.
Lefkowitz's wife told FOX News that she and her husband believed Plame was "some kind of consultant," and did not know she worked for the CIA.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
"When classified info is given to either of them, it behooves them to KEEP THEM CLASSIFIED, NOT LEAK THEM TO ANYONE. "
Right, so now that it has been established that Plame was not an undercover operative at CIA it is sort of a moot point.
Yeah. The only way I can think that Cheney's conversation with Libby might be criminal is if he told Libby to leak the info to the media.
That article quotes the idiot David Gergen, who once again spins things in the worst possible way for Bush. And he is supposedly a conservative?
I think the idea is that Tenet and Cheney have Top Secret clearance, Libby and Rove do not? I am not sure.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From the USA Article Link in the original post:
"Joe and Valerie Wilson are my next door neighbors in a hilly neighborhood just west of Georgetown. We moved in within months of each other seven years ago, attracted to our respective houses by the view of the Capitol in the distance and the Washington Monument in the foreground. The patriotic view is stirring.
I have another view from my window, of a neighbor who is a working, devoted mother of 5-year-old twins, a volunteer for charities, a woman active in her church, and a caring person. Soft-spoken, self-effacing and very private, Valerie is very easy to label "the lovely woman next door."
To some, I am known as Joe and Valerie's lawyer, a fact that has surfaced by my occasional statements on their behalf.
LAUGH OF THE DAY::: The Wilsons don't need a lawyer for any pending proceeding; I am simply helping them understand some of the technicalities of the criminal investigation and collecting facts for any eventual civil suit. Before Robert Novak's column, I was simply their friend and neighbor, a role that will continue long after the White House leak matter is over."
As to Plame's status:
A former CIA covert agent who supervised Mrs. Plame early in her career yesterday took issue with her identification as an "undercover agent," saying that she worked for more than five years at the agency's headquarters in Langley and that most of her neighbors and friends knew that she was a CIA employee.
I vote for pray.
I thought that the prosecutor must inform them that they are targets of the investigation first. Hence, his intentions are clear. If he has already sent out the target letters, did Rove or Libby receive one. It sure doesn't sound that way based on the WH's response to ABC's "bluffing."
The MSM continues to speculate without any knowledge or facts.
>>The MSM continues to speculate without any knowledge or facts.<<
Since when has the news media required either??
Established by who?
That "keep cover status secret" argument was made when Novak said he called the CIA to get confirmation, and they didn't tell him NOT to publish her name. He said he wouldn't have if they had told him it was something they didn't want revealed.
Novak didn't think she was a covert agent -- he said "operative" as a journalistic license.
Judith Miller had security clearance.
Unless the target letters went to people outside the WhiteHouse. I'm still wondering why the NY Times disowned Miller.
I am certain that Libby and Rove have Top Secret clerances as well as other compartmental clearances above TS.
Assume the worst - Valerie Plame's identity was TOP SECRET (it wasn't of course but we are just pretending - just like we're the MSM.)
Then Tenet (who is cleared for TOP SECRET) telling Cheney (who is cleared for TOP SECRET) who then tells Libby (who is cleared for TOP SECRET) in an area that is cleared for TOP SECRET meetings (like the White House) is certainly no crime.
Gergen was supposedly a conservative until he decided he needed a job in the Clinton Administration.
Actually, it has come out that Miller had a clearance, too.
Odd story, coming from Fox.
There will not be any indictments, period. Fitzgerald is explaining to the GJ why he is does not believe that any prosecutable crimes were committed, and he is thanking the jurors for their service.
If there were going to be indictments, they would have happened by now. Prosecutor do not seek indictments this late in a grand jury's term because of the risk of losing a quorum (the necessary number of jurors) to get indictments.
It's all over.
Have a great week everybody.
Agree there, which is why I predict that Libby and Miller will be indicted. The NYT is distancing itself from Miller like she was Typhoid Mary.
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