Murray Waas has just posted another Rove scoop. I agree with his ultimate conclusion:

In the meantime, however, what has propelled the investigation -- and led to the extraordinary jailing of the Times’ Judith Miller -- has been the strong belief by federal investigators that Rove, Novak, and others may have misled them and the public, and that one or more of the participants may have devised a cover story with others to avoid public or legal culpability.

I'm glad to see Waas stay on the subject of Fitzgerald's investigation. I think that those who are fixating on trying to figure out whether reporters told Rove or Rove told reporters about Plame's status are falling for the Republican talking points.

Whether Karl Rove was only a "confirming source" or learned about Plame from reporters is immaterial to Fitzgerald at this point. He's known what Karl Rove and other White House officials have said since 2003 when grand jury investigators interviewed them and through their grand jury testimony.

The fact that Fitzgerald told the Judge early this month that Judith Miller's testimony was essential to the successful conclusion of the investigation indicates that this investigation has moved far past the stage of who outed Valerie Plame and whether she was or was not a covert operative and on to whether White House officials and/or reporters lied in their initial interviews with grand jury investigators or during their grand jury testimony - and whether there was an attempted cover-up that would amount to a conspiracy to obstruct justice.