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Report: White House Charges Will Relate to Cover-up

The New York Times reports tonight:

  • Fitzgerald has advised both Libby and Rove they are in serious legal jeopardy. He will decide whether to charge next week.
  • Fitzgerald is considering charges of Perjury, Obstruction of Justice and Making a False Statement to Federal Officials. He seems less focused on charges over the leak. It's the cover-up, not the crime.
  • Fitzgerald knows who Novak's source is, and it's not someone who works at the White House.
  • Additional persons could be charged.

There may be others in the government who could be charged for violations of the disclosure law or of other statutes, like the espionage act, which makes it a crime to transmit classified information to people not authorized to receive it.

Reading between the lines from a legal standpoint, here's how I interpret this, and remember, it's just speculation: Fitzgerald is done. All that's left are the pre-indictment plea deals. He's previously made deals with John Hannah and David Wurmser. Now he's offered them to Rove and Libby. As I've said before, it's their "come to Jesus moment." I suspect both will accept the best deals their lawyers can negotiate. Rove will fall on his sword to protect Bush, and Libby will fall on his to protect Cheney.

More people will be offered deals - particularly those involved with the initial disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity. Novak's source may be one of them. Walter Pincus's source (whose identity is also known to Fitzgerald) could be another. This group might also include some current or former State Department officials - perhaps Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, who was part of the White House Iraq group.

I also think there will be some charges over the improper disclosure of the contents of the June 9 State Department memo that mentioned Valerie Wilson. Ari Fleischer could be part of this group and perhaps some National Security Council or State Department officials. This August 8, 2005 Time magazine article may also yield some clues:

The previously undisclosed fact gathering began in the first week of June 2003 at the CIA, when its public-affairs office received an inquiry about Wilson's trip to Africa from veteran Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus. That office then contacted Plame's unit, which had sent Wilson to Niger, but stopped short of drafting an internal report. The same week, Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman asked for and received a memo on the Wilson trip from Carl Ford, head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Sources familiar with the memo, which disclosed Plame's relationship to Wilson, say Secretary of State Colin Powell read it in mid-June. Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage may have received a copy then too.

When Pincus' article ran on June 12, the circle of senior officials who knew about the identity of Wilson's wife expanded. "After Pincus," a former intelligence officer says, "there was general discussion with the National Security Council and the White House and State Department and others" about Wilson's trip and its origins. A source familiar with the memo says neither Powell nor Armitage spoke to the White House about it until after July 6. John McLaughlin, then deputy head of the CIA, confirms that the White House asked about the Wilson trip, but can't remember exactly when. One thing he's sure of, says McLaughlin, who has been interviewed by prosecutors, is that "we looked into it and found the facts of it, and passed it on."

I suspect Fitzgerald is spending this week in plea negotiations with the lawyers for those he is considering indicting. There could be one indictment next week that includes the negotiated charges. Or, Fitzgerald could charge those that agree to deals by Information, with the grand jury charging only those, if any, who reject his offers. More on that here.

< The Valerie Flame Name Game | PlameGate and Bush's Pardon Power >
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    Which means I was right a few days ago - no actual crime until the investigation. And, like the Clinton mess, most of the "crime" involves the normal human differences in memory of the same events.

    Re: Report: White House Charges Will Relate to Co (none / 0) (#2)
    by joejoejoe on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:12 PM EST
    The crimes were committed when the classified information was shared with those not authorized to receive it. "Normal human differences in memory" are not at issue. Abnormal human differences in conduct are at issue. That's why we organize society around the law, not personality cults and raw power.
    I also think there will be some charges over the improper disclosure of the contents of the June 9 State Department memo that mentioned Valerie Wilson.
    Disclosure is an action, not a memory. It's the act that's a crime.

    I don't want this to be over 'til the Cheneyman sings. What about Cheney?

    I would wager a cup of coffee that Libby will plead guilty and fall on his sword to protect Cheney. He will say Cheney wanted Wilson's theory debunked but never mentioned or asked him or the WHIG to go after Wilson personally. Just my theory.

    The rat in bush's government of rats will cover all things up for the reason of dismantling the USA, It is normal for a pig like bush to cover his own butt. this non government is all about the, "covering up for friends of total evil. Bush, bin laden, saddam and hitler all the same guy. bush sells info to any enemy country he loves evil and so called classified info in this so called government is a joke.

    Re: Report: White House Charges Will Relate to Co (none / 0) (#6)
    by Tom Maguire on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:13 PM EST
    Fitzgerald has advised both Libby and Rove they are in serious legal jeopardy. He will decide whether to charge next week. Is that what the Times reported, or what people inferred? This is what I read: As he weighs whether to bring criminal charges in the C.I.A. leak case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel, is focusing on whether Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, sought to conceal their actions and mislead prosecutors, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday. ...Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby have been advised that they may be in serious legal jeopardy, the lawyers said... Advised by whom? Their own attorneys, an informal warning from Fitzgerald, or what? The source is "lawyers involved in the case", but the advice is not sourced.

    Call me old fashioned, but I really hate to see a prosecutor leaking information to the press. I think it is wrong, unfair, and unethical. Now, I can't prove that Fitzgerald leaked anything, so my complaint isn't specific to him, but over the years special prosecutors have IMHO leaked to the WaPo and other press sources. If it is happening here, that is a shame.

    I'm curious about the discrepancy between Bush's (not under oath) testimony to Fitz that he had no idea who the leaker was, and the recent Daily News report that has him berating Rove et al. for screwing up the Wilson smear job and getting caught--i.e., he did know early on and it looks like he lied to Fitz about it. Obviously he can't be charged with lying to a federal official based on a newspaper report, but still... isn't he a bit exposed here himself? Seems like exactly the kind of thing a flipped underling could testify about if it's true.

    Call me old fashioned, but I really hate to see a prosecutor leaking information to the press. I think it is wrong, unfair, and unethical. Everything I've been reading indicates that Fitz has run a tightly buttoned up shop--to the point of deep frustration for chatterers like Richard Cohen. I'm not sure these stories aren't from him, but most of the info I've been seeing indicates that he hasn't leaked a peep and that that just isn't how he operates at all. FWIW

    Fitzgerald's office is not the source of leaks. The information comes from lawyers for people who have testified or from the folks themselves --all speaking on the promise of confidentiality of course. There is no gag on people who have come before the Grand Jury Must be serious trouble for Bushco --the attacks on the prosecutor are starting already --next we will hear someone else took the bar for him and from other disgruntled coworkers

    OK. Ken Starr's office ran into trouble for talking too much to the press, and I'm wary of that with other prosecutors. It is tempting for them to think that the game is played out in the press and they have to participate or they will lose.

    This has been a long, strange trip and it AIN'T over yet. Speculation is a great parlor game but things may turn out very, bery differently than they appear right now. I'm waiting quietly for the plea deals and the indictments - IF ANY.

    Re: Report: White House Charges Will Relate to Co (none / 0) (#13)
    by The Heretik on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:13 PM EST
    Everyone who pleads will receive a pardon the next day. The day after that, they will each receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Then they will all go out for ice cream.

    And of course, even if Rove takes a deal, it won't involve jail time. He may not have an office in the White House, but it doesn't mean he won't continue to exercise the same level of influence in politics. I'm sure the plea won't prevent him from any contact with government employees or elected officials. He'll still have a phone and email. And just watch the right wing make a martyr of him come election time. It will all be just a big bunch of politically motivated charges that had no basis in fact...and wasn't Rove a great servant of the Republic for taking this plea to keep our great leader from being dragged through the mud by these political partisans on the left?

    Re: Report: White House Charges Will Relate to Co (none / 0) (#16)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:15 PM EST
    There is NO WAY that Cheney was unaware of what his chief of staff was doing.