Questions Swirl
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Rove said to testify in CIA leak case
Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer’s leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won’t be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation.
The persons, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, said Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has not made any decision yet on whether to file criminal charges against the longtime confidant of President Bush or others.
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Also from the article:
Hedley, it’s the administration, by committing crimes and then stonewalling, that will turn this into Watergate, if anything does.
TomY, this story has been largely a nonevent. If not for the incarceration of Miller and the potential incarceration of Cooper, it would be even less of a story. The only thing that can save the Bush haters would be an indictment and conviction of Rove, or higher — which at least right now, seems unlikely.
Interesting development. Rove’s attorney also specifically said that Rove did not receive a target letter. That would seem to indicate that Rove is not among the rumored 22 indictments that are about to be handed down or Rove cut a deal in advance to avoid indictment and any need for a target letter (although I do not believe the Special Prosecutor is under any legal obligation to notify the targets in advance of the indictments but is doing so for additional leverage).
If Rove gets through this unscathed (maybe a big “if,” maybe not), that would be a big blow to the Bush haters who have spent the last few years trying to turn this into another Watergate — or worse.
The only thing that can save the Bush haters? What the hell are you talking about? Your opinion that this is a nonevent or only driven by “bush hatred” is pretty ridiculous given the prosecutor’s involvement for these, what, 16 months? You people are pathological when it comes to Bush. It’s always either hate or love, no nuance, no reality.
Ain’t no nonevent neither.
Prosecutions take time. They are hard, difficult, painstaking work– if you do them right. Wingnuts have no patience for this kind of thing– it requires *thinking*, of course, not blustering. In time, all these fuckheads will end up in a cold room.
This is how you nail bad guys. I grew up in Noo Yawk, this is how all the Mafia Dons get busted. You start small, you work your way up, it takes a long time, but, eventually, you get the capo and throw his ass in jail– for something like tax evasion, whatever you can get.
If we had taken this Democratic, law-abiding, prosecutorial, “legalistic” approach to 9/11, Bin Laden would have been in jail a year or so ago, Iraq would still be orderly (maybe with Saddam, maybe not– so what?), Afghanistan would have succumbed to other pressures and would certainly not be the leading opium and heroin exporter it is now.
But that’s not the Repug program– it’s all simple solutions, flash and bluster to win elections, not slow, thankless, hard work that gets the job done after years of backbreaking effort.
Remember South Africa? Somehow we ended Aparthied without sending in the 82nd Airborne to overthrow the racist fuckers by force. AND THEY HAD NUKES! Live ones, with missile delivery mechanisms. It took a long time. But it was done: diplomatic and economic pressure. Saddam and the Taliban could have been eliminated the same way, if we were patient. Bin Laden could have been rendered to us as part of a diplomatic deal, or extracted by some good Special Forces the way that the Israeli’s went in and nabbed Nazi war criminals from Argentina and Brazil. But all that stuff is a head-hurter.
That’s the way the modern world works. Rove, DeLay, and Frist will all end up behind bars– if we take it slow, do it right, and are scrupulously careful. So far, Earle and Fitzgerald seem like outstanding law-and-order men. They’ll get these guys. They always do.
JWG,
Rove offered in July
So what’s your point? That this process should have been played by Rove’s rules, as opposed to the prosecutors?
Wouldn’t you wish.
That’s the beauty of this investigation, it seems…it can’t be bought, spun or wished away. Who cares what Roves offered in July? It’s obvious he wasn’t needed, until new information came to light. So now he’s crawling back for 11th hour testimony, my guess is, to attempt to save his own ass.
Here’s hoping he can’t. The little Rat.
Wonder who the unindicted co-conspirators are going to be — just Cheney, or Shrub too?
Rove may have made the offer in July but Fitzgerald didn’t accept until after he spoke with Miller on Friday, as the article also make clear. It also points out:
“Before accepting the offer, Fitzgerald sent correspondence to Rove’s legal team making clear that there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be indicted at a later point, as required by the rules.”
No such guarantee was ever given or required when Rove testified previously, ie before Miller testified. As the article also notes:
“The U.S. attorney’s manual requires that prosecutors not bring witnesses before a grand jury if there is a possibility of future criminal charges unless the witnesses are notified in advance that their testimony can be used against them in a later indictment … The prosecutor did not give Rove similar warnings before his earlier grand jury appearances.”
Anyway. Curiouser and curiouser.
Hedley, the GOP controls all three branches of government, yet the rempant cronyism, undoubtable corruption and likely treason is starting to stink so bad, it’s hard not to notice. I know the perils of lost blonde teenagers make compelling news stories for cable-watching wingers, but this investigation is hardly a non-event. Whatever happened to all that “rule of law” stuff the Rupubs used to harang about? Walk the walk if you claim to be for law and order.
Buh…buh…but his lawyer said he already told them everything he knows!
Why would they want to hear all that again?
Hedley: “Interesting development. Rove s attorney also specifically said that Rove did not receive a target letter. That would seem to indicate that Rove is not among the rumored 22 indictments that are about to be handed down or Rove cut a deal in advance to avoid indictment and any need for a target letter.”
Or it can mean that the letter went directly to Rove’s attorney, or Fitzgerald could have told Luskin verbally that Rove is a target. And because Fitzgerald is not subpoening Rove to testify, he has no obligation to send him a target letter.
If Fitzgerald told Luskin that the grand jury was very likely to indict Rove, Luskin can very honestly say, “The special counsel has confirmed that he has not made any charging decisions in respect to Karl.”
As usual, Luskin has said nothing that is inconsitent with Rove being indicted. But it usually takes the MSM a news cycle or two to figure that out.
Rove s attorney also specifically said that Rove did not receive a target letter.
Means nothing. A prosecutor isn’t obligated to send out letters of any kind.
I just noticed I left out the source of what I posted up there — the Huffington Post.
The only thing that can save the Bush haters would be an indictment and conviction of Rove
That’s cute. Headly, you misunderstand our interest in this case. We wouldn’t weep many bitter tears if Rove weren’t indicted. We know Rove is already a discredited bag of shit. He’s toast. An indictment would just be … marmalade.
I loooooooove marmalade on my toast. But I can live without it.
Ronnie Earle took 2 1/2 years and he came up with jack squat. It’s not like a long investigation with no eventual charges would be unprecedented…
These con trolls are loyal, I’ll give them that. Even Rove’s boss is distancing himself from Rove, but the trolls won’t. They’ll defend him to the bitter end.