CIA-Leak Probe Could Augur Shift (WSJ)

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CIA-Leak Probe
Could Augur Shift
Among Bush Staff
By JOHN D. MCKINNON and CHRISTOPHER COOPER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 24, 2005

WASHINGTON -- With special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald appearing poised to indict top White House officials in the CIA leak investigation, the probe is likely to accelerate second-term turnover in the Bush administration.

As a federal grand jury starts its final week of deliberations in the case, there is a growing expectation that Mr. Fitzgerald will seek to indict President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby.

Late last week Mr. Fitzgerald's office started a Web site and posted a February 2004 letter that shows the prosecutor sought and received permission from the Justice Department to investigate a wide variety of crimes in the matter. Those include perjury, obstruction of justice and intimidation of witnesses.

The probe also is focused on whether administration officials committed a crime in disclosing the identity of Valerie Plame, a Central Intelligence Agency operative, or other classified information to reporters, as part of an effort to discredit her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson, who had publicly criticized the administration's Iraq war policy.

Mr. Rove, who initially wasn't thought to be a target, has been called before the grand jury four times. At least one reporter, Time magazine's Matthew Cooper, has identified him as a source for information about Ms. Plame. And a former administration official said last week that at White House meetings, Mr. Rove talked about Mr. Wilson and his wife.


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http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113010886321477076-7RO26SVxh6EK6NYqBH8Tk1LVPn4_20061023.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

[Nancy Waterman]

1. Link??

And a former administration official said last week that at White House meetings, Mr. Rove talked about Mr. Wilson and his wife.

I hadn't heard this bit.

[hang a left]

2. I fixed the title and added link

sorry

[jefferson_dem]

3. Neither had i. Surely Chimp-monster was at least physically present

at these WH meetings.

Um...what did HE know and when did HE know it?

[Nancy Waterman]

4. Ken Mehlman or Ed Gillespie?

Those two are morons. What a difference either would be after the crafty Karl.