Plamegate coming to conclusion. The investigation has focused mostly
closely on Vice President Cheney and his staff, as well as US Ambassador to the
UN (and former undersecretary of state for arms control) John Bolton and his
staff. We are told that eight indictments have already prepared, with the
possibility of another ten. These indictments include senior white house staff,
most notably Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, Fred Flights
(special assistant to John Bolton), and--very surprisingly--national security
adviser Steve Hadley. apparently, Libby and Hadley have both been told by their
lawyers to expect indictments. the indictment of senior bush political advisor
Karl Rove seems highly probable.

Most critically, a plea bargain process has evidently been opened with
Vice President Cheney's lawyer. that does not mean that an indictment is coming.
but i've some critical background around the issue.

In the past several days, former Secretary of State Colin Powell had a
meeting with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), primarily about the McCain-sponsored
amendment on inserting a rider prohibiting torture onto the us defense budget (a
bill which Powell has himself been lobbying heavily for, against objections of
president Bush).

During the meeting, Powell recounted to the senator that he had
traveled on air force one with Bush and Cheney, and brought to their attention a
classified memorandum about the issue of whether there was indeed a transaction
inolving Niger and yellow cake uranium. the document included Ambassador Joe
Wilson's involvement and identified his wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert agent.
the memorandum further stated that this information was secret. Powell told
McCain that he showed that memo only to two people--president and vice
president. according to Powell, Cheney fixated on the Wilson/Plame connection,
and Plame's status.

Powell testified about this exchange in great length to the grand jury
investigating the plame case. according to sources close to the case, Powell
appeared convinced that the vice president played a focal role in disclosing
plame's undercover status.

In his conversation with McCain, Powell felt that--at a minimum--there
would be a serious shakeup at national security council as a consequence. in
particular, vice president cheney would no longer hold a pivotal role in us
national security affairs. Powell apparently did not discuss the potential of a
cheney resignation.

Lead prosecutor patrick Fitzgerald has apparently been looking at the
precedent of formerly indicted Nixon vice president Spiro Agnew. this shows the
likely path, because addressing executive immunity and privilege questions would
necessarily begin start with a plea-bargain deal that would entail a
resignation.