The Joy of Fitzmas
More news today on the Rove front, as he appears before the Fitzgerald grand jury. And it doesn't look good for him:
Karl Rove's appearance before a grand jury in the CIA leak case
Wednesday comes on the heels of a "target letter" sent to his attorney recently
by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, signaling that the Deputy White House
Chief of Staff may face imminent indictment, sources that are knowledgeable
about the probe said Wednesday.
It's unclear when Fitzgerald sent the target letter to Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin. Sources close to the two-year-old leak investigation said when Rove's attorney received the letter Rove volunteered to appear before the grand jury for an unprecedented fifth time to explain why he did not previously disclose conversations he had with the media about covert CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who criticized the Bush administration's use of pre-war Iraq intelligence...
People close to the case said that Fitzgerald has presented additional evidence to the grand jury in the past week that shows Rove lied to federal investigators and a grand jury eight out of the nine times he was asked about his knowledge of the leak since October 2003.
Should Wednesday's court appearance by Rove provide the grand jury with answers to lingering questions, Rove may not be charged with obstruction of justice, but will likely be indicted for perjury and lying to investigators, sources close to the case said.
For one, according to the sources close to the investigation, the likelihood that Rove will be charged with perjury centers on the fact that Rove has testified at least three times that he first discovered that Plame worked for the CIA after her name was printed in a July 2003 newspaper report by conservative columnist Robert Novak. Evidence has since surfaced that shows Rove spoke to Novak about Plame prior to Novak's published report in which Novak outed the undercover CIA officer.
I've always thought that this was the obvious area of weakness for Rove, more so than the Cooper conversation, ever since I read the Libby indictment. The Libby indictment alleges in paragraph 21 that Rove told Libby that Novak was going to write about Plame. If that's true, then Rove lied to the grand jury.
Moreover, Rove did not disclose that he had also been a source for a story
about Plame written by Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, and Rove testified
that he was not involved in a campaign to discredit or attack the credibility of
Plame's husband, Ambassador Wilson, when at least two dozen witnesses have
testified before the grand jury that Rove was in fact instrumental in the smear
campaign on Wilson.
Rove's grand jury appearance Wednesday is crucial in determining whether he will face a charge of obstruction of justice for not turning over an explosive email that was written moments after his July 2003 conversation with Time's Cooper. Rove volunteered to testify before the grand jury Wednesday to explain why he did not disclose and locate the email for more than a year, sources close to the case said.
It seems to me, as Lawrence O'Donnell speculates, that if Rove asked to go back in, rather than having Fitzgerald call him in, then he's been told that he's facing an imminent indictment.
If Rove's indicted, how low will Bush's approval rating sink to? 30? 25? Cheney-esque levels?
