Replies to post #133017 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[BullNBear52]

You can't stand the heat in the kitchen....

[Chris McConnel]

from DailyKos


Plame Update: Indictments To Be Announced This Afternoon?

Here's the most-breaking information, at present. Raw Story reports that indictments are expected for Libby, Rove, and two others.

       Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has  
        asked the grand jury investigating the outing  
        of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to indict  
        Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I.  
        Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Bush's Deputy Chief  
        of Staff Karl Rove on charges of perjury and  
        obstruction of justice, lawyers close to the  
        investigation tell RAW STORY.

       Fitzgerald has also asked the jury to indict  
        Libby on a second charge: knowingly outing a  
        covert operative, the lawyers said. They said  
        the prosecutor believes that Libby violated a  
        1982 law that made it illegal to unmask an  
        undercover CIA agent. [...]

       Two other officials, who are not employees in  
        the White House, are also expected to face  
        indictments, the lawyers said.

They also report that Rove was offered -- and turned down -- a plea deal offered yesterday by Fitzgerald.

This report from Richard Sale has also been rapidly gathering attention. If Sale is correct -- and his reporting has proven superb in the past -- this week may only mark the beginning.

       That Vice President Cheney is at the center of  
        the controversy comes is no surprise. Last  
        Friday, Fitzgerald investigators were talking  
        to Cheney's attorneys, and detailied  
        questionaires, designed to pin down in  
        meticulous sequence what Cheney knew, when he  
        knew it, and what he told his aides, were  
        delivered to the White House on Monday, these  
        sources said.

       The probe is far from being at an end.  
        According to this reporter's sources,  
        Fitzgerald approached the judge in charge of  
        the case and asked that a new grand jury be  
        empaneled. The old grand jury, which has been  
        sitting for two years, will expire on October  
        28.

       Thanks to a letter of February, 2004 which  
        Fitzgerald asked for and obtained expaneed  
        authority, the Special Prosecutor is now in  
        possession of an Italian parliament  
        investigation into the forged Niger documents  
        alleging Iraq's interest in purchasing Niger  
        uranium, sources said.

       They said that Fitzgerald is looking into such  
        individuals as former CIA agent, Duane  
        Claridge, military consultant to the Iraqi  
        National Congress, Gen. Wayne Downing, another  
        military consultant for INC, and Francis  
        Brooke, head of INC's Washington office in an  
        effort to determine if they played any role in  
        the forgeriese or their dissiemination. Also  
        included in this group is long-time  
        neoconservative Michael Ledeen, these federal  
        sources said.

That's pretty big news.

Update [2005-10-26 14:17:29 by Hunter]: Richard Sale now reports:

       An hour ago I was contacted by a U.S.  
        government official close to the Fitzgerald  
        case. This person told me that there WILL be  
        indictments announced later this afternoon, and  
        the Special Prosecutor will hold a press  
        conference tomorrow.

http://www.dailykos.com/