Not Fitzmas today. Maybe tomorrow.
Hindrocket Wins Wanker Of The Day Award, Again
From Is That Legal, via Atrios: John Hinderaker, yesterday: Tomorrow may bring indictments of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby on charges that can charitably be described as trivial. Tonight, one of our readers urged us to link to President Bush’s great speech to the Joint Armed Forces Officers’ Wives’ group rather than being distracted by the minutiae of the day. … Read More
Four Questions
The Liberal Avenger points to a wonderful Salon article which asks "four of the biggest questions Fitzgerald’s investigation may be able to answer". I’ll post the "questions", but seriously, the whole article is worth a read: Did the vice president’s office put pressure on intelligence analysts in the run-up to war? Did pressure from the vice president’s office have anything … Read More
Less Than One Hour To Fitzmasday?
Steve Clemons: An uber-insider source has just reported the following to TWN: 1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end. 2. The targets of indictment have already received their letters. 3. The indictments will be sealed indictments and "filed" tomorrow [Wednesday]. 4. A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday. The … Read More
Chill The Champagne
Raw Story, which has been slightly ahead of the curve on Plamegate these past few weeks (i.e., it seems to have reliable inside information), reports the following: Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has decided to seek indictments in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and has submitted at least one to the grand jury, those close to the investigation … Read More
The Pollari-Hadley Connection
Josh Marshall, not one to give in to hysterics and histrionics, points to an article in today’s Italian Daily La Repubblica — an article which, if accurate, could "rock the foundations of official Washington". I strongly urge you to read the whole thing, including Josh’s cautionary caveats, but here is the gist: It’s about the forged Niger/uranium documents. Back in … Read More
Plamegate Spotlight On Cheney
The New York Times doesn’t quite come out and directly implicate Cheney, but if this is true, it certainly hurts Cheney politically. I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, … Read More
Fitzmas, Fitzmas Time Is Here
RonK at Next Hurrah has some thoughts about Fitzmas, scheduled (most say) to arrive this week: The goose is cooked, the ox is gored, the chickens are coming home to roost. The kiddies are giddy with visions of sugarplums, marching frogs, TV specials, seasonal trappings and wrappings piled so deep you can’t find the dog in the living room. Fitzmas … Read More
Alright. I Give Up.
I’m going to start using the phrase "Merry Fiztmas" too.
Connecting The Dots
Let’s take two pieces of information, as reported by different people at different times. Even if you haven’t followed the Plamegate story closely, you can follow this logic: (1) Murray Waas in his October 7 article: "In his own interview with prosecutors on June 24, 2004, Bush testified that Rove assured him he had not disclosed Plame as a CIA … Read More
Plamegate: Bush Knew All Along
Remember when the Plame leak scandal broke and Bush reassured the nation that he was going to get to the bottom of it? Here’s what he said on September 30, 2002: "I don’t know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I’d like to know it, and we’ll take the appropriate action." … Read More
Plamegate Update: Indictments Really Close?
The latest on the investigation from the New York Times: The special counsel in the C.I.A. leak case has told associates he has no plans to issue a final report about the results of the investigation, heightening the expectation that he intends to bring indictments, lawyers in the case and law enforcement officials said yesterday. ….By signaling that he had … Read More
It’s Coming
Plamegate is about to bust wide open. The storm clouds are gathering. First, there’s this Financial Times story informing that Fitzgerald’s probe has widened. He’s apparently looking at pre-war intelligence handling, including a majority of the WHIG membership. So the political use of intelligence information has now become a matter of interest for Fitzgerald — especially given that it may … Read More
Plamegate – The Latest
Lot of buzz and reaction to Judy Miller and the fact that the name "Valerie Flame" appears in her handwritten notes for a date in which she had a conversation with Scooter Libby. Most of the invective against Miller is centered around the inescapable fact that she was merely a White House secretary, rather than being an independent reporter. Well, … Read More
Plamegate Update
Looks like Fitzgerald is casting a pretty wide net. That’s the rumors anyway. And in the wake of it all, there seems to be a power play in the White House — Andrew Card angling to fill Rove’s shoes. Josh Marshall sums it up: There are certainly a lot of hints, allegations and murmurs out there tonight, particularly on the … Read More