[Mb-civic] Fitzgerald to Seek Indictment of Rove By Jason Leopold

[Michael Butler]

    Fitzgerald to Seek Indictment of Rove
    By Jason Leopold
    t r u t h o u t | Report

    Friday 28 April 2006

    Despite vehement denials by his attorney, who said this week that Karl
Rove is neither a "target" nor in danger of being indicted in the CIA leak
case, the special counsel leading the investigation has already written up
charges against Rove, and a grand jury is expected to vote on whether to
indict the Deputy White House Chief of Staff sometime next week, sources
knowledgeable about the probe said Friday afternoon.

    Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was in Chicago Friday and did not
meet with the grand jury.

    Luskin was informed via a target letter that Fitzgerald is prepared to
charge Rove for perjury and lying to investigators during Rove¹s appearances
before the grand jury in 2004 and in interviews with investigators in 2003
when he was asked how and when he discovered that Valerie Plame Wilson
worked for the CIA, and whether he shared that information with the media.

    If the grand jury returns an indictment Rove would become the second
White House official - and one of the most powerful political operatives in
the country - charged in the case since the leak investigation began in the
fall of 2003.

    In the event that an indictment is handed up by the grand jury it would
be filed under seal. A press release would then be issued by Fitzgerald¹s
press office indicating that the special prosecutor will hold a news
conference, likely on a Friday afternoon, sources close to the case said.
The media would be given more than 24 hours notice of a press conference,
sources added.

    Luskin was at his office when called for comment but his assistant said
he would not take the call or comment on this story.

    In recent weeks, sources close to the case said, Fitzgerald's staff has
met with Rove's legal team several times to discuss a change in Rove's
status in the case - from subject to target - based on numerous
inconsistencies in Rove's testimony, whether he discussed Plame Wilson with
reporters before her name and CIA status were published in newspaper
reports, and whether he participated in a smear campaign against her
husband.

    The meetings between Luskin and Fitzgerald which took place on several
occasions a few weeks ago were called to discuss a timeframe to schedule a
return to the grand jury by Rove to testify about, among other things, 250
pages of emails that resurfaced February 6 from Vice President Dick Cheney's
office and the Office of President Bush in which Rove wrote to former White
House Chief of Staff Andrew Card about strategizing an attack against
Wilson, sources familiar with the case said.

    An earlier date for Rove's testimony was scheduled, but Fitzgerald
canceled the appearance because of matters related to another high-profile
case that was coming to close in Chicago, sources said.

    The rescheduled grand jury appearance by Rove took place Wednesday
afternoon and hinges on whether Rove's testimony about the reasons he did
not disclose the emails during his previous testimony will convince
Fitzgerald not to add obstruction of justice to the list of charges he
intends to file against Rove, sources said.

    As of Friday afternoon, sources close to the case said, it appeared
likely that charges of obstruction of justice would be added to the prepared
list of charges.

    Rove testified that he first found out about Plame Wilson from reading a
newspaper report in July 2003, and only after the story was published did he
share the information about her CIA status with other reporters.

    In fact, evidence has surfaced during the course of the two-year-old
investigation that shows Rove spoke with at least two reporters about Plame
Wilson prior to the publication of the column that first unmasked her
identity and exposed her covert CIA status.

    The explanation Rove provided to the grand jury - that he was dealing
with more urgent White House matters and therefore forgot - has not
convinced Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that Rove has been truthful
in his testimony.

    Rove has been questioned by FBI investigators and grand jurors on ten
different occasions since October 2003. The time he has spent under oath
exceeds 20 hours, sources said, adding that he answered a wide-range of
questions about intelligence the White House used to win support for the
Iraq war.

    But it was during Rove's request to appear before the grand jury for a
fourth time that he suddenly changed his testimony to explain the
circumstances of his conversation with at least one reporter, and how his
attorney, Robert Luskin, helped Rove jog his memory.

    Fitzgerald has been suspicious that Rove altered his previous testimony
once it became clear that the reporter he spoke to, Matt Cooper of Time
magazine, would be forced to testify and reveal his sources for a story he
wrote about Plame Wilson in July 2003. One of those sources has turned out
to be Rove.

    Moreover, Rove has testified that he and other White House officials
were not involved in a coordinated effort to attack the credibility of Plame
Wilson's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who in mid-2003
questioned the veracity of the Bush administration's pre-war Iraq
intelligence.

    However, grand jury testimony by at least a dozen administration
officials have portrayed Rove as a key player in a campaign to destroy
Ambassador Wilson's credibility in Washington, DC, sources familiar with
several of the witnesses' testimony said.