Leak Probe Not Seen to End with Rove, Lawyers Say
12/21/2005 @ 11:03 am
Filed by Jason Leopold


Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is not expected
to shut down his investigation into the leak of covert
CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson when he finishes his
inquiry of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl
Rove's role in the leak, lawyers close to the probe
said.


These sources indicated that if a grand jury returns
an indictment against Rove it will include -- at the
very least -- a charge that he made false statements
to Justice Department and FBI investigators when he
was first interviewed about his role in the case in
October 2003.

Individuals close to the probe say Fitzgerald is still
investigating other unnamed White House officials.
This part of the investigation, like that of Rove, is
focusing on whether these officials committed perjury,
obstruction of justice or lied to federal
investigators during the early days of the
investigation -- as opposed to violating an obscure
law which makes it a crime to knowingly leak the name
of an undercover CIA operative -- they say.

When Fitzgerald announced the five-count indictment
against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick
Cheney's former chief of staff who is accused of
perjury and obstruction for his role in the leak, he
said the bulk of his investigative work had been
completed. Shortly thereafter, however, he convened
another grand jury. According to those close to the
probe, the prosecutor plans to use the jury well into
next year to determine if other officials played a
role in the leak and whether any laws were broken.

The second grand jury hearing evidence in the case
convened for the first time earlier this month. Their
term expires in 18 months.

The investigation is expected to shift back to top
officials in the Office of the Vice President, the
State Department and the National Security Council,
and may even shed some light on the genesis of the
Niger forgeries, lawyers close to the case say. The
forged documents, cited in President Bush's 2003 State
of the Union address, claimed Iraq sought yellowcake
uranium from the African country. It may also reveal
how key players in the White House decided to expose
Plame's undercover status and top secret front
company, Brewster Jennings.

Separately, these people said, the FBI's renewed
interest in probing the Niger forgeries grew out of
Fitzgerald's probe.

A court filing posted on Fitzgerald's website in
October revealed that when the prosecutor subpoenaed
New York Times reporter Judith Miller, he had already
decided to pursue flawed intelligence the Bush
administration used to build support for the Iraq war.
Miller was jailed 85 days for refusing to disclose who
had told her about Plame.

"On August 12 and August 20, 2004, grand jury
subpoenas were issued to reporter Judith Miller and
her employer, the New York Times, seeking documents
and testimony related to 'conversations between Miller
and a specified government official occurring between
on or about July 6, 2003 and on or about July 13,
2003, concerning Valerie Plame Wilson (whether
referred to by name or by description) or concerning
Iraqi efforts to obtain uranium,'" the filing states.

More than two dozen people from the White House have
been interviewed or testified before the grand jury
since Fitzgerald was tapped to lead the investigation
two years ago. Some of those people, who sources close
to the case would only say were "senior level," have
cooperated with the prosecutor in exchange for
immunity related to their role in the case. No plea
deals have been entered into with any official, they
added.

"Mr. Fitzgerald has secured the cooperation of certain
individuals who faced the possibility of being
prosecuted," one attorney close to the case said.
"That's all I'm going to say."

One of those individuals may be an unnamed State
Department official cited in a Sept. 28, 2003
Washington Post story. The official told the Post that
six journalists were called and told about Plame
Wilson's undercover status in an attempt to discredit
her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic
of the Bush administration's prewar Iraq intelligence
who challenged the veracity of the uranium claim.
Wilson debunked the administration's claims after
being sent to Niger a year earlier to investigate the
allegations.

The unnamed State Department official cited in the
Post story appears to have intimate knowledge of the
campaign to discredit Wilson. He also appears to have
been sympathetic to the former ambassador.

The Associated Press also quoted an unnamed retired
State Department official who told them of a
Department memo describing Plame's alleged role in
sending her husband to Africa and disputed the
legitimacy of administration claims that Iraq sought
to acquire uranium.

Sources close to the probe said the State Department
official referenced in both stories is the same, and
has been providing the special counsel with crucial
evidence against certain White House officials for the
past two years.

Daniel Richman, a law professor at Fordham University
and former federal prosecutor who at one time worked
with Fitzgerald, said in high-profile white collar
cases it is very rare that a prosecutor will say,
"We're done. We’ve got everything we need."

"There are very few definitives," Richman said. "It is
rare to give a certification of innocence or to make a
public declaration that the case is over,"
particularly while a grand jury's term has not
expired.

Richman said he is not surprised Fitzgerald would be
continuing his investigation into the leak.

"It is entirely normal not to have a clear end point,"
he said. "However, because there are so many
individuals in government whose jobs may be at stake
for their roles in the Plame leak, Fitzgerald could
decide to announce an end to the investigation
publicly so those people know that they are no longer
under any scrutiny."

Richman said he thinks that any government official
who faced criminal exposure in the case would be
cooperating.

"But it's difficult to have a good sense whether
that's the case because Mr. Fitzgerald has closely
guarded the grand jury proceedings," he said. "What
that means is that the case could be ongoing, petering
out or revving up. It all depends on what he has now."

(Correction: The Washington Post article that
mentioned that six journalists were called about
Plame's identity was erroneously attributed to
September 9, 2003 instead of September 28. Added a
link to the article which is no longer accessible at
the Washington Post Website.)
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