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In the end it probably doesn't matter much -- not unless Fitzgerald surp rises us all and walks away without filing charges against anybody. The tension of the past few days has already revved the story into the red zone on the RPM gauge. Once Fitzgerald pops the clutch, it's going to be an absolute media feeding frenzy, even if Cheney isn't on the menu. Well, I guess that's when we'll find out if the dagger in the veep's bac k really does have the initials CP on it. Uncomfirmed rumors What follows is some extremely sensitive information about the impending conclusion of the Valerie Plame investigations. The sources include two senior members of senate and key staffers; counsel for individuals that have been called before the grand jury; and two journalists taking a lea d position in investigating the case. the following represents a composi te of the information from those sources. The investigation has focused mostly clos ely on Vice President Cheney and his staff, as well as US Ambassador to the UN (and former undersecretary of state for arms control) John Bolton and his staff. We are told that eight indictments have already prepared , with the possibility of another ten. These indictments include senior white house staff, most notably Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff S cooter Libby, Fred Flights (special assistant to John Bolton), and--very surprisingly--national security adviser Steve Hadley. apparently, Libby and Hadley have both been told by their lawyers to expect indictments. the indictment of senior bush political advisor Karl Rove seems highly p robable. Most critically, a plea bargain process has evidently been opened with Vi ce President Cheney's lawyer. In the past several days, former Secretary of State Colin Powell had a me eting with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), primarily about the McCain-sponso red amendment on inserting a rider prohibiting torture onto the us defen se budget (a bill which Powell has himself been lobbying heavily for, ag ainst objections of president Bush). During the meeting, Powell recounted to the senator that he had traveled on air force one with Bush and Cheney, and brought to their attention a classified memorandum about the issue of whether there was indeed a tran saction inolving Niger and yellow cake uranium. the document included Am bassador Joe Wilson's involvement and identified his wife, Valerie Plame , as a covert agent. the memorandum further stated that this information was secret. Powell told McCain that he showed that memo only to two peo ple--president and vice president. according to Powell, Cheney fixated o n the Wilson/Plame connection, and Plame's status. Powell testified about this exchange in great length to the grand jury in vestigating the plame case. according to sources close to the case, Powe ll appeared convinced that the vice president played a focal role in dis closing plame's undercover status. In his conversation with McCain, Powell felt that--at a minimum--there wo uld be a serious shakeup at national security council as a consequence. in particular, vice president cheney would no longer hold a pivotal role in us national security affairs. Powell apparently did not discuss the potential of a cheney resignation. Lead prosecutor patrick Fitzgerald has apparently been looking at the pre cedent of formerly indicted Nixon vice president Spiro Agnew. this shows the likely path, because addressing executive immunity and privilege qu estions would necessarily begin start with a plea-bargain deal that woul d entail a resignation. There are enormous implication for what would be the biggest white house shakeup since the iran-contra scandal in the Reagan era. President Bush' s approval rating at 39% has already led to a significant decrease in po licy efficacy with key legislators in congress (which i've already discu ssed at length elsewhere). i'll spin out the broader policy implications when i have some time to write at greater length, but i wanted to get t his out immediately. One interesting point though--it is worth noting that a parade of senior republican senators have evidently been privately pushing McCain to lobb y to be Cheney's replacement. meanwhile, the White House has already been developing coun termeasures--notably including senior White House officials privately vo icing president bush's disappointment in Karl Rove's involvement in the case, calling it "misconduct." an urgent search for a rove replacement i s already underway. Posted by Norm at October 19, 2005 02:46 PM Comments Great scoop, Norm.
The Memo was faxed to Powell on AF One the day he and Bush & Co left for Africa. Cheney wasn't on the trip - or on Air Force One with Colin Powel l and the President. So the entire thesis, which includes this: during the meeting, powell recounted to the senator that he had traveled on air force one with bush and cheney, and brought to their attention a classified memorandum about the issue of whether there was indeed a t ransaction inolving niger and yellow cake uranium. the document include d ambassador joe wilson's involvement and identified his wife, valerie plame, as a covert agent. the memorandum further stated that this infor mation was secret. powell told mccain that he showed that memo only to two people--president and vice president. according to powell, cheney f ixated on the wilson/plame connection, and plame's status. Also, Andrea Mitchell says colin powell testified he showed the memo to A ri Fleischer.
October 19, 2005 04:48 PM You know what is amazing that if this was the Clinton administration ther e would be dead bodies floating in the White House fountain, labeled as suicides.
October 19, 2005 05:47 PM Here's hoping that someone other than a figurative Sgt. I want these people to finally be held accountable for their crimes, but it leaves me a with a sour feeling that, despite the lesson of recent hi story, and the millions of honest well-intentioned people in this countr y, we're still faced with this kind of thing in our executive branch. I realize there are few clean pairs of hands in politics, but can't we do better than these banditti?
October 19, 2005 06:14 PM The President and Vice-President never travel together. Especially on Air Force 1 Therefore, while I love the story and would love to believe it - it is simply not true.
October 19, 2005 06:20 PM You lefties are dreeming and it's geting funnyer to watch everyday. Noone in the Bush administratien is going down in this case. You all are going to have egg on your faces when here are no inditements. If you people would deal in realitys for once you might win an election some day. Heres laughing at you, Bill PS: Call me if you need some counciling on facts.
October 19, 2005 06:55 PM Okay, who's this Bill Fultz guy? You can co unsel (not council) me on the facts if I can counsel you on some fourth grade level spelling.
October 19, 2005 06:56 PM Anon- This was posted over at DailyKos and pretty well debunked. It looks like Powell DID test ify that he circulated the Plame memo to those onboard AirForce One on J uly of 2003. This is very important since it is central to whether any f ederal criminal laws regarding classified information were violated. Rov e and Libby have claimed that they learned of the information from journ alists.
Any GOD ferin, flag wavin, nigger hatin 100 prcent AMER ICAN can sea that this is all a bunch of crap. Even if it is tru that le sbo Plume deserved to be outed with that wesel Wilson.
October 19, 2005 07:55 PM I've read so many left-wing fantasy stories about high level indictments that I really don't believe any of it anymore. Salon seems to have a dai ly column on Plame-outing speculation, based on little more than "some l awyer said that Rove is in biiiig trouble!" It's not a position for which you do some big official job search. If Rove d oes resign, Bush will just make do with the inner circle he has, perhaps bringing someone new along eventually. Someone new will be given the ti tle but not as a result of a "search". And Rove would probably still kee p in contact with Bush even if he cleans out his desk in the West Wing. Why would you be entering int...
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