[Mb-civic] Grand Jury Hears Summary of Case On CIA Leak Probe - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Grand Jury Hears Summary of Case On CIA Leak Probe
Decision on Charges May Come Friday

By Carol D. Leonnig and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 27, 2005; Page A01

The prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation presented a summary of his 
case to a federal grand jury yesterday and is expected to announce a 
final decision on charges in the two-year-long probe tomorrow, according 
to people familiar with the case.

Even as Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald wrapped up his case, the 
legal team of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has been 
engaged in a furious effort to convince the prosecutor that Rove did not 
commit perjury during the course of the investigation, according to 
people close to the aide. The sources, who indicated that the effort 
intensified in recent weeks, said Rove still did not know last night 
whether he would be indicted.

Fitzgerald is completing his probe of whether senior administration 
officials broke the law by disclosing the identity of CIA operative 
Valerie Plame to the media in the summer of 2003 to discredit her 
husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, an administration 
critic. The grand jury's term will expire Friday.

But after grand jurors left the federal courthouse before noon 
yesterday, it was unclear whether Fitzgerald had spelled out the 
criminal charges he might ask them to consider, or whether he had asked 
them to vote on any proposed indictments. Fitzgerald's legal team did 
not present the results of a grand jury vote to the court yesterday, 
which he is required to do within days of such a vote.

Yesterday's three-hour grand jury session came after agents and 
prosecutors this week conducted last-minute interviews with Adam Levine, 
a member of the White House communications team at the time of the leak, 
about his conversations with Rove, and with Plame's neighbors in the 
District.

Should he need more time to finish the investigation, Fitzgerald could 
seek to empanel a new group of grand jurors to consider the case. But 
sources familiar with the prosecutor's work said he has indicated he is 
eager to avoid that route. The term of the current grand jury has been 
extended once and cannot be lengthened again, according to federal rules.

The down-to-the-wire moves in Fitzgerald's investigation have made for a 
harrowing week at the White House, where officials are girding for at 
least one senior administration official to be indicted, according to aides.

Most concern is focused on Rove and Vice President Cheney's chief of 
staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Both had testified that they talked 
with reporters about Plame in the summer of 2003, according to lawyers 
familiar with their accounts, but both said they did not discuss her by 
name or disclose her covert status.

Yesterday was another surreal day at the White House, according to 
aides, with staff members wondering about who might be indicted. Rove 
and Libby continued to sit in on high-level meetings.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102600532.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20051027/011a7b95/attachment-0001.htm