Late Friday, three people close to the investigation, each asking to remain unidentified because of grand jury secrecy, identified Rove as Official A.
According to Libby's indictment, Official A is a "senior official in the White House who advised Libby on July 10 or 11 of 2003" about a conversation with Bob Novak regarding the forthcoming column which revealed the identity of Valerie Plame.
As the AP notes, Offical A, or Rove, might well be summoned to testify in court against Libby.
Just imagine, Bush's brain testifying against Cheney's brain. Whoa, the White House would implode!
The WaPo and Raw Story have also outed Rove. Raw Story elaborates on Official A's role:
'Bush's brain' is not Novak's 'secret source.' He is, however, the senior administration official who said, "Oh, you know about it," when asked by the columnist about Wilson's wife sending him to Niger. Novak wrote, "When I called another official for confirmation, he said: 'Oh, you know about it.'"
Rove's role in the case remains unclear. Those familiar with the investigation say that Rove remains in legal limbo and that Fitzgerald has not finished his inquiry into Bush's chief advisor's role.
“This investigation is not yet over,” one of the lawyers in the case said. “You must keep in mind that people like Mr. Rove are still under investigation.”
Okay, I admit it. As much as I want to see Karl Rove in leg shackles, I was kind of hoping Official A would turn out to be the Cheney monster.
But wait. Check out what former presidential advisor Dick Morris said on Fox News yesterday:
[I]t is very possible that the prosecutor looks up the food chain to Vice President Cheney. These investigations have a way of rising. And according to the terms of the indictment, Cheney told Libby about Valerie Plame and then Libby lied to the grand jury about how he found about it, saying that he got it from a reporter. Well, if that’s the case, the vice president knew that Libby was lying.
And it wasn’t like his grand jury was secret. It was all over the place, you could read it in any newspaper. So my question is, why didn’t the vice president say anything? Why didn’t he speak up? And when you’re out there committing perjury and your boss is silent, and your boss knows that you’re doing that, it’s [the silence is] a subtle signal from your boss to say, “I appreciate it.” [Video]
This brings to mind something one of the pundits on MSNBC said shortly after Fitzgerald's remarkable press conference: Fitzgerald has a reputation for 'squeezing' the #2 man in order to snare the #1 man.
I don't know which one of the Republican crooks might turn out to be the #1 man, but I'm willing to settle for indictments for either, both, or for the entire White House cabal of corruption.
Cuz one day of Fitzmas just isn't enough.
Plamegate Official A Indictment Valerie Plame Libby Cheney CIA leak Rove Fitzgerald Bush Joe Wilson Fitzmas Bush’s Brain
