Prosecutor is added to (Plame) leaks probe

[Newsjock]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30842-2003Dec25.html

By Mike Allen and Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 26, 2003; Page A01

The Justice Department has added a fourth prosecutor to the team investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity, while the FBI has said a grand jury may be called to take testimony from administration officials, sources close to the case said.

Administration and CIA officials said they have seen signs in the past few weeks that the investigation continues intensively behind closed doors, even though little about the investigation has been publicly said or seen for months.

According to administration officials and people familiar with some of the interviews, FBI agents apparently started their White House questioning with top figures -- including President Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove -- and then worked down to more junior officials. The agents appear to have a great deal of information and have constructed detailed chronologies of various officials' possible tie to the leak, people familiar with the questioning said.

... But sources said the CIA believes that people in the administration continue to release classified information to damage the figures at the center of the controversy, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV and his wife, Valerie Plame, who was exposed as a CIA officer by unidentified senior administration officials for a July 14 column by Robert D. Novak.

more

[Rex]

1. I still say that this is the thing that will bring down Bush and crew.

Administrations come and go, but the CIA is here to stay.

[madrchsod]

3. someone will fall on

the sword for the president.that`s the way things are done. unless they can get tapes they won`t get the president. george won`t be blamed for his complete failure of his duty to the people of the united states. it`s really hard to fire george- but- if it must be done it will be..is bill frist waiting in the wings?

[drscm]

7. You're right. *bush will simply use his stupidity to his advantage

and being the great delegator, someone else will have been delegated to do the leaking and take the fall.

[alfredo]

10. I am not sure the CIA will let

some underling fall on their sword, just to be pardoned in 2004, If that happens, I think the CIA will tell all.

[murielm99]

4. You may be right, Rex.

After all, it took a couple of years to really get Watergate off the ground. Nixon won by a landslide, in the meantime.

Merry Christmas, too.

[jokerman93]

6. How ironic that the fate of our constitution

may finally lie in the success of the CIA over the encroaching neo-con business-intelligence model of the Homeland Security Agency.

(Possible backdrop of this CIA/Executive branch split we may be seeing here?)

[NV1962]

26. Yup

That is, as long as members of the press do their job...

In well-established democracies with full-fledged institutional traditions, intelligence agencies don't exist for the political benefit of whomever happens to be in charge of government. Bureaucracy serves itself, and the CIA apparatchiks seem ready to prove that axiom, now that their own officers are threatened for purely partisan motives.

But that's not unique: recently, the UK has seen its share of public disagreement between the Blair government and intelligence agencies refusing to certify overly "sexed up" reports, too.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope the slow wheels keep turning here.

[Sugarbleus]

2. Interesting how.

Bush can keep a flight to Iraq quiet BUT NOT the name of a united states operative. :shrug:

[Cha]

5. It's Not dying ...they are just working behind

the scenes! Plame On! Here's to Justice for Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson!

[ewagner]

8. Good new!

I thought the whole affair had been forgotten.

Maybe somebody in the administration will get dinged for this after all.

...and....
with a little luck they will take Novak with them! :bounce:

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Ah so WATERGATE of them

Yep it takes time for these things to get moving,

FOURTH PROSECUTOR, WOW we didn't even know of the first three

Grand Jury

So when is the Saturday Night Masacre?

[grytpype]

11. I told you the CIA wouldn't let it drop!

And due credit to Tom Daschle and Carl Levin for keeping the fire burning on this one:

On Monday, the Senate minority leader and the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Attorney General John D. Ashcroft demanding more information about the probe. "We request that you provide us with an overall status of the investigation, including the number of people the Justice Department has interviewed, the number of briefings you have received, the general types of information you are briefed on, what conditions you have placed on the scope of these briefings to ensure the independence of this investigation, and whether you have discussed this case with senior administration officials outside the Justice Department," wrote the senators, Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) and Carl M. Levin (Mich.).

[maddezmom]

12. kick

interesting this is put out on a day, lots of folks don't read the paper. :(

[0007]

13. Hope this explodes right before the election -

And yes John Ashcroft is dragging his feet.

[TacticalPeek]

21. Actually, he is practicing for the John Mitchell role.

"There probably aren’t many high points in a federal prisoner’s life. Even at the minimum security jail such as the one in Montgomery, Alabama. So imagine the excitement of the prisoners at that place when a former Attorney General of the United States came to their establishment–not on an inspection trip, but to become one of their roommates. Word is they crowded around the entrance, at least those who were at liberty to do so, to get a glimpse of their newest colleague.

He was former Attorney General John Mitchell, big time New York lawyer who had served as Attorney General during Richard Nixon’s first term. He resigned in 1972 to run Nixon’s re-election committee, which he also resigned from later at the insistence of his wife, but not soon enough. There was the infamous Watergate thing, a break in to Democratic headquarters during that campaign and he was implicated. In late July of 1977 he arrived to begin serving a 30 month jail term for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury in the subsequent Watergate coverup.

The story is that he arrived in a big, blue Cadillac–first class right up to the jail house door. About 13 months later he was released on parole. His outspoken wife, Martha, had more admirers in the country than he did. I even liked her. All told, about 25 people were imprisoned, and the president resigned, as a result of Watergate."

The Draft Horse Journal


:evilgrin:

[Snazzy]

14. Kokal connection?

Sources said the CIA is angry about the circulation of a still-classified document to conservative news outlets suggesting Plame had a role in arranging her husband's trip to Africa for the CIA. The document, written by a State Department official who works for its Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), describes a meeting at the CIA where the Niger trip by Wilson was discussed, said a senior administration official who has seen it.

----

Kokal was the guy who "jumped" off the roof of Foggy-Bottom and worked in INR.

[TacticalPeek]

22. You don't think . . . ?

Nah.

---

"CIA officials have challenged the accuracy of the INR document, the official said,
because the agency officer identified as talking about Plame's alleged role in
arranging Wilson's trip could not have attended the meeting."

[Snazzy]

28. Couldn't be . . . could it?

(And who has the shoes?)

Not an overt word from the press, which considering some extremes with this whole thing, is a lot more suspicious than usual. Quashed in terms of Kokal. Maybe page A1 does mean something encouraging is happening w/ Plame. Bet the dead guy is in there somewhere.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Thanks due to WaPo for running the story on A1,

and Allen and Milbank for their reporting. I believe in giving the media positive reinforcement on the rare occasions they do their job, just to let them know that wingers/Republicans are not the only consumers of news --

[kclown]

16. Don't forget the Wilsons' motive for publicity: to stay alive

They can't afford to be forgotten to the point where no one
will notice their deaths in a plane crash.

[UTUSN]

17. Why Not Just Hang a Lightbulb Over NOVAKula's Head n/t

[RDANGELO]

24. Just put Novak in front ot the grand jury.

If he refuses to answere, he can go to jail,just like Susan Mcdugal. Am I missing something here. This seems so obvious.

[UTUSN]

30. Too Easy, But Necessary n/t

[dusty64]

18. This is the first thing

I've seen on this story in quite awhile. I was shocked that it was allowed to fall off the radar. Of course with asscrack on the case, the fix is in. I truly hope there are higher powers that WON'T let it go away.

[depakid]

19. I have a hard time believing the intelligence community

is going to let this go without some retribution or quid pro quo. The bottom line is that if it can happen to Wilson & Plame, it can happen to any one of them. That sort of shit just won't fly among career employees. My only question is who's going to take the symbolic fall (sorry, it won't be Rove) and how big or what kind of bone the CIA will get thrown.

[bvar22]

20. ALERT!!! Traitor hiding in Whitehouse!!!

This bush* republican has damaged the War-on-Terra, impeded the search for rogue regimes with WMD, and endangered ALL AMERICANS!!!

When finally reached for comment, bush* said,"No big deal. There are lots of TRAITORS and WAR PROFITEERS in the republican administration. I don't see how one more can hurt anything. I'm sure that all Americans know that Republican and TRAITOR are the same thing. We will stay the course. Bring em on. " ( OK. So I made up that quote. My bad)

bush* and the republicans ARE remarkably UNCONCERNED with this HUGE matter. Their only fear is exposure, not the security of the NATION. I pray that this little matter of a gross violation of National Security and the endangerment of ALL Americans continues to fester and metastasize.

If bush* were concerned with our National Security, he could find this TRAITOR in one afternoon!

The REPUBLICANS are a THREAT to NATIONAL SECURITY!

[TacticalPeek]

23. Kick.

:kick:

[karlschneider]

25. B.S. If the Chimp in charge actually -wanted- to find the leaker, he

could get it done in 15 minutes. :grr:

(BS not for your post, for the whole damnable debacle...)

[absolutezero]

27. kick

:kick:

[pinto]

29. a (small) step forward, suggest email your Congressperson re: Plame?