New York Times: "Nearly Invisible" Ari Fleischer and the C.I.A. Leak Case

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/27/politics/27leak.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1122521882-CBLuieksJXVZpBJ3g22kvA

POUND RIDGE, N.Y., July 25 - From the road, it is barely possible to see the home where Ari Fleischer lives. Tucked away behind a secured fence and a thicket of shrubbery, Mr. Fleischer, the former White House press secretary, is where he wants to be these days: nearly invisible.

For the two years since he left the White House - on the very day in July 2003 that Robert D. Novak printed the name of a Central Intelligence Agency operative in his syndicated newspaper column - Mr. Fleischer has been caught up in the investigation of who supplied that information to the columnist and whether it was a crime. The prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, called Mr. Fleischer to appear before the grand jury that is investigating the leak.

One person familiar with Mr. Fleischer's testimony said he told the grand jury that he was not Mr. Novak's source. And Mr. Fleischer, who was never shy about championing his Republican bosses, seems not to fit Mr. Novak's description, in a subsequent column, of his primary source as "no partisan gunslinger."

As the investigation has progressed, according to people who have been officially briefed on the inquiry, investigators have lessened their interest in Mr. Fleischer's activities and those of other top White House press aides at the time as more senior administration figures have attracted greater attention. Those figures include Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, and I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

[Eloriel]

1. Kick

:kick:

[Skittles]

2. he left the same day the column was printed?

interesting