reality-based educator

Hey, we may be getting close to Fitzmas again!!! And Karl Rove may be getting an orange jumpsuit in his stocking!!! From the Associated Press:

(AP) Six weeks after White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was indicted in the CIA leak case, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was back at work Wednesday before another grand jury with top presidential political adviser Karl Rove still under investigation.

Fitzgerald did not comment on the nearly-three-hour grand jury session where the prosecutor was accompanied by three deputies and an FBI agent.

After weeks of avoiding many public appearances with the president, Rove has been noticeably at Bush's side this week.

They traveled together Monday to North Carolina for a speech on the economy.

Rove also rode with Bush in his limousine Wednesday across Washington and listened attentively from the sidelines while the president delivered a speech on Iraq.

In the last grand jury activity in the leak probe, on Oct. 28, Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted on five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI. Libby resigned and has pleaded not guilty.

For nearly two years, Fitzgerald has been looking into who leaked the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame to the news media.

Plame's identity was disclosed eight days after her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly accused the administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat in the run-up to the war.

Rove was not indicted, but Fitzgerald made clear at the time of the Libby indictment that his investigation is not finished.

The prosecutor underscored that point in court papers last month, saying that the probe continues and will involve proceedings before a different grand jury. The first grand jury term expired the day it indicted Libby.

Rove's legal problems stem from the fact that it was not until more than a year into the criminal investigation that he told the prosecutor about disclosing the CIA status of Wilson's wife to Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper on July 11, 2003.

Rove says he had forgotten the Cooper conversation, which occurred days before Plame's identity was revealed by conservative columnist Robert Novak.

The presidential adviser revealed the CIA employment of Wilson's wife to Cooper two days after the presidential aide and Novak discussed Plame's CIA status.

The Justice Department launched the criminal investigation 2 1/2 months later, creating a public uproard and prompting the White House to insist that neither Rove nor Libby had been involved in leaking Plame's identity.

Jeralyn at Talk Left thinks Fitzgerald was presenting Viveca's Novak's deposition to the grand jury after taking it earlier at his office.

Jane at Firedoglake links to a piece from Philipinenews.com that says Karl Rove's deputy, Susan Ralston, has left her job at the White House.

Ralston, you'll remember, used to work for GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff at Preston Gates and Ellis. She later worked with Abramoff at the Greenberg Traurig law firm (which represented George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida recount among other GOP-related causes.)

You may also remember that the Washington Post published an article on September 23, 2005 relating how a Tyco executive who Bush had nominated to be deputy attorney general, Timothy Flanigan, said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Jack Abramoff bragged that he could help keep Tyco from paying a tax liability because he had "good relationships with members of Congress" and "had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" about the issue.

You may also remember that Susan Ralston was one apparent link between Mr. Rove and Mr. Abramoff, since Ralston had already left Abramoff's employ to take a job as Karl Rove's deputy as well as a Special Assistant to President Bush. Abramoff was the guy who suggested Ralston for the job at the White House.

You'll also note that Susan Ralston has testified in the CIA leak case about why TIME reporter Matt Cooper's July 11, 2003 phone call was not logged in through the White House switchboard (thus escaping Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald's initial notice in the case and leading some to believe Rove was trying to deliberately mislead the prosecutor about the Cooper conversation.)

Philippinenews.com says Ralston left her job at the White House because of the "pressure". Jane at Firedoglake wonders whether it was the pressure of the CIA leak case or the Abramoff scandal that finally led to Ralston's departure.

Hmmm.

UPDATE: The New York Observer reports that Viveca Novak is going to give her deposition to Patrick Fitzgerald tomorrow. Here's the piece:

Time reporter Viveca Novak is scheduled to give a sworn deposition to special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald tomorrow, a spokesperson for the magazine confirmed.

Novak is expected to discuss under oath her conversations with Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney, in May 2004.

The New York Times reported last week that Novak may have told Luskin that Rove had been Time reporter Matt Cooper's source in the Valerie Plame Wilson leak affair.

Novak will give her deposition to Fitzgerald tomorrow without going before the grand jury. Fitzgerald’s spokesperson Randall Samborn declined to comment. Novak and her attorney, Henry Schuelke, did not return calls seeking comment.

If Fitzgerald wasn't presenting Novak's deposition to the grand jury today, then what was he doing? Was he giving the new grand jury an overview of the case he plans to present to them? Did he interview somebody in the case that we don't know about and was presenting that deposition? Did today have something to do with Bob Woodward?

Double "hmmm."

I guess we'll just have to wait for the inevitable leaks from Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, to VandeHei and Leonning of the Post and Isikoff and Thomas of NEWSWEEK.

Shouldn't be more than a couple of hours.