Thursday, December 15, 2005
Patrick Fitzgerald Canceled Wednesday's Plame Grand Jury In Order To Hit Conrad Black With More Charges
I was wondering why the CIA leak grand jury didn't meet yesterday in Washington. Turns out the Special Prosecutor was busy indicting former Hollinger CEO Conrad Black on additional charges. Here's the catch from the Associated Press:
So what did Patrick Fitzgerald delay by canceling the CIA leak grand jury on Wednesday? According to Rawstory.com
I'm sure Fitz will be back in Washington soon enough to brief the grand jury and decide whether he is going to indict Karl Rove on false statements, perjury and/or obstruction of justice charges in the case.
According to Thomas DeFrank of the NY Daily News
Meanwhile in other CIA leak news, I suppose you heard that Bob Novak said in a speech on Tuesday in Raleigh, North Carolina that he believes Preznit Bush knows who first leaked Valerie Plame's identity to Novak:
After the Novak revelation, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent the White House a letter asking the preznit to "clear up this matter quickly...unlike Mr. Novak, who can claim an interest in maintaining the confidentiality of his sources, there is no similar privilege arguably preventing you from sharing such information."
Today, the White House pushed back against Novak with White House press secretary Scottie McClellan saying "I don't know what he's (Novak's) basing it on."
Right.
Like the preznit didn't know pretty early on that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were involved in the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity and/or name to members of the media.
The good news is, the preznit can no longer plead "no comment" to CIA leak questions from the press by saying that he cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.
Becuase Georgie Boy told Britt Hume on FOX News yesterday that he thought Tom Delay was innocent of the money laundering and conspiracy charges brought by DA Ronnie Earle in Texas.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Tom Delay case "ongoing"? And didn't Bushie "comment" on it?
If I were David Gregory of NBC News and Terry Moran of ABC News, I'd be scribbling down my CIA leak case questions right now.
Should be a nice Fitzmas gift for the many Plameolgists out there to ask schmucko a few CIA leak questions at the next Q & A and insist on a straight answer instead of accepting that "can't comment on an ongoing investigation" bullshit.
CHICAGO Dec 15, 2005 — Former newspaper mogul Conrad Black was indicted by federal prosecutors Thursday on additional charges that include racketeering and obstruction of justice.
The new charges came two weeks after Black pleaded not guilty to fraud charges in connection with the alleged looting of more than $80 million from the Hollinger International Inc. newspaper empire he once controlled.
The charges were brought in an indictment returned Thursday by a federal grand jury in Chicago and announced by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
Black's former associate, John Boultbee, also faces one new count of wire fraud in addition to the eight fraud counts he was charged with last month. Charges brought against co-defendants Peter Atkinson, Mark Kipnis and The Ravelston Corp. Ltd. remained unchanged.
The expanded indictment against Black adds four new charges against him one count each of racketeering, obstruction of justice, money laundering and wire fraud in addition to the eight counts of mail fraud and wire fraud he was charged with on Nov. 17.
The obstruction count alleges that he illegally removed more than a dozen boxes of documents from his companies' offices in Toronto last spring.
So what did Patrick Fitzgerald delay by canceling the CIA leak grand jury on Wednesday? According to Rawstory.com
Late Tuesday evening, RAW STORY received word from two attorneys close to the CIA leak case that Patrick Fitzgerald intended to meet with the grand jury Wednesday morning to present the recently obtained sworn testimony from Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney, and Time magazine reporter Viveca Novak. Attorneys say Fitzgerald still intends to brief the grand jury on these matters.
I'm sure Fitz will be back in Washington soon enough to brief the grand jury and decide whether he is going to indict Karl Rove on false statements, perjury and/or obstruction of justice charges in the case.
According to Thomas DeFrank of the NY Daily News
Deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove escaped indictment but is still under active investigation by Fitzgerald.
Some Rove allies now fear he may be in more legal jeopardy than he was when Libby was charged.
Meanwhile in other CIA leak news, I suppose you heard that Bob Novak said in a speech on Tuesday in Raleigh, North Carolina that he believes Preznit Bush knows who first leaked Valerie Plame's identity to Novak:
Newspaper columnist Robert Novak is still not naming his source in the Valerie Plame affair, but he says he is pretty sure the name is no mystery to President Bush.
"I'm confident the president knows who the source is," Novak told a luncheon audience at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh on Tuesday. "I'd be amazed if he doesn't."
"So I say, 'Don't bug me. Don't bug Bob Woodward. Bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is.' "
After the Novak revelation, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent the White House a letter asking the preznit to "clear up this matter quickly...unlike Mr. Novak, who can claim an interest in maintaining the confidentiality of his sources, there is no similar privilege arguably preventing you from sharing such information."
Today, the White House pushed back against Novak with White House press secretary Scottie McClellan saying "I don't know what he's (Novak's) basing it on."
Right.
Like the preznit didn't know pretty early on that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were involved in the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity and/or name to members of the media.
The good news is, the preznit can no longer plead "no comment" to CIA leak questions from the press by saying that he cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.
Becuase Georgie Boy told Britt Hume on FOX News yesterday that he thought Tom Delay was innocent of the money laundering and conspiracy charges brought by DA Ronnie Earle in Texas.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Tom Delay case "ongoing"? And didn't Bushie "comment" on it?
If I were David Gregory of NBC News and Terry Moran of ABC News, I'd be scribbling down my CIA leak case questions right now.
Should be a nice Fitzmas gift for the many Plameolgists out there to ask schmucko a few CIA leak questions at the next Q & A and insist on a straight answer instead of accepting that "can't comment on an ongoing investigation" bullshit.
