It Ain’t The Crime It’s The You Know What

Apparently lawyers for Rove and Libby have been told that their clients are in serious legal jeopardy. Not much news there. The leaking lawyers seem to be quite sure that Fitz will not indict them under the Toensing statute (I’m sure that Richard “Joey Bishop” Cohen will be shrieking to high heaven if he indicts for the cover-up crimes) but others may not be so lucky (Wurmser, Hannah?)

Since these leaks are obviously coming from Rove and Libby, I take it with a grain of salt. They cannot know yet what (or who) Fitz has up his sleeve so they cannot know that he is planning cover-up indictments. This could be a coordinated “criminalization of politics” shot across the bow. (Which, by the way, should be met with “I know. It’s terrible. We really need to get the criminals out of politics.” Make them sputter and explain what they mean.)

It is news to me, however, that Fitzgerald knows who Novak’s original source is (described by Novak as not being a partisan gunslinger) and that person does not work at the white house. This could mean that they don’t currently work at the white house but once did — Ari Fleischer or Mary Matalin or any number of others. Or it could mean that this person never worked at the white house, like the head of the CIA, even. Or maybe it’s Tim Russert …

I don’t trust Novak’s definition of what constitutes a partisan gunslinger — Novak himself is a partisan gunslinger and calls himself a journalist. He could be talking about John Bolton for all we know.

I had my money on Andy Card early on but he still works at the white house. So, who is it?

One thing that I continue to find fascinating. The final paragraph of this NY Times article:

In Mr. Libby’s case, Mr. Fitzgerald has focused on his statements about how he first learned of Ms. Wilson’s identity, the lawyers said. Mr. Libby has said that he learned of Ms. Wilson from reporters. But Mr. Fitzgerald may have doubts about his account because the journalists who have been publicly identified as having talked to Mr. Libby have said that they did not provide the name, that they could not recall what had been said or that they had discussed unrelated subjects.

Gosh I wonder who those “journalists” could be? Perhaps they’ll share it with the public when they write their memoirs.

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