Fitz In The Tank?
Fitzgerald made another visit early Friday morning—shortly before the grand jury voted to indict Dick Cheney’s top aide, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby—to the office of James Sharp, President George W. Bush’s own lawyer in the case, to tell him the president’s closest aide would not be charged.
Holy Shit. Can someone tell me why Fitzgerald would go to President Bush’s personal lawyer on Friday to tell him that Bush’s “closest aide wouldn’t be charged?” Is it in any possible sense ethical for the prosecutor to be telling the president’s lawyer information that isn’t available to the public about members of the president’s staff in the middle of an investigation?
If this is true, I think Mr Fitzgerald has some splainin’ to do, otherwise it might look like he’s got some back channel communication with the White House about a case that directly affects it. This would not seem in character for Mr Fitzgerald, who is by all acounts a very ethical prosecutor. If this is true, it’s a bomb shell. Fitzgerald has no business discussing Karl Rove with anyone but Karl Rove and Karl Rove’s lawyer.
Michael Isikoff repeats this line as if it is a matter of objective truth, but there is no way to know that, of course. This prosecutor doesn’t leak so this is coming from Rove’s lawyer, Luskin, or Bush’s lawyer, Sharp. I’m unaware of any leaking from Sharp but there has been a ton of it from Luskin over the past few months. I think reporters like Isikoff should probably take a little inventory of all the blind alleys they’ve been led down by Robert Luskin these past few months. Here are just a few of the highlights:
“Karl has truthfully told everyone who’s asked him that he did not circulate Valerie Plame’s name to punish her husband, Joe Wilson,” Luskin said. Asked if that included President Bush, Luskin said, “Everyone is everyone.”
Added Luskin, “Karl did nothing wrong. Karl didn’t disclose Valerie Plame’s identity to Mr. Cooper or anybody else … Who outed this woman? … It wasn’t Karl.”
Luskin said Rove “certainly did not disclose to Matt Cooper or anybody else any confidential information.”“If Matt Cooper is going to jail to protect a source, it’s not Karl he’s protecting.”
Luskin is a defense lawyer. It’s part of his job. I’m not criticising him for it. But, he and Rove are working overtime to get Rove out of this jam — and prepare the ground for a big PR push if Rove is indicted — and all reporters should think carefully about credulously repeating what they are saying.
You’d think Luskin would be very careful before he charges Fitzgerald with unauthorized discussions of the case with Bush’s lawyer. If it isn’t true, Fitzgerald might just get a little testy about it.