Tuesday, June 27, 2006
 Wayne Madsen's reporting and analysis below is the logical extrapolation of reports that a sealed indictment, 06 cr 128 Sealed vs. Sealed was issued by the Fitzgerald grand jury in DC.
From Wayne Madsen Report June 21: "WMR has spoken to a number of informed individuals about the current status of the Patrick Fitzgerald criminal probe of CIA "Leakgate." Legal experts wonder why Fitzgerald is even fooling around with a Grand Jury when the evidence of criminal wrongdoing cited by Judge David Tatel of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in the Scooter Libby matter appears extremely damaging to national security. In a February 2005 decision on the Grand Jury subpoena of reporters Judith Miller and Matt Cooper, Judge Tatel wrote, "the special counsel refers to Plame as 'a person whose identity the CIA was making specific efforts to conceal and who had carried out covert work overseas within the last five years' -- representations I trust the special counsel would not make without support. (8/27/04 Aff. at 28 n.15.)."
With such damage to national security already well established by the evidence collected by early 2005, legal experts say that Fitzgerald could have bypassed the Grand Jury process and filed a complaint, also known as an "information," with a Federal circuit court judge. Fitzgerald could have told the judge that sufficient evidence existed that a crime or crimes was/were committed, that this evidence was sufficient for a regular jury to consider, and requested that an arrest warrant or warrants be issued. Similarly, a Grand Jury can also file an information regardless of the wishes of the special prosecutor. The Grand Jury also has the power to subpoena any relevant document, including the diaries of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Which brings us to what kind of 11th hour deal was worked out between Fitzgerald and Karl Rove's attorney Robert Luskin. On June 12, Luskin was faxed a letter from Fitzgerald stating that the special prosecutor "does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove." There is much speculation among legal experts that Rove and Luskin worked out a cooperation agreement with the prosecutor in lieu of pressing ahead with an indictment. There is also a belief that the largely African-American Grand Jury, already hostile to the Bush administration, issued a True Bill (an indictment) against Rove on its own (in what is called a "runaway Grand Jury") without prompting from Fitzgerald and that this indictment remains sealed pending the outcome of Rove's cooperativeness with the prosecutor.
Whatever is the case at this point, it is clear, in the minds of legal experts, that Fitzgerald owes the American public some information on the progress of this case. With America's constitutional government hanging by a thread, legal experts reason that, above all, Fitzgerald owes some information to the American people and particularly to the next of kin of those Americans who have died in Iraq. After all, the entire leak matter was caused by White House retaliation against Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his covert CIA wife over the Bush administration being called to task over their lies about the "danger" from Iraq. Fitzgerald has been portrayed by the media as a crime fighting Elliott Ness-type from Chicago. In actuality, Fitzgerald is a prosecutor who should be looking out for the public interest, not engaging in a legal chess match with the likes of Rove and Luskin. And it is to the public he remains answerable. The public's patience in the CIA Leakgate is not infinite and we suggest that the families of those killed or maimed in Iraq send a letter to Mr. Fitzgerald demanding an update on a criminal case that directly resulted in the losses of their loved ones:
Patrick J. Fitzgerald
Office of Special Counsel
Bond Federal Building
1400 New York Avenue, NW, Ninth Floor
Washington D.C. 20530
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