Next Fitzmas

Next Fitzmas may come sooner than I thought. From this Washington Post article (registration required, but you can give a completely bogus e-mail address):

Libby was indicted on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements. The five-count indictment charged that he gave misleading information to the grand jury, allegedly lying about information he discussed with three news reporters. It alleged that he committed perjury before the grand jury in March 2004 and that he also lied to FBI agents investigating the case.

Despite what the Whitehouse spin machine may say, those are pretty serious charges carrying serious prison sentences.

The article also says:

Sources close to the case said the investigation of Rove is continuing.

So Rove is not out of the woods yet.

The article also says:

An attorney for Rove, Robert Luskin, said in a statement this morning, "The Special Counsel has advised Mr. Rove that he has made no decision about whether or not to bring charges and that Mr. Rove's status has not changed. Mr. Rove will continue to cooperate fully with the Special Counsel's efforts to complete the investigation. We are confident that when the Special Counsel finishes his work, he will conclude that Mr. Rove has done nothing wrong."

But then goes on to say:

Rove provided new information to Fitzgerald during eleventh-hour negotiations that "gave Fitzgerald pause" about charging Bush's senior strategist, said a source close to Rove. "The prosecutor has to resolve those issues before he decides what to do."

That's very significant. It means Rove either came up with something that's going to make it difficult for Fitz to get a conviction or Rove just tried for a plea-bargain by dropping Bush and/or Cheney in the shit. Fitz's known MO is to flip the underlings to get the big-wigs, so if Rove did some more flipping why would Fitz not have made up his mind? Because he needs confirmation from somebody else. Who else? Well, who just got slammed with five indictments...

The final interesting bit:

Although the focus has been on Rove and Libby, Cheney himself has been publicly implicated in recent days in the chain of events that led to the exposure of Plame. The New York Times reported Monday that Fitzgerald possesses notes taken by Libby showing that he learned about Plame from the vice president a month before she was identified by Novak. The White House did not dispute the report.

Two interpretations are possible.

1. Fitz can prove that Libby has been a really bad boy, whereas Rove came up with something in his defense at the last minute that makes it difficult for Fitz to get a conviction against Rove. Fitz cannot justify indictments against anyone higher up the ladder. This is the worst-case scenario.
   
   
2. Libby cut a deal that dropped Rove in the crap (which is why Rove shortly afterwards was called to testify a fourth time), and Libby's notebook implicated Cheney but wasn't sufficient by itself and held back on other stuff. Fitz then gave Rove his fourth working over and Rove confirmed Cheney was involved and at the last minute came up with even more stuff against Cheney and/or Bush but needs Libby to come out with stuff Libby withheld.
   
   So the deal is Rove might go free (because he implicated Bush and/or Cheney) but only if Libby backs him up, otherwise Rove is toast. And Libby, for holding back stuff that Rove blabbed, is facing five indictments (which could still be plea-bargained away if he confirms what Rove said, and is what Fitz hopes he'll do).
   

Please, let it be the best-case scenario. Even I'd drop most (maybe even all) of the charges against Libby and Rove in order to get Bush and/or Cheney (preferably both).