The Daily Background

Okay, here’s what’s up. Jason Leopold (an independent investigative reporter who’s been covering PlameGate for an extremely long time, and has some of the best sources on the whole beat) has published a new column late Friday. Because of what he reports, I’m going to upgrade my indictment expectations from multiple perjury counts and obstruction of justice, to add to that at least one count of making false statements to federal investigators (all felony charges). Leopold writes on one angle of the story:

Rove has been questioned by FBI investigators and grand jurors on ten different occasions since October 2003. The time he has spent under oath exceeds 20 hours, sources said, adding that he answered a wide-range of questions about intelligence the White House used to win support for the Iraq war.

But it was during Rove’s request to appear before the grand jury for a fourth time that he suddenly changed his testimony to explain the circumstances of his conversation with at least one reporter, and how his attorney, Robert Luskin, helped Rove jog his memory.

Fitzgerald has been suspicious that Rove altered his previous testimony once it became clear that the reporter he spoke to, Matt Cooper of Time magazine, would be forced to testify and reveal his sources for a story he wrote about Plame Wilson in July 2003. One of those sources has turned out to be Rove.

As for timeframe, we’re looking at within three weeks, next Friday at the absolute earliest. Fitzgerald is said to be planning to serve up indictments next week, and if he’s able to secure any/all of them, they’ll be sealed immediately, pending a press conference (which we’ll hear about 24 hours in advance). Here’s Leopold’s full article. Worth reading.

Filed under: Plame Leak, Z-TDB Blog