posted on June 13, 2006 06:41:19 AM new
And now what will those poor Rove bashers protest about now.
WASHINGTON -- Top White House aide Karl Rove has been told by prosecutors he won't be charged with any crimes in the investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity, his lawyer said today, lifting a heavy burden from one of President Bush's most trusted advisers.
Attorney Robert Luskin said that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald informed him of the decision on Monday, ending months of speculation about the fate of Rove, the architect of Bush's 2004 re-election now focused on stopping Democrats from capturing the House or Senate in this November's elections.
Fitzgerald has already secured a criminal indictment against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter'' Libby.
The announcement cheered Republicans and a White House beleaguered by war and low approval ratings.
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Rove, said the White House official "is elated'' and said that "we're done.''
Fitzgerald met with chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan before he notified Rove. Hogan has been overseeing the grand juries in the CIA leak case. Messages left with Fitzgerald's spokesman seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The prosecutor called Luskin late Monday afternoon to tell him he would not be seeking charges against Rove. Rove had just gotten on a plane, so his lawyer and spokesman did not reach him until he had landed in Manchester, N.H., where he was to give a speech to state GOP officials.
"In deference to the pending case, we will not make any further public statements about the subject matter of the investigation,'' Luskin said. "We believe the special counsel's decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove's conduct.''
Fitzgerald has been investigating whether senior administration officials intentionally leaked the identity of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame in retribution because her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, sharply criticized the administration's pursuit of war in Iraq.
Rove testified five times before a grand jury, most recently in April. He has admitted he spoke with columnist Robert Novak and Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper in the days before they published Plame's name in July 2003.
Rove, however, did not originally tell prosecutors about his conversation with Cooper, only revealing it after his lawyer discovered a White House e-mail that referred to it.
Fitzgerald was investigating whether Rove lied or obstructed justice in failing to initially disclose the conversation. The presidential aide blamed a faulty memory and sought to testify before the grand jury after finding the e-mail to correct his testimony.
The threat of indictment had hung over Rove, even as Rove was focusing on the arduous task of halting Bush's popularity spiral and keeping Democrats from capturing the House or Senate in November elections.
Fitzgerald's investigation has been under way since the start of the 2004 election, and the decision not to indict Rove is certain to buoy Republicans, who also got good news in the last week with the military's killing of most-wanted Iraq terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"The fact is this, I thought it was wrong when you had people like Howard Dean and (Sen.) Harry Reid presuming that he was guilty,'' Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman told Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends'' show this morning.
Democrats, on the other hand, had no reason to cheer.
"He doesn't belong in the White House. If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago,'' said Dean, the Democratic Party chairman, speaking Tuesday on NBC's "Today'' show. "So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it's not very good news for America.''
Rove has been at Bush's side since his days as Texas governor and was the architect of Bush's two presidential election victories. Rove assumed new policy responsibilities inside the White House in 2005 as deputy chief of staff.
However, as part of the shake-up brought by new White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, Rove shed those policymaking duties earlier this year to return to full time politics.
Fitzgerald's case against Libby is moving toward trial, as the two sides work through pretrial issues such as access to classified documents.
Libby, 55, was charged last October with lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury about how he learned and when he subsequently told three reporters about Plame. He faces five counts of perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice.
With Rove's fate now decided, other unfinished business in Fitzgerald's probe focuses on the source who provided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward information about Plame.
Woodward says his source, who he has not publicly identified, provided the information about Wilson's wife, several weeks before Novak learned of Plame's identity. The Post reporter, who never wrote a story, was interviewed by Fitzgerald late last year.
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Associated Press reporter Toni Locy contributed to this report.
posted on June 13, 2006 12:05:58 PM new
Howard Dean said it best..."He doesn't belong in the White House. If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago... So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it's not very good news for America."
Not one thing that the Bush Administration has done since stealing the 2000 election has been good for the American people. However, if you're a corporation, a CEO, or anti-american... then obviously the Bush Administration has been good for you.
posted on June 13, 2006 01:45:17 PM newNot one thing that the Bush Administration has done since stealing the 2000 election has been good for the American people. However, if you're a corporation, a CEO, or anti-american... then obviously the Bush Administration has been good for you.
What is it you liberals are so fond of saying?
"Stop living in the past"?
Have you forgotten Gore conceded defeat.
Nope nothing Bush has done has been good for the American people.
Unemployment is down in record levels, the economy is rising past Clinton numbers,
And yes my corporation has profited from from the Bush Admin.
"“More Iraqis think things are going well in Iraq than Americans do. I guess they don’t get the New York Times over there.”—Jay Leno".
posted on June 13, 2006 04:05:31 PM new
"Unemployment is down in record levels, the economy is rising past Clinton numbers"
Unemployment numbers are misrepresented... and you know it. There are tons of people out of work who went past their "employment benefits" period (ask those who are still out of work from Katrina, among others) that are not counted in those numbers. Second, employment rate doesn't reflect real job growth or wage increases in a sector. Too many jobs have been cut that paid decent wages, and people whose employment benefits took jobs in the service industry that pay significantly less than jobs that were sent over to India, Mexico, etc. Lastly, the bottom line is whether a family can afford to keep up with inflation. I haven't seen many Americans whose pay increases have kept pace with the soaring price of gasoline, heating fuels, housing, health insurance, etc. It just isn't happening.
To pretend that we are in a booming economy b/c of the unemployment rate simply shows BearPorn has no grasp of real economy indicators. Just curious BearPorn, but what exactly are those so called numbers that the Bush Administration has surpassed Clinton on? I would love to see them... and they do have to be legitimately unbiased. Meaning you can't make them up or use a site like RepublicanEconomyBlog.com.
posted on June 13, 2006 04:19:45 PM new
indicted or not, Bush's Brain has been marginalized effectively. He's going to remain outside the loop for liability's sake from now on.
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Now We Know... Uninformed People Elect Uninformed Presidents
