Raw Story scoops another exclusive -- David Wurmser is now cooperating with Fitzgerald.

...those close to the investigation say that a second Cheney aide,
David Wurmser, has agreed to provide the prosecution with evidence that the leak was a coordinated effort by Cheney's office to discredit the agent's husband. Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was one of the most vocal critics of the Iraq war.

Raw Story also reports that sources advise that John Hannah is not getting immunity but taking a deal in exchange for cooperation. If this report of what Hannah and Wurmser have said is true, and I stress the "if," it is all Fitz would need.

The sources say that Hannah and Wurmser were given orders by senior officials in Cheney’s office in June 2003 to leak Plame’s covert status and identity in an attempt to muzzle Wilson. The former ambassador had been a thorn in administration’s side since May 2003, when he began questioning claims that Iraq was an imminent threat to the U.S. and its neighbors in the Middle East. (emphasis supplied.)

They fall like flies, the closer it gets to Indictment time. One more word of caution. Treat this kind of testimony with extreme skepticism as to its veracity. It is testimony that has been purchased with promises of leniency. Freedom is a commodity far more precious than money. The incentives to lie and exaggerate are enormous.

Andrew Sullivan, who admits his sourcing is light, is talking about Colin Powell's possible cooperation with Fitzgerald with respect to the memo on Air Force One. I thought he did that a long time ago. But as I mentioned in one of my posts last week, I had no idea he might have given up Ari Fleischer.

Digby links to last Tuesday night's Hardball Transcript. I was reading it and noticed something I never quite caught before. Mitchell said it was Colin Powell who testified Ari Fleischer read the June 9 classified memo on Air Force One:

MITCHELL: We also know that, that paragraph, that document was circulated on Air Force One as the president was flying to Africa, that Ari Fletcher saw it, Colin Powell testified to that. And that could be one of the key facts in this.

Think Progress has compiled a handy list of right-wing myths about the Valerie Plame Leaks investigation - and the facts that show they are myths.

The National Journal's Hotline has a list of everyone who has testified in Plamegate or been interviewed by Fitzgerald.

We're in another holding pattern. Blogometer and Memorandum are the places to catch what you may have missed yesterday.

Update: Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post has an terrific compilation of yesterday's and this morning's MSM and blog coverage. I also like Talent Show's post on Rove and Bush; Jeff Greenfield of CNN on The New York Times and Miller; and everything Laura Rozen at War and Piece is writing.

Tom Maguire has a new, long post up about Miller and Libby.

A jury has ruled against Roderick Johnson in his lawsuit against 6 Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials for not intervening to protect him after repeated rapes in a Texas prison. Background on the case is here.

A gay, black man, Johnson reportedly was raped by more than one hundred men--nearly every day for 18 months.

It was a legal struggle for Johnson to even get his case to Court. Ultimately, the ACLU was able to persuade the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that he had a right to bring it. The court ruled:

Welcome to TalkLeft, the on-line source for liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news.

TalkLeft was created by Denver-based criminal defense attorney Jeralyn Merritt in 2000 as a companion site to CrimeLynx, the criminal defense practitioner's Guide to the Internet. In June, 2002, TalkLeft was converted into a weblog. Since then, it has received more than 10 million visitors.

TalkLeft is not a neutral site. Our mission is to intelligently and thoroughly examine issues, candidates and legislative initiatives as they pertain to constitutional rights, particularly those of persons accused of crime.

Talkleft is intended for the public, journalists covering crime-based news and politics, policy makers and of course, the criminal defense community.

TalkLeft was a unique voice in the 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections, as it will be in 2006, concentrating on exposing injustices in the criminal justice system and, in particular, those of the current administration.

TalkLeft is written by Jeralyn Merritt, with frequent contributions by T. Christopher Kelly of Madison, WI and occasional contributions by John Wesley Hall, Jr. of Little Rock, AR, who also writes daily at Fourth Amendment.com.

Your suggestions and comments are always welcome.

Murray Waas, one of the most reliable Plamegate reporters since the beginning of this sordid story, has a long and juicy column today at the National Journal. The first part of the article relates to possible perjury charges against Lewis "Scooter" Libby as a result of discrepancies between his and Judith Miller's grand jury testimony, particularly with respect to their July 8 meeting and June 23 conversation.

Far more interesting and significant are the many details Murray so cogently puts together on whether Libby tried either to discourage Miller from testifying or to influence her testimony so it would match what he told the grand jury.

If grand jurors believe that Libby tried to influence Miller's testimony, not only could it result in an obstruction of justice or witness tampering charge, it could make them distrustful of everything Libby told them. Put another way, in instances in which the grand jury has to weigh Libby's version against that of other witnesses, the grand jury might decide that someone who tried to discourage another witness from testifying probably did so because he had done something wrong-- like lie -- rather than because he forgot about a conversation or its details.

This week and next are going to be traffic-busters on liberal weblogs. I can't think of a better time to have your message or product get across to the largest number of blog readers ever.

Here's the link to Advertising Liberally, where you can select the blogs on which to advertise in one fell swoop. If it's law blogs you're looking for, check out the non-partisan Law Blog Ad Network (not to be confused with Progressive Law Blogs which does not have advertising.)

And a note to blog readers: Many of us bloggers are not getting much work done this week with PlameGate. Blogging may become full-time over the next several days. I'm sure your favorite bloggers who accept donations would all appreciate a little help this week.

Here is TalkLeft's donation page:

You don't need a paypal account. Even small contributions are most welcome.

NBC Reporter David Schuster just said on Hardball that the grand jury will be meeting two more days this week and maybe into next week. Since any indictments won't be public until they are done, it doesn't look like tomorrow is the day.

If there are last minute plea deals, the details will be contained in written plea agreements. For any deals that involve reduced charges from those the grand jury might otherwise indict on, Fitzgerald will want the deals iron-clad and signed before releasing this grand jury. If a deal falls through, he'll need to have the grand jury still in session to issue a last minute indictment.

Also, the grand jury could still be hearing evidence from officials who are making last minute deals.

The AP reports that Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff has declared open war on undocumented residents.

Atrios responds:

There's nothing necessarily wrong with a general policy of expelling illegal immigrants, aside from the cost of course, although it's important to remember that plenty of illegals have perfectly legal children and/or spouses. But I don't look forward to living in a "show your papers please" society.

Me neither. Nor should local police be used to enforce immigration laws. As to how Chertoff intends to accomplish his goal, here's the predictable answer. More jails.

Arianna continues on her Judy mission with this latest that includes a photo of Arianna, Judy and others amongst the Aspen trees, right after having heard Karl Rove marvel at how we would be hailed as liberators in Iraq. Take a minute and read it.

Say hello to the brand new Progressive Law Blogs aggregator site. In one place, you can find the latest posts by:

US News and World Report says rumors of Cheney's impending resignation are flying around DC - as well as speculation Bush would appoint Condi Rice to replace him - and wouldn't that be the ultimate Machiavellian move?

I don't buy it. I think this will be Cheney's position to the very end. [hat tip Patriot Daily.]