The New York Times reports that the investigation into whether White House officials leaked the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame has broadened. Prosecutors are now investigating whether White House officials lied to investigators or improperly handled classified information:

The broadened scope is a potentially significant development that represents exactly what allies of the Bush White House feared when Attorney General John Ashcroft removed himself from the case last December and turned it over to Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney in Chicago.

....Mr. Fitzgerald is said by lawyers involved in the case and government officials to be examining possible discrepancies between documents he has gathered and statements made by current or former White House officials during a three-month preliminary investigation last fall by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department....The suspicion that someone may have lied to investigators is based on contradictions between statements by various witnesses in F.B.I. interviews, the lawyers and officials said. The conflicts are said to be buttressed by documents, including memos, e-mail messages and phone records turned over by the White House.

Looks like some heads are going to roll over this one -- hopefully, before November.

[comments now closed]

This should be big news: Gary Hart says he met with Condolezza Rice on 9/6/01 to talk about the imminent threat of terrorism.

Hart was co-chair (with former Sen. Warren Rudman) of the U.S. Commission on National Security, a bipartisan panel that conducted the most thorough investigation of U.S. security challenges since World War II. After completing the report, which warned that a devastating terrorist attack on America was imminent and called for the immediate creation of a Cabinet-level national security agency, and delivering it to President Bush on January 31, 2001, Hart and Rudman personally briefed Rice, Rumseld and Secretary of State Colin Powell. But, according to Hart, the Bush administration never followed up on the commission's urgent recommendations, even after he repeated them in a private White House meeting with Rice just days before 9/11.

Hart, who is now advising the Kerry campaign on national security issues, spoke with Salon this week about the Bush administration's failures to heed his warnings and why he feels the country is still at grave risk. Even at this late date, says Hart, Bush has failed to sufficiently coordinate federal, state, local and private sector security efforts, leaving open American ports as possible entry points for weapons of mass destruction and exposing such prime targets as petrochemical facilities located near major urban areas. ....The Bush White House, he charges, is locked in a strange and delicate dance with intelligence officials, maneuvering to place blame on the CIA but fearing if it does so too blatantly, the Bush team's own failings will be exposed.

In Hart's own words:

Hollywood is united as never before--they are lining up to beat Bush not just with their pocketbooks, but with their scripts as well.

On the NBC show "Whoopi," the hotelier played by Whoopi Goldberg delivered an anti-Bush screed when the president, played by a lookalike, appeared at her establishment to use the facilities. "I can't believe he's in there doing to my bathroom what he's done to the economy!" she said.

the season finale of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on HBO arguably best conveyed the growing sentiment. On that episode, the main character, played by the comedian Larry David, backed out of a dalliance sanctioned by his wife after noticing that his prospective paramour had lovingly displayed a picture of Mr. Bush on her dresser.

Isolated cases? Unlikely.

Producers, actors and longtime executives said that the combination of the failure to find unconventional weapons in Iraq, the troubled economy and the president's environmental and social policies had stirred the town's prominent liberals to action. "I have never, ever seen this community more united than right now, never," said Laurie David, Mr. David's wife, who has been active in organizing the creative community against Mr. Bush. "Not a day goes by when I'm not getting a dozen calls from people saying to me, `What can I do?' And it's all with one goal: to change the course of what's going on in this country and get rid of this administration."

John Kerry has broken the Democratic fundraising record. He raised $43 million this quarter--$26 million of which was raised online. There's more good news. The DNC and Democratic congressional candidates also did great:

The Democratic National Committee broke its previous record by raising $27 million, while the House and Senate campaign committees, which both topped $11 million, also set all-time highs last quarter.

Of course, Bush is still way ahead having raised over $170 million to date. So give early, and give often.

by TChris

Every day brings a fun new question to ask the Bush administration.

Today's question: Why did the White House block "thousands of pages of classified foreign policy and counterterrorism documents from former President Bill Clinton's White House files from being turned over to the [9/11] panel's investigators?"

Answer: withholding information is the default response in the Bush Administration.

The White House confirmed on Thursday that it had withheld a variety of classified documents from Mr. Clinton's files that had been gathered by the National Archives over the last two years in response to requests from the commission, which is investigating intelligence and law enforcement failures before the attacks.

Scott McClellan said that the administration withheld "sensitive" documents but gave the commission everything it needed to do its job. Everything it needed? Or everything the administration wanted it to have?

The Christian Science Monitor profiles Wonkette, aka Ana Marie Cox, the blogger who has taken D.C. by storm. We'll add our two cents....she's irreverant, funny, wicked, shameless and best of all, really liberal. We read her every day and you should too.

Say hello to Veep Blog-- dedicated to documenting the selection process for John Kerry's possible running mate in the 2004 Presidential Election. Will Dick Gephardt be the one? Kevin Drum reports that rumors are flying that he has the inside track right now. We think Kerry can do better.

Update: Nancy Pelosi tells Kerry to pick a veep choice by May 1.

Annie Nelson, wife of singer Willie Nelson, writes this letter to the editor in today's Maui News about Richard Clarke.

Wow. Check out Kinja, the new blog of blogs by Nick Denton:

Kinja allows even casual internet users to browse topics, explore the latest weblog writing, and then choose favorite authors to track. A personal Kinja digest contains excerpts from a user's favorites, whether they're friends who blog, or experts on a particular topic. Kinja is a blog of blogs.

There's politics, liberals, conservatives and media, among other groups. We were excited to see they included us as liberals. [link via Instapundit.]

Baby Kos is about to turn five months old. We can't resist, he's too cute. (We found the picture in Kos's comments.)

From the Journal of Higher Education: A Fascist Philosopher Helps Us Understand Contemporary Politics. It's a little cerebral for us, but not for many of you. Maybe Big Media Matt will weigh in.

A federal judge has ordered several government agencies to release documents related to Cheney's energy task force.

In an opinion released late on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ordered seven government agencies including the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management to hand over pertinent documents by June 1. He was ruling on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch and the National Resources Defense Council. The two groups had sued to force the various departments involved in the energy task force to release documents related to the task force and its deliberations. Friedman said the agencies had an obligation to release the data.