NBC's David Shuster put it this way on Hardball (Oct. 18):

When a U.S. attorney like Patrick Fitzgerald is ready to indict, the prosecutor will head to the grand jury with the charges, review the evidence with the panel and then explain the relevant laws and statutes.

After a discussion, the prosecutor will ask the grand jury through a simple vote to indict. At the D.C. federal courthouse, if the panel agrees with the prosecutor -- and they usually do -- the panel will move from the third floor grand jury room to a magistrate`s courtroom on the first floor. There, in public, the indictment charges will be read and then filed with the clerk.

I disagree with those who say Fitzgerald has broadened his investigation to include whether the Administration lied about WMD in taking us to war.

It's far more likely he wanted the proof of when the Administration learned of the forgeries regarding the Niger-uranium claim to show that the plan to discredit Joseph Wilson started much earlier. As I traced in this timeline here, it in was March, 2003, after Wilson's appearance on CNN, not June or July, 2003, that the plan to put a dossier together on Wilson started.

Someone big in this investigation is cooperating. I still say it's Karl Rove.