Karl Rove: Subject or Target?
Posted on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 04:23:58 PM EST
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Continuing from my earlier post with differing reports about whether Karl Rove received a target letter: Let's not get sidetracked. Luskin could have an agreement with Fitzgerald that Rove will plead to an Information charging lesser offenses, and avoid an Indictment. If the grand jury is not going to be asked to indict Karl Rove, there's no reason to send him a target letter. He may not be a target of the grand jury, but he could still be a target of the investigation.
Example: Fitzgerald agrees to charge Rove by Information for false statements and/or perjury and forego obstruction of justice. Rove agrees to waive his right to be charged by indictment to guilty to the charge(s) in the Information, in exchange for an as-yet unspecified sentence reduction that's contingent upon Fitzgerald's determination of the value of Rove's cooperation when all is said and done.
Think Tony Rudy.
More about that here. Jason Leopold has supplemented his article on Rove's target status on the Truthout Forums:
On Monday, I had a conversation with several sources close to the CIA leak case who told me that Karl Rove would return to the grand jury Wednesday for the fifth time. Those sources told me that his appearance was the result of a target letter sent to his attorney Robert Luskin by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. The same sources said that Rove's status changed from being a "subject" of the probe to becoming a "target," meaning that Fitzgerald had enough evidence linking Rove to a crime and told that to Luskin. On Wednesday morning, when the news broke that Rove was going to testify for an unprecedented fifth time, I confirmed with sources close to the investigation that Rove did in fact receive a target letter. This was the case, they said. I then immediately called Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, for a comment about the target letter. Luskin didn't respond.
But upon leaving court Wednesday, after Rove testified for four hours, Luskin issued a statement saying that Rove was not a target of the probe. My sources maintain that Rove is a target and that Luskin understood that. I called Luskin again to get his statement. But he did not return the call. Rove's spokesman at the White House also weighed in, specifically denying my report that Rove received a target letter. This is the same White House that has refused to discuss this case for more than two years but decided on Wednesday to break its silence and respond to my story and deny that it's true. That seems odd.
Update: Digby writes Wolf Blitzer reported Luskin may have written the press release earlier and embargoed it until after the grand jury appearance.
Update: The AP reports, " The only new issue in the CIA leak probe known to involve Rove is a contact his lawyer, Robert Luskin, had with Time magazine reporter Viveca Novak." That's not true. The disclosure of 250 pages of e-mails from Cheney's office is a new issue reportedly involving Rove.
And the New York Times reports Viveca Novak is no longer with Time Magazine, having accepted a buy-out offer after her role in the case came to light.
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