Latest developments in The Outing of Valerie Plame

Or, as Maru calls it: Turdgate. (Turdblossom may be getting himself a new nickname if he doesn't come out of this one smelling like a rose.)

According to lawyers familiar with the case, investigators are comparing statements by two top White House aides, Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, with testimony from reporters who have acknowledged talking to the officials.

Although no one has suggested that the investigation into who leaked Plame's name has been shelved, the intensity of the inquiry into possible perjury charges has increased, according to one lawyer familiar with events who spoke on condition that he not be identified.

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, and his team have made no decision on whether to seek indictments.

[...]

The sources said prosecutors were comparing the various statements to the FBI and the grand jury by Rove, who is a White House deputy chief of staff and President Bush's chief political strategist. In Rove's first interview with the FBI, he did not mention a telephone conversation he had with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, according to lawyers involved in the case. Cooper has since said that he called Rove specifically to discuss the matter.

  LA Times article

Josh Marshall is keeping track of the Rove affair. He says that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were bookends at a White House full of people determined to strike back at Joe Wilson.

[Rove and Libby] were the two men who we know had conversations with reporters about Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. And it would seem that in the days leading up to the leak they were involved in active and detailed collaboration and/or dialog with Director Tenet about the Niger matter and the origins of Wilson's trip.

  post

Josh quotes Bloomberg saying that Rove & Libby's grand jury testimony conflicts with that of the reporters involved. He then speculates that maybe Rove & Libby heard about Plame's position from Fleischer (read the post for details) or picked it out of George Tenet's public mea culpa, which it turns out they helped write.

Henry Waxman has created a list of the "leaks" from the White House.

And, just in case anyone is still wondering whether Valerie Plame was actually an undercover agent for the CIA, a former colleague of hers makes a statement confirming it.

And I guess Judy Miller is still in jail.

But check out the testimony of a CIA officer in an unofficial hearing the Dems held, because the controlling Republicans won't launch an investigation (hedging their bets on Fitzgerald, no doubt), in an article by David Corn...

Today, the Senate Democratic Policy Council and the Democratic side of the House Government Reform Committee held an unofficial hearing in the Senate Dirksen Office Building, in which former intelligence professionals discussed the Plame/CIA leak, especially its impact on the intelligence community, current officers, and Valerie Wilson. (The Democrats had no choice but to hold such a session because the Republicans in the House and Senate refuse to examine or investigate the leak.) The testimony was not expected to contain many surprises. And the media presence at the hearing was not heavy. But as I watched the proceedings on C-SPAN 3 and saw James Marcinkowski, a former CIA case office and a former prosecutor, testify, I realized his statement was perhaps the most powerful rebuttal of and rebuke to the rightwingers who have been pushing disinformation about the Valerie Wilson case. I wish they all could have been tied to a chair and forced to listen to him.

Read the testimony and recall that the CIA asked for the Fitzgerald investigation into the matter in the first place two years ago, and then recall what Sy Hersh said about BushCo: Other administrations have taken on the CIA and lost.

Not that I'm a fan of the CIA by a long shot, but wouldn't that be loverly? David Corn also posts about the possibility of Fitzgerald pursuing a conspiracy case against WH officials, and that reminds me of Justin Raimondo's article looking for the same.

I'd like to see this all come down before I leave for México. But any time will do; the sooner the better.

Impeach.
Impeach.
Impeach.

Update5:00 pm :

Recall that in 2003 Rove was not yet deputy chief of staff nor was he formally in charge of coordinating with the National Security Council as he is now. He was the senior political director at the White House. Why was he editing intelligence documents?

  Think Progress article