Expanded Inquiry Into Leak of C.I.A. Officer's Name

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0402-06.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/politics/02LEAK.html?ei=5062&en=bab38c25e026cacf&ex=1081486800&adxnnl=1&partner=GOOGLE&adxnnlx=1080882313-1MRKlmtdUmocjJyj1yuMiQ&pagewanted=print&position=

Published on Friday, April 2, 2004 by the New York Times

Prosecutors Are Said to Have Expanded Inquiry Into Leak of C.I.A. Officer's Name

by David Johnston and Richard W Stevenson

WASHINGTON, April 1 — Prosecutors investigating whether someone in the Bush administration improperly disclosed the identity of a C.I.A. officer have expanded their inquiry to examine whether White House officials lied to investigators or mishandled classified information related to the case, lawyers involved in the case and government officials say.

In looking at violations beyond the original focus of the inquiry, which centered on a rarely used statute that makes it a felony to disclose the identity of an undercover intelligence officer intentionally, prosecutors have widened the range of conduct under scrutiny and for the first time raised the possibility of bringing charges peripheral to the leak itself.

The expansion of the inquiry's scope comes at a time when prosecutors, after a hiatus of about a month, appear to be preparing to seek additional testimony before a federal grand jury, lawyers with clients in the case said. It is not clear whether the renewed grand jury activity represents a concluding session or a prelude to an indictment.

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.

...more...

But I don't expect it to affect the election. Bush supporters believe what they want - despite facts.

regarding when this will break wide open? It seems to have been festering forever.

never see the light of day.