CIA leak investigation turns to possible perjury, obstruction of justice

CIA leak investigation turns to possible perjury, obstruction of justice
Posted on Saturday, July 23 @ 09:03:19 EDT
By Douglas Frantz, Sonni Efron and Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=22049&mode=nested&order=0

WASHINGTON — The special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation has shifted his focus from determining whether White House officials violated a law against exposing undercover agents to determining whether evidence exists to bring perjury or obstruction of justice charges, according to people briefed in recent days on the inquiry's status.

Differences have arisen in witnesses' statements to federal agents and a grand jury about how the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent, was leaked to the press two years ago.

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.

Wow! That's bringing dignity back to the White House. Meanwhile, knuckledraggers all across the country are lighting candles in front of their altar to bush. Sad, pathetic, ignorant, hatefilled human beings who are as much responsible for the criminality of the bush administration as those who are pushing the buttons.

share responsibility. They need to be told so.

to the CIA...

is not just about outing a CIA agent. It is treason from the top down to a lowly aide. We have had a cabal of traitors running our country since 2000. And they have been allowed to get away with it. The top member lies to the country and isn't called on it. They lied us into an illegal war in which people have died for those lies. When will it end?

This would be his take solely based on witnesses called, or what? I'm asking because I do NOT believe Fitzgerald's team is leaking. And Luskin (is that the name of Rove's lawyer?) wouldn't know anything that actually happened inside the jury room and Rove hasn't been called back, has he? So he wouldn't have new information, would he?

When I served on a grand jury, the DAs told us that we would be reading all sorts of inaccurate stuff in the newspapers but we weren't allowed to tell anyone the stuff wasn't true. It had to be enough that WE knew the truth. I read article after article in the NYT and Forbes that had pieces of information but they didn't put it together right. They really had NO idea what we were doing or the scope of it. Our jury actually changed its name as to the subject of the investigation and the media had absolutely no clue.

IF the jury has veered to perjury, it could simply be as one of the accumulated charges that will be presented for vote, but it could also be something that would be voted on separately, to bring an indictment to squeeze people into speaking more freely, yes? (Someone with actual legal knowledge would be useful here.) My jury hunted down a lot of little fish and then turned the stunned sweeties into canaries to hunt shark.

NO ONE has any idea what that jury is doing except Fitzgerald's team and the jury.