...unsubstantiated rumors that Fitzgerald's office is nearing the end of its investigation, and that it will issue three indictments including Scooter Libby. According to these rumors, John Hannah, a Libby deputy, has been "turned" by the investigators and is singing like a canary. Hannah has already been linked to the case. If indeed he has turned state's witness, it would present a major breakthrough in the case.
As for timing, while the investigators hoped to wrap up the investigation within the next four to six weeks, that timeline is now in doubt and may, in fact, be put off until after the election.
Those are the rumors. Take them with a grain of salt.
What are the verifyable facts?
The investigators are going after reporters. According to well-established Supreme Court guidelines, investigators are allowed to compel journalist testimony only as a last resort. That reporters are being dragged into the grand jury indicates that the investigation is nearing its last legs.
We know that various administration officials, including Cheney and Bush, have gotten lawyered up. Cheney has retained Terrence O'Donnell, a senior partner in the Washington law firm of Williams & Connelly, while Bush has Jim Sharp, a trial lawer (who does a great deal of criminal defense work) and former assistant U.S. attorney. Why would Bush need to seek outside legal counsel? As John Dean wrote a few months ago:
Readers may wonder, why is Bush going to an outside counsel, when numerous government attorneys are available to him - for instance, in the White House Counsel's Office?
The answer is that the President has likely been told it would be risky to talk to his White House lawyers, particularly if he knows more than he claims publicly.
Ironically, it was the fair-haired Republican stalwart Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr who decimated the attorney-client privilege for government lawyers and their clients - which, to paraphrase the authority Wigmore, applies when legal advice of any kind is sought by a client from a professional legal adviser, where the advice is sought in confidence [...]
It is possible that Bush is consulting Sharp only out of an excess of caution - despite the fact that he knows nothing of the leak, or of any possible coverup of the leak. But that's not likely.
On this subject, I spoke with an experienced former federal prosecutor who works in Washington, specializing in white collar criminal defense (but who does not know Sharp). That attorney told me that he is baffled by Bush's move - unless Bush has knowledge of the leak. "It would not seem that the President needs to consult personal counsel, thereby preserving the attorney-client privilege, if he has no knowledge about the leak," he told me.
We know that we are now entering the most sensitive of political times -- "after Labor Day weekend" in a presidential year, putting extreme pressure on Fitzgerald's office to either 1) put things off until after the election, or 2) put things out before the election.
So where does that leave us? Beats me.
Fitzgerald has run a surprisingly tight leak-free operation, especially if you contrast it to the Starr investigation of Clinton's bj. The silence may be because of Fitzgerald's professionalism -- the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has received lavish praise by all sides as he's risen on the career ladder, or it may be crass partisanship -- Fitzgerald owes his job to George Bush, who nominated him to the post (at the suggestion of IL Sen. Fitzgerald and AG John Ashcroft).
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