The noose tightens

Whoa.

Adding to the growing intrigue in the Plame case, the grand jury investigating the leak of the covert CIA operative's name has subpoenaed a wide range of White House documents, including records of telephone calls from Air Force One and information relating to an internal working group dealing with Iraq, government sources confirmed to CNN on Friday.

"We are complying fully with the request from the Department of Justice," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Friday.

Government sources told CNN the federal grand jury was seeking any information about contacts between White House officials and more than two dozen reporters. The grand jury also asked for a transcript of a briefing by former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

The subpoenaed information regarding telephone calls to and from Air Force One, sources said, covered July 7-12, while the president was on a trip to Africa. The requested transcript was from a briefing during that trip as well.

Newsday reported that two of the subpoenas dealt mostly with requests for information before and after the publication of Robert Novak's fateful July 14 column, which outed Plame.

Many of the documents subpoenaed Friday relate to the White House Iraq Group, a little-known task force. Newsweek reported that the group was created in August 2002.
The Newsweek report cites an earlier Washington Post article that lists senior political adviser Karl Rove, Bush advisers Karen Hughes and Mary Matalin, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney among the group's members.

Imagine if they're ALL in on it, AND they went to war on a lie. Would that then be a sin then, fadda? Or would the wingnuts still be jumping through hoops justifying any amount of lies, deceit, and chicanery using the "September 11" meme? And will the press let them get away with it this time?

Fasten your seat belts, folks. It's going to be a bumpy week. I can't wait.

UPDATE: The Newsweek online piece is up. Cue CRB to post a comment: "Newsweek? =Yawn="