Fitzgerald is being careful

Well, we didn't see indictments yesterday, but Fitz Watch certainly became even more interesting:

The special counsel in the C.I.A. leak inquiry met for more than three hours with the federal grand jury on Wednesday and later talked privately with the district judge in the case as the White House waited out another day in the expectation of possible indictments.

After the grand jury session, the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, discussed the case for about 45 minutes in the chambers of Judge Thomas F. Hogan, the chief judge of the district court who has presided over the leak case, said the judge's administrative assistant, Sheldon L. Snook.

The grand jury deliberations and the special prosecutor's meeting with the judge ratcheted up fears among officials that Mr. Fitzgerald might have obtained an indictment from the grand jury, and was requesting that it be sealed. He could also seek an extension of the grand jury's term, which expires on Friday. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for Mr. Fitzgerald, would not comment on the case.

Mr. Fitzgerald has focused on Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby Jr., who is Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Both have been advised that they could be charged with wrongdoing, possibly for false statements to the grand jury about their conversations with reporters.

Other possibilities are obstruction of justice or perjury charges, and possible violations of the statute that makes it a crime to disclose the identity of a covert intelligence agent.

Some lawyers have suggested that Mr. Fitzgerald may also have investigated possible conspiracy charges or violations of an espionage law that makes it illegal to communicate classified information to people not authorized to receive it.

It also looks like Fizgerald is addressing the "Everyone knew she was CIA" issue, giving some credence to the rumors about civil rights violations charges:

Whether anyone else is at risk of criminal prosecution remains unknown. The C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, was identified in a July 14, 2003, column by Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist, and if a government official was Mr. Novak's main source, that official could be charged with violating a law making it illegal to divulge the identity of a covert officer like Ms. Wilson.

A series of interviews by F.B.I. agents on Monday revived the possibility that Mr. Fitzgerald might be considering such a charge. Several neighbors of Ms. Wilson and her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador, were asked whether they knew that Ms. Wilson, also known by her unmarried name, Valerie Plame, had covert status.

Several neighbors, some who have known her for years, said they did not know before Mr. Novak's column that she worked for the C.I.A.

"They said they were basically tying up loose ends," David Tillotson, a next-door neighbor, said of his interview by two agents. "They wanted to ask neighbors how well they knew the Wilsons and whether they knew what Valerie did."

Mr. Tillotson said he and his wife, Victoria, thought Ms. Wilson was a business consultant and had no idea she worked for the C.I.A.

Of course, we can speculate all we want, especially given the fact that Fitzgerald has just leased additional office space in DC; but we won't know what's going to happen until it happens.

Mike Allen of Time Magazine thinks, however, that Fitzgerald got some indictments yesterday, that today he's going to offer a plea to the targets, and if they don't play ball, he's going to go back to the grand jury and get some more.

The consensus now seems to be that we'll know what's going on by tomorrow.

Let me just make one thing clear: This particular progressive is NOT looking forward to the kind of national crisis that's going to occur if Rove and Libby are indicted, let alone what happens if Dick Cheney himself is indicted (which is not beyond the realm of possibility). For all that we've had visions of everyone in the Administration from C-Plus Caligula on down being marched out of the Whitehouse in handcuffs, we are in for a rough road ahead.

This is NOT to say that I don't want it to happen. The fact today, as it has been since December 12, 2000, when a judicial coup gave us the worst, most corrupt president we've ever had, is that this Administration is rotten to the core, run by men whose ONLY priority is consolidating their own wealth and power. They deserve to be removed from office, and I hope that the process does exactly that.

And then we'd better be prepared to tear ourselves away from the XBox long enough to try to repair the country that many of us sat by and allowed them to ruin.