Rove Indicted?

The not-always reliable Jason Leopold of TruthOut set hearts fluttering with his story that Rove has been indicted and Fitzgerald has met with Rove's attorneys to work on a plea deal.

TruthOut helpfully provides a compendium of Mr. Leopold's earlier work on this investigation, so we can see for ourselves how often Rove has been near indictment before.

Let's note that the latest story has already evolved slightly - here is the current lead:

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove.

During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 business hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.

The original report gave Rove "24 hours"; the correction to "24 business hours" was inserted after, well, nothing had happened in 24 hours.  Personally, I have heard folks speak in terms of business days, but never "business hours" - if Federal guidelines require clerical overtime after an eight hour day, does this really mean that Rove has Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to get ready?  Maybe that will be the next clarification.

And no worries - if nothing happens, no less a reporter than Steven Leser has already stepped up to explain that Mr. Leopold was the innocent dupe of a subtle yet vicious BushCo disinformation campaign.

Meanwhile, Rove spokesperson Mark Corallo has denied this to the NY Sun, Byron York, and (I'll bet) other news outlets who aren't going to dignify the initial report with any coverage. [UPDATE:  Good guess - Jeralyn Merritt runs a forceful denial from Rove spokeman Mark Corallo which includes this:

7.  He has received calls from the major papers on this and denied the story to all of them.]

All that said, I am personally predicting (with 70% probability)  a Rove indictment for this Friday, May 19, with a second guess of Wednesday, May 24.

Fortunately, I have no sources for that.  And as to track record I was OK with my predictions (but erring to pessimism) last fall, when I predicted indictments for Libby and two others, but not Rove.

MORE:  Jeralyn Merritt talks to Jason Leopold (and gets an astonishing rebuttal from Rove's guy Corallo) and articulates my own hunch, which is that Fitzgerald may have been negotiating with Rove's team about a *possible* indictment:

I'm wondering: Did Jason's sources understand the difference between Fitzgerald handing over a copy of the charges he said Rove would be indicted on if he refused the offer Fitz was making and an already voted-on Indictment?

It's hard to believe folks could get that wrong, but that may be the best reconciliation we get, unless someone (or lots of someones) are just making stuff up.

GOOD POINT:  Maybe "instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 business hours to get his affairs in order" meant that Rove would have to surrender during the next episode of "24".  Boy, if Rove is threatend with missing Jack Bauer in action, he'll turn in a second.

OUCH: Making some stuff up and plagiarizing the rest?  No, not Ben Domenech, but Jason Leopold - Salon tells their story.

UPDATE:  The National Journal Hotline tells us that:

Rove Speaks!

WH DCoS Karl Rove spoke at the American Enterprise Institute this a.m. and to the surprise of some, he took questions. Asked about his role in the CIA leak investigation, he declined to comment, referring the questioner to a statement released by his attorney. Rove: "I have nothing more to add. Nice try, though."

Let's call that a tearful confession, then!  Meanwhile, who has received the statement from the attorney?

MORE:  Details here:

CORN: David Corn from “The Nation Magazine” on a different subject. Scott McClellan told the White House press corps, many who are here today, that he had spoken to you and you were not involved in the CIA leak. Can you explain why the American public, almost two and a half years later, hasn’t been given an explanation and don’t you think it deserves one for that misinformation because it does seem you were to some degree, though maybe disputed, involved in that leak?

 

ROVE: My attorney Mr. Luskin made a statement on April 26th. I refer to you that statement. I have nothing more to add to it. Nice try, though.

MAKING SENSE:  Peter Daou of Salon (Leopold's on-time employer) is spot-on with his skepticism:

My concern - and the reason I write this - is that Leopold's ubiquitous reporting has set expectations very high in the blog community. We're at a moment when blogs are under assault by prominent media and establishment figures. I wouldn't want to see him used as a cudgel to flog the progressive netroots as a bunch of conspiracy nuts. There's enough of that already. We don't need to provide ammo to our opponents.

No worries - like chipmunks, we can find the nuts easily enough already.

Comments

[(not that) Larry]

Perhaps it's not the government.

Posted by: Neo | May 15, 2006 at 10:14 AM

Fertik: Anyone can buy a list of your incoming and outgoing phone calls, cell or land-line, for $110 online...
So I went to their site, plopped down $110, and within a day I had a list of every single phone number that called my cell, or that I called from my cell, for the month of November. I even had the dates the calls were made, and for a premium I could find out how long the calls were.

My cell provider itemizes all this info, including the length of the calls, on my monthly bill. If Fertik had asked me, he could have swapped carriers and gotten all that info for free.

[(not that) Larry]

As for a Rove indict, I predict June 31st :-)

Posted by: ordi | May 15, 2006 at 12:29 PM

LOL, or the day after, the 12th of Never?

nobody actually knows who the sources really are, or were, any more.

Posted by: JM Hanes | May 15, 2006 at 02:53 PM

I think you're onto something here.

[clarice]

WSJ picks up the story. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114774060320053665-N7xushJ1UIqClPt0DFX5HjgkQQQ_20060615.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

[clarice]

WSJ picks up the story. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114774060320053665-N7xushJ1UIqClPt0DFX5HjgkQQQ_20060615.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

[clarice]

MayBee, at the June 14 Epic meeting, it was McGovern who pumped the forgery bit. I think he was the one who realized how much that canard added to the fairytale.

[Sue]

Clarice,

What story? The link isn't working for me.

[Other Tom]

Let's focus a bit on this "24 business hours" stuff. Has anyone ever heard that term used anywhere? I certainly haven't. "Three business days" is the common, actually universal, usage. Not only have I never heard a reference to some number of business hours, but I don't think there is a sentient being on this planet who would construe "24 hours" to mean 24 business hours unless it was explicitly stated that way. So there's a real problem with the "sources'" report of the deadline. Next, why would Rove be given 24 hours (or any other amount of time) to "get his affairs in order?" It's not as though he's going to go to jail. If he's indicted, he'll surrender, get booked, and be on the street in an hour, as was Libby. Could these and other oddities in the account simply be the result of garbling and misunderstanding? It's hard to believe that there isn't at least something behind this story--but remember, these are the folks who alerted us to the 22 imminent indictments. Go figure...

[Big Louie Patooti]

"24 business hours"
Dis is SOP if yous stiff yous dealer.

[mcg]

Here, try this link.

[Prevent Premature Ejaculation]

For me 24 hour business hours are the only way forward. (Soon Christmas and New Years Day will become regular business trading days)

Peace - Shareen x

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