WASHINGTON – The prosecutor in the CIA leak case was preparing to outline possible charges before a federal grand jury as early as today, even as the FBI conducted last-minute interviews in the high-profile investigation, according to people familiar with the case.
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was seen in Washington on Tuesday with lawyers in the case, and some White House officials braced for at least one indictment when the grand jury meets today. I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, is said by several people in the case to be a main focus, but not the only one.
In a possible sign that Fitzgerald may charge one or more officials with illegally disclosing Valerie Plame’s CIA affiliation, FBI agents as recently as Monday night interviewed at least two people in her Washington neighborhood to determine whether they knew she worked for the CIA before she was unmasked with the help of senior Bush administration officials. Two neighbors told the FBI they were shocked to learn she was a CIA operative.
Underscoring the uncertainty surrounding the probe, two Republican officials said Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, the president’s top strategist, is not sure whether he will face indictment as the case winds down.
The White House expects indictments to come today, according to a senior administration official.
News of the moves came on the same day that Cheney himself was implicated in the chain of events that led to Plame’s being revealed. In a report in The New York Times that the White House did not dispute, Fitzgerald was said to have notes taken by Libby showing that he learned about Plame from the vice president a month before she was identified by columnist Robert Novak.
There is no indication Cheney did anything illegal or improper.
Fitzgerald’s investigation has centered on whether senior administration officials knowingly revealed Plame’s identity in an effort to discredit a Bush administration critic – her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. On July 6, 2003, Wilson accused the administration in The Washington Post and the Times of using flawed intelligence to justify the war with Iraq.
Eight days later, Novak revealed Plame’s name and her identity as a CIA operative.
The grand jury, whose term expires Friday, is scheduled for a session today. Before a vote on an indictment, prosecutors typically leave the room so jurors can deliberate in private, and ask that the jury alert them when it has reached a decision.
Unlike the jury in a criminal trial, grand jurors are not weighing proof of guilt or innocence. They decide whether there is probable cause to charge someone with a crime, and they must agree unanimously to indict. The prosecutor could seek to seal any indictments until he announces the charges.
It is not clear what charges Fitzgerald will seek, if any. Fitzgerald and his investigative team have questioned more than two dozen officials from the White House, the vice president’s office, the CIA and the State Department, as well as residents of Wilson’s neighborhood.
The trail has often led to Cheney’s office.
In an interview in September 2003, Cheney told NBC’s Tim Russert he did not know Wilson. Officials said Cheney was careful to distance himself from Wilson in the interview without telling a lie about what he knew about the diplomat and his wife.
Two lawyers involved in the case said that, based on Fitzgerald’s questions, the prosecutor has been aware of Libby’s June 12 conversation with Cheney since the early days of his investigation. The lawyers said Libby did record in his notes that Cheney relayed to him that Wilson’s wife may have had a role in Wilson’s taking a CIA-sponsored mission to Niger. According to a source familiar with Libby’s testimony, he previously told the grand jury he believed he heard of Wilson’s wife first from reporters.
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