The NY Daily News has the scoop:
The special prosecutor probing the outing of a CIA spy is looking beyond who leaked Valerie Plame's identity, seeking whether White House aides tried to cover their tracks after her name went public, sources told the Daily News.Ok, this is interesting.
Along with Bush political guru Karl Rove, the grand jury is investigating what role, if any, ex-White House mouthpiece Ari Fleischer may have played in the revelation that the former covert operative Plame was married to former Ambassador Joe Wilson.
"Ari's name keeps popping up," said one source familiar with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's probe.
Another source close to the probe added there is renewed interest in Fleischer, "based on Fitzgerald's questions."
A State Department memo that included background on Wilson - and who in the White House had access to it - appears to be a key to revealing who gave conservative columnist Robert Novak Plame's name, both sources said.
Another person of interest in the case is Vice President Cheney's chief of staff Lewis (Scooter) Libby, who was described as "totally obsessed with Wilson," the sources said.
First, Ari may be in trouble too.
Second, he may be in trouble because the special prosecutor is trying to find out if White House aides covered their tracks. Well, got news for you - either Karl or Scottie lied, thus causing Scottie to tell the press that no one in the White House had anything to do with the leak. That means they could be implicated in this "trying to cover their tracks" probe.
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