Despite all the pro-Rove spin in this morning's papers, he's still facing the possibility of prosecution:
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case, is expected to decide in the next two to three weeks whether to bring perjury charges against Karl Rove, the powerful adviser to President Bush, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday.So, despite what he's wanted us all to believe, Karl is not off the hook. Far from it. And this paragraph says so much:
With the completion of Mr. Rove's fifth appearance before the grand jury on Wednesday, Mr. Fitzgerald is now believed to have assembled all of the facts necessary to determine whether to seek an indictment of Mr. Rove or drop the case.
A lawyer with knowledge of the case said that Mr. Rove had known for more than a month that he was likely to make another appearance before the grand jury, and that he had known since last fall that he would be subject to further questions from Mr. Fitzgerald before the prosecutor completed his inquiry.Yes, Karl knew a month ago that he'd be back for appearance number 5 before the grand jury. What a coincidence, then, that he was "demoted" just last week.
The White House is clearly worried. Yet, not so worried that they bounced Karl...instead, they changed his portfolio. But you can imagine Karl still has his grubby little paws in everything. And, he still has his security clearance despite outing an undercover operative during war.
It's going to be a long two to three weeks while we wait.
