The CIA Agent Flap: FBI Asks for Reporters to Talk

[priller]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,570189,00.html

FBI investigators looking into the criminal leak of a CIA agent’s identity have asked Bush Administration officials including senior political adviser Karl Rove to release reporters from any confidentiality agreements regarding conversations about the agent. If signed, the single-page requests made over the last week would give investigators new ammunition for questioning reporters who have so far, according to those familiar with the case, not disclosed the names of administration officials who divulged that Valerie Plame, wife of former ambassador Joe Wilson, worked for the CIA.

While irregular, the move is not unprecedented. Various officials were told from the start that such a request might be made. Along with the recusal this week of Attorney General John Ashcroft, this suggests that investigators are ready to enter the next stage of the probe...

..."From the prosecutors' point of view, it is likely a precursor to subpoenaing journalists to testify before a grand jury, and then asking a judge to hold them in contempt if they refuse to do so," she noted.


----

Looks like it's about to heat up!

[Hokie]

1. Get ready No-facts

Pack your toothbrush and favorite lubrication aid.

[SoCalDem]

3. Don't you mean "denture brush"

Ole chiclet tooth will be eating soup, when they take his dentures away in jail :)

[Jim Sagle]

7. With the kind of service he'll be providing, he won't NEED dentures.

Haw haw haw. ;-)

[AnnabelLee]

13. Not that I believe Novak will ever be held accountable

But, wouldn't it be delish if he was denied his eyebrow glue in prison?:evilgrin:

[goforit]

2. One step at a time. Need to "frog march" them outta office!

Bear down DUrs.

[Just Me]

4. HELLLLO!!! Wow, they are being asked to sign releases,...

,...HA,...now THAT is clever!!! If they fail to sign them, they look guilty,...if they do sign them and the reporters fail to spill the beans, both the reporters and leakers look guilty!! Oh, sh*t, this is freakin' fabulous!!!

Hmmmm,...why do I still feel a sense of suspicion? Is someone(s) being set up to take the fall?

Ugh,...gotta shake this off! Looks like a great step to me.

[demgrrrll]

5. Atrios has a link to a new Josh Marshall "coded" blog post.

This is getting better and better.

[Zhade]

17. I hate to sound dumb, but - what the heck is a "coded blog post"?

?

[demgrrrll]

21. That's what atrios called the post, he wrote that JM was trying to get

the information over in code. Other people have linked the article at Du, search under Josh Marshall.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. So what will the WH do next

to distract us? Is it time to defrost Osama yet?

[Zhade]

18. "Is someone(s) being set up to take the fall?"

Standard operating procedure for the traitors.

It's our duty as patriotic citizens to make sure that gambit doesn't stick.

[lostnfound]

24. It it IS a great step; & Ashcroft recused because he knew it was coming

When the FBI shows how easy it is to get the answer, and the news breaks, I bet Ashcroft didn't want to be standing there holding an investigation that had showed no progress. It would have shown him to be obstructing the truth getting out.

[Barrett808]

6. Note the dismissive use of "flap" in the headline

Rather like calling the US BSE discovery a "scare". The story itself suggests a rather more serious situation than the editor wants to convey in the headline, so a "scandal" becomes a "flap".

[Military Brat]

10. Actually, "flap" is an appropriate word for the situation

I was angered by the use of the word "flap" when it was initially used in a news article, and then I looked it up. It means an excited state of agitation.

Let's hope the entire bush team is in a big flap about this flap. Gore Vidal indicated that it would take something like the exposure of treason in the Plame incident which could bring bush down.

"I actually see something smaller tripping him up: this business over outing the wife of Ambassador Wilson as a CIA agent. It's often these small things that get you. Something small enough for a court to get its teeth into. Putting this woman at risk because of anger over what her husband has done is bitchy, dangerous to the nation, dangerous to other CIA agents. This resonates more than Iraq."
http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17442

Edited for clarity.

[grasswire]

12. I think though...

....that most people would consider "flap" less serious than "scandal" which was what they always called Clinton's troubles.

[Zhade]

19. "This resonates more than Iraq."

Sad, sad commentary on American values and desire for justice. :(

[FreakinDJ]

8. 10 bucks the White House tells them not to sign it

just like the complete disclosure over 911

Ha Ha

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. And the weather forecast inside the betway is

No snow, and very hot and dry... and we are not talking about
actual weather, just the political type

[neverforget]

14. Rove to prosecutors: "Go ahead and sign those papers. Thanks

to Ashcroft, the evidence has been 'taken care of'"

edit: spelling

[grytpype]

16. Wrong...

... you can't shred the memories of the reporters the leakers called.

That's why there's no escape for the leakers. Too many people already know who they are.

[Zhade]

20. Sure you can! Remember MK-ULTRA?

I jest, of course. Kinda. ;)

[ngGale]

15. CIA Agent Flap...

The Valerie Plame CIA debacle. That's a felony, big one. I would think that CIA informants are not your typical office gossip over lunch. Therefore, it had to come from the top, the very top. Hope someone does take responsibility for this. The story was being rationalized in the beginning. That if she had not been an agent in a year then that wasn't a felony. Well, try telling that to her former ops, whom I feel sure most aren't around anymore.

[Oilwellian]

22. Best news of the day

It will be far more honorable for the press to expose the traitor who put the WORLD in far greater danger of being attacked by wmds. Once Americans realize the scope of this crime, Bush support will fall to new lows. Especially if we're actually attacked with a bio/chem weapon that perhaps Valerie Plame's organization could have prevented.

[osaMABUSh]

23. I like the timing - Holidays over, SOTU 2003 to be revisited...

Ok, we got the Holidays behind us, the Orange scare tactic has lost its luster, and Shrub's 2004 SOTU address is coming up with reminders of last year's 19 word lie surely to pop up.

The connection to the CIA operative outing and SOTU lie will be made. Finally, one scandal might actually have legs! Can we get one biggie to fall? Rove?

[DoYouEverWonder]

25. So why isn't the media covering this 24/7?

The DOJ has appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate the Bu$h WH!

When they did this to Clinton, it was 24/7 for six years.

One of the big reasons is because so many people in the media are involved in this and may also ended up facing criminal charges. This leak blows the whole deal out of the water. It will totally expose how this misadministration operates and their control of the US press. This is very dangerous territory for not just the 6 journalists who know who the leaker is but for every other journalist that has been an integral part of implementing this cabal's agenda.

I just hope Plamegate is the first of many cans of worms that this SP will start to open.