Wayne Madsen: Plame indictments will happen this week, if they happen

[lancdem]

He's the one who wrote the story on www.fromthewilderness.com saying explosive indictments would be issued by the Plame grand jury soon. In followup emails today, he told me a DOJ source confirmed the grand jury session ends tomorrow (June 30), so if there are indictments, they will happen by Friday.

A couple of other interesting details: Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, is the presiding judge, and he said that's significant because high-ranking judges don't often oversee grand juries. The last one to do so was John Sirica during Watergate.

And - he just told me he's been asked to be on standby by one radio network for the next several days if anything breaks.

[Larkspur]

1. Friday is the day that the Bush Admin dumps their bad news

because it doesn't get the attention that it would on a Monday morning.

[Bunny]

Can the Bushes control the timing of this?

May sound naive, but can they control when a federal grand jury announces indictments?

[Stephanie]

3. Bush admin has no control over this

.

[lancdem]

4. But the Bushies wouldn't be the source

And even if it is Friday, I hardly think no one would pay attention.

[Stephanie]

2. Hmmmm

From WaPo's Clinton coverage:

Key Player:
Norma Holloway Johnson
Click on linked names to read about other key players, or see the full list.

As the chief of the federal District Court in Washington, Norma Holloway Johnson oversees the grand jury process. That has put her in the position of weighing a raft of motions relating to the investigation by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.

In her nearly 18 years on the bench, Johnson – a registered Democrat who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter – has gained a reputation as a harsh sentencer who is inclined to rule for the government, and a pedantic judge who can be prickly with lawyers who run afoul of her views of courtroom decorum.

She is among the least well-known judges on the court here, a woman with a penchant for privacy; she does not provide her age (65) in the directory of federal judges and, until she became chief judge last June, was the only District Court judge to keep the doors to her chambers locked.

Her rulings have proved to be much more satisfactory to Starr than to President Clinton and the White House. Most significantly, she ruled in May that Clinton's right to executive privilege was outweighed by Starr's legitimate need for evidence. But in August, she authored a stinging ruling accusing Starr of violating grand jury secrecy rules.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/players/johnson.htm

[chiburb]

23. I read this with mixed reactions...

Though more on the hopeful side...

She sounds like a no-nonsense type, who, combined with a bulldog of an investigating prosecutor (Fitzgerald), might actually have the integrity to let the chips fall where they may.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

[Cha]

5. All of us "citizens for a legitimate goverment"

hope that "Grizzle Bear" keeps them on the run all the way back to crawford.

[KoKo]

6. Judge Holloway Johson is BAD news. Google her...and see what she's

been involved with. Dead on arrival unless Judge Holloway Johnson has had an epiphany after Clinton.

Clean Up An Extremely Corrupt Federal Court! Petition
... Both Senior Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, and Chief Federal Judge Thomas
F. Hogan, have knowingly, and willingly misused their power as Federal Judges ...
www.petitiononline.com/ajustice/petition.html - 10k - Cached - Similar pages


CNN Transcript - Burden of Proof: Former Starr Spokesman to be ...
... investigation of leaks to the "New York Times." He faces a trial in Washington next
Thursday before United States district court Judge Norma Holloway Johnson. ...
www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0007/07/bp.00.html - 55k - Cached - Similar pages

[lancdem]

13. Maybe she'll be hard on this WH, too

We'll have to see.

[Ugnmoose]

7. Hey Lancdem

Did you get the sense from Madsen that there was a possibility that indictments would not come from this grand jury? I thought it was more a when than an if. To me the bigger question is who is going to take the fall.

[lancdem]

12. Very sorry for the confusion

"If" was my wording. The point is, this is the week.

[Wind Dancer]

8. This doesn't sound promising!

I wish he hadn't used the word "if". This is the one thing I have been counting on to bring down this administration. I am feeling sick right now, keep us updated if you hear anything.

[KoKo]

19. It doesn't sound promising, but Josh Marshall is in our "backup" if it

doesn't come down in a way that seems they were serious about this.

I still have hopes for Fitzgerald, but our Dem/Progressive experience hasn't been so good since about 1994.

[spotbird]

9. Boy that qualifier "if" is disappointing.

They are going to slither out of this one also.

[lancdem]

11. That was my wording

Sorry! He believes there will be.

[Stephanie]

14. So he said "indictments by Friday"? Frog March!

That would really make my day.

For sure?

[spotbird]

15. Thanks for the reassurance.

This just has to happen.

[tom_paine]

10. "if they happen"

When using this phrase around the Imperial Family, it usually means it WON'T happen.

[newsguyatl]

16. thanks for sharing lancdem!!!

and keep madsen as a pal now! he's a great writer, and no doubt a great source to have...


wonderful news about the indictments...


my question now is, what will bushco. do, to deflect the news?


because GOD KNOWS, they'll do SOMETHING if they know they're comin'.


thanks for the post.

[Ugnmoose]

17. I really hope this happens before Friday

I would like to have good solid newscycle before the long holdiay weekend.

[Narraback]

18. kick

nt

[Ugnmoose]

20. kick

:kick:

[gandalf]

21. If the session ends today,

why can indictments still happen until Friday?

[LeftHander]

22. Would make a very happy 4th of July....

Celebrating our country and the failure of Neo-Con/Neo-fascists