No Fitzmas

Leak Counsel Won't Charge Rove, Lawyer Announces

By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: June 13, 2006

WASHINGTON, June 13 — The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.

The decision by the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, announced in a letter to Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, lifted a pall that had hung over Mr. Rove who testified on five occasions to a federal grand jury about his involvement in the disclosure of an intelligence officer's identity.

In a statement, Mr. Luskin said, "On June 12, 2006, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove."

Mr. Fitzgerald's spokesman, Randall Samborn, said he would not comment on Mr. Rove's status.

For months Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation appeared to threaten Mr. Rove's standing as Mr. Bush's closest political adviser as the prosecutor riveted his focus on whether Mr. Rove tried to intentionally conceal a conversation he had with a Time magazine reporter in the week before the name of intelligence officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, became public.

Why? Because there wasn't enough there or he's cooperating.

A LOT of people thought this was a done deal, and there's a reason for that.

But it would have only been one more problem for Bush in a sea of problems. I know people hung a lot of hopes and dreams on this, but the fact was and is that Bush's fate hangs on Iraq, not Karl Rove.

I think it took an extremely long time for this to happen and it's not just due to
a lack of evidence and five trips to the grand jury. He said something that Fitzgerald wanted to hear.

No knock out blow, but that's the way things go. Of course, people will be pissed, but at this point, this is the least of Bush's problems. Remember it's Rove's stewardship which got Bush this far.