I’m not one to pile on to stories, but the Valerie Plame case is one in which someone in the White House — and perhaps more than one person — committed a serious crime.
For many of us, the manner by which we went to war in Iraq is crime enough, but like Al Capone, a more tangible crime like tax evasion or outing a CIA agent is needed to send someone to prison, or at least to get them expelled from the White House.
I’m eager to hear about Fitzgerald’s next steps, but to add a bit of color to the story — I had drinks recently with a person (unnamed of course) who has been close to Karl Rove and his operation for years.
I asked whether it was possible that Rove had weighed in to this vengeful battle against Joe Wilson not knowing the illegality of commenting on Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert responsibilities. This person simply smiled and said that Karl Rove “doesn’t make these kinds of mistakes” and knew “exactly what he was doing.”
It’s useful to remember President Bush’s words about the “leaker” (via David Corn):
There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. If there’s leaks out of my administration, I want to know who it is, and if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.
Again TWN asks, what did the President know and when did he know it?
— Steve Clemons
