There are a lot of theories brewing as to who promulgated the Plame outing inside the White House, and the latest thought-provoking piece is here. I recommend that you read the entire article, not necessarily to endorse or own all of its conclusions. but rather to get a sense of a scenario that could be plausible.
Notice that John Bolton’s name and team are in the mix.
I have been of the view for some time that Fred Fleitz should be among those interviewed in this case if for no other reason than his role at WINPAC in the CIA and subsequently as Chief of Staff for John Bolton, whose office promulgated “hard” the Niger/Uranium story inside the State Department, put him close to all this action — and he knew about Plame’s identity and responsibilities.
Then I was admonished by a friend who said, “How do I know that Fleitz hasn’t met with the grand jury?” And he’s right, I don’t know. They don’t publish a list of who they meet.
Fitzgerald has run the tightest ship that I remember among a long list of independent prosecutors.
I am just back from Europe and will weigh in on this more later — but wanted to share some creative thinking that others had done on this.
I should add that I have emails from a number of intelligence sources who believe that a Bolton/Fleitz role in the Plame affair is implausible.
We need to think this through carefully and empirically — and not jump to conclusions that affirm biases that we carry. But we also need to consider all the credible possibilities.
More soon.
— Steve Clemons
