Waiting for the Sword

Matthews posed a slew of ferocious questions: "Did the fierce battle of leaks between elements of the Central Intelligence Agency who opposed going to war in Iraq and the hawks in the vice president's office escalate to actual law breaking? Did the vice president in an effort to defend himself from an onslaught of charges by Joseph Wilson urge his staff to silence the former ambassador? Did Cheney, through anger or loss of temper, create a climate for political hardball and worse? Did he stoke his staff in the late spring and early summer of 2003 to such a level of ferocity that some of its members crossed the line into illegality? And will Patrick Fitzgerald determine that in doing so, he crossed that dire line himself?"

Here's a good question he put to correspondent Norah O'Donnell.

"MATTHEWS: Do we know whether the president would take charge if there are indictments, and remove people from office quickly and summarily to gain, to recontrol of the situation at the White House rather than let them leave at their leisure or takes leaves of absences or that sort of thing? Do we have any indication that Andy Card and the president will bring in new people and he will assert his leadership in the White House and clean the air?

"O'DONNELL: I think it's a huge question. . . .

"There has been some reporting that Karl Rove or Scooter Libby would step aside if indicted so that they could fight these charges vigorously. But then Rove's lawyer said yesterday that that's not true that he would do that. So it's not clear.

"But I think if you talk to any lawyer or anybody involved in Washington politics, if some senior White House staffer were indicted, it would be very difficult for them to stay on the staff. I would think that the president would try and remove himself from the immediacy of that decision, or that staffer wouldn't even make the president make that decision."

Matthews also had this to say about press secretary Scott McClellan: "How can he come out day after day like a figure on a Schwarzwarld [cuckoo] clock and just come out and make these chirpings, these announcements that turn out not to be true and then continue to do the job? Don't they just laugh at him down there?"

No Report, Says the Times

David Johnston and Richard W. Stevenson write in the New York Times: "The special counsel in the C.I.A. leak case has told associates he has no plans to issue a final report about the results of the investigation, heightening the expectation that he intends to bring indictments, lawyers in the case and law enforcement officials said yesterday. . . .

"A final report had long been considered an option for Mr. Fitzgerald if he decided not to accuse anyone of wrongdoing, although Justice Department officials have been dubious about his legal authority to issue such a report. . . .

"Some lawyers in the case had expressed hope that a final report would provide Mr. Fitzgerald with a vehicle to disclose his investigative findings even if he absolved everyone of wrongdoing. Democrats in Congress had also expressed a desire for such a report, apparently hoping it would offer fresh details about the administration's actions."

Johnston and Stevenson conclude: "Without a report, it seems likely that questions about the case may remain unanswered and that a complete account of the administration's activities may never be known, including the details of testimony by the scores of administration officials who were interviewed in the inquiry."

Bush Scolded Rove?

Thomas M. DeFrank writes in the New York Daily News: "An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair, sources told the Daily News.