Waiting for the Sword

Waas also writes that "evidence that Libby might have tried to discourage Miller's testimony has put Libby's testimony in a worse light, according to government officials briefed on the matter."

Liberal blogger Jeralyn Merritt reads Waas and concludes: "Libby appears to be in a heap of trouble. In addition to charges of perjury or making false statements to federal officials, he might be looking at obstruction of justice and witness-tampering. And those are just the possible offenses for conduct occurring after the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. If he's also charged with offenses relating to the leak, which is what started this investigation in the first place, he's in very bad shape."

A Flipper?

Larisa Alexandrovna and Jason Leopold write for Raw Story, an alternative news site: "A senior aide to Vice President Dick Cheney is cooperating with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, sources close to the investigation say.

"Individuals familiar with Fitzgerald's case tell Raw Story that John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from the offices of then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, John Bolton, was named as a target of Fitzgerald's probe. They say he was told in recent weeks that he could face imminent indictment for his role in leaking Plame-Wilson's name to reporters unless he cooperated with the investigation."

NBC's David Shuster reported on MSNBC's "Hardball" last night: "As prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald prepares for upcoming grand jury sessions and decisions on whether to seek indictments, defense lawyers say they now believe there is a White House insider or formal official who has been helping the investigation for months.

"This view is based, the lawyers say, on information grand jury witnesses heard about the actions of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. Well before reporters Matt Cooper and Judy Miller testified, White House officials leaked information about an administration critic."

Blogger Laura Rozen quotes from the authoritative Nelson Report, in which Chris Nelson writes that "today's hot gossip is that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald may have sent a 'target letter' . . . an official warning of a likely indictment . . . to Vice President Cheney's deputy chief of staff, John Hannah. According to sources which have been right from time to time, Hannah has told associates he has been forced to cut a deal, and that they think this includes testifying against his immediate boss, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby."

Appearing with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC last night, however, Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank pooh-poohed the Hannah rumor.

"The John Hannah rumor has been around for months," he said. "It's been circulating among blogs for months. It popped up again today. It may be true, but nobody has any confirmation that it's true. Obviously they're getting some cooperation from some people within the administration to have come this far in the investigation, but we just don't know."

Resignation Rumor

Paul Bedard of U.S. News set off an explosion of bloglust yesterday by posting a completely unsubstantiated rumor about Cheney on a mainstream Web site.

"Sparked by today's Washington Post story that suggests Vice President Cheney's office is involved in the Plame-CIA spy link investigation, government officials and advisers passed around rumors that the vice president might step aside and that President Bush would elevate Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice," Bedard wrote.

WHIG Watch

Rove, Libby and several other White House officials called before the grand jury were members of the super-stealthy White House Iraq Group.