Fitzgerald: Indict or Report?

MSM is being honest: We know nothing about what this Fitzgerald chap is finally up to. It has been enormously fun to play the Plame-game, but everyone admits that Fitzgerald has demonstrated such integrity and discretion that all we can do is speculate.

I have myself speculated that Rove and company have guilt dripping from their pores, but that's just me. It's what I do.

But let's boil down what we do know. Fitzgerald is a prosecutor pursuing a criminal case. Nobody has been charged. All that is going on -- so far-- is some people are under investigation and the questioning has been hot and heavy.

The time limit on this investigation is about to end on October 28. Unless Fitzgerald requests an extension, he will wrap up his work before then. There are no indications that he will ask for an extension.

Therefore, within the next several days, he will either announce indictments or close up shop.

Now, some sources suggest that he may file a "report" that divulges some of his findings. But the idea of a "report" by a special prosecutor is not really part of legal precedent.

UPDATE: OCTOBER 21. I was wrong here, when I wrote this part. Apparently, past special prosecutors, under a different legal authority that is no longer in effect, were required to file reports on their findings. According to Yahoo! news services:

Unlike some of his predecessors who operated under a law that has since expired, Fitzgerald is not required to write a final report, so he would not need a Web site for that purpose.

Under most prosecutorial circumstances, if you are not charging somebody with something, it would seem illegal -- if not simply unfair -- to make public the details that you discovered. You cannot publicize details that, in the end, do not amount to anything illegal.

In short, a prosecutor does not normally, on his own initiative, release information on someone unless the prosecutor is making a charge that that someone did something illegal.

I suppose if Congress, within the scope of their own investigation, asked for input, Fitzgerald may be compelled to assist. Or, if the POTUS wants to discover information about his own staff and assure the American people that the country is being run by honest, straightforward workers, then the POTUS could request a report.

But I think it is unlikely that Fitzgerald has plans to put together a report to be made public. Only if he indicts someone will he, on his own accord, release details of his investigation.

That is why he must be so very, very careful. The indictments must have some substance. He cannot overshoot the case. After all, this is the office of the president that is under investigation. The prosecutor cannot make outrageous claims, and there is very little to indicate that he will.

So, to continue the Plame-Game. I think Fitzgerald will pursue relatively small-time charges. Perjury perhaps? Some obstruction of justice (maybe not)? All he needs to do is indict someone, and then he can ask more questions -- and this time they will be answered publicly. He will, in effect, end up exposing the corruption, even if his method of frying the fish does not scorch them.

Chew on that, huh?

And when Cheney resigns (due to health considerations), it will cause a big hullabaloo that will take all the attention off of Scooter and Karl anyway. Cheney is more than willing to execute the big gesture to save the company (he never wanted the job anyway). And it would put Condi into V.P. Which would strengthen her chances at Prez in 2008. So, in the Republican dynasty, it's all good.

You heard it here first, folks. Cheney's resignation will be the perfect distraction, and the Bush cronies will suddenly become tiny.

You simply cannot win with this group. But thank God Fitzgerald is taking a poke at it.

Chew the fat; speak out.