US grand jury meets over CIA leak

BBC
Oct. 26, 2005

The federal grand jury which is investigating the leaking by the White House of the identity of a serving CIA officer is due to meet on Wednesday.

It has emerged that the FBI has been conducting interviews this week.

They appear to be aimed at building a case against officials at the White House, says the BBC Washington correspondent Justin Webb.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been conducting the investigation.

He has until the end of the week to make a decision on whether charges are to be pressed.

Mr Fitzgerald has the power to deal a crushing blow to President George W Bush by linking two of his most senior advisers to allegations of criminal misconduct, accusations which would force them to resign, correspondents say.

Lawyers for Karl Rove, the president's closest political aide, and Lewis Libby, the vice-president's chief of staff, say their clients have done nothing wrong.

'Cheney's role'

The inquiry has focused on whether there was an illegal effort to undermine the credibility of a former ambassador, Joe Wilson, who was critical of the Bush administration's policy on Iraq.

It is investigating the circumstances behind the public naming of the wife of Mr Wilson, Valerie Plame, as a CIA agent.

According to a New York Times report, Mr Libby had first learned of the CIA officer in a conversation with Vice-President Cheney weeks before her identity became public in a newspaper column.

The White House refused to answer questions about Mr Cheney's role in the case.

The BBC's Justin Webb says it would now be a very big surprise if charges were not pressed.

Everything points to a decision having been made to prosecute one or more White House officials and it looks as if the charges might be very serious, possibly including the crime of outing Ms Plame, he says.

Neighbours of hers in Washington have told reporters that only this week FBI agents have been asking questions about whether the neighbours knew of Ms Plame's work before it was leaked to the press.

They said they did not.

This line of questioning suggests that the special prosecutor is trying to make a firm case that a serious crime was committed, not merely that officials were uncooperative during his investigation.