NY Times is
reporting that Patrick Fitzgerald has told associates that he will issue no final report regarding his investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame's name as a CIA operative.
One step closer to indictments!
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.
By signaling that he had no plans to issue the grand jury's findings in such detail, Mr. Fitzgerald appeared to narrow his options either to indictments or closing his investigation with no public disclosure of his findings, a choice that would set off a political firestorm.
Political firestorm?
I think that phrase is a gross understatement.
Scottie McClellan weighed in today, using yet another obtuse and evasive non-answer geared towards creating the case that the White House is out of the loop on all things Plame -
In his daily news briefing, Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday that a successful completion to the inquiry would be one in which Mr. Fitzgerald would "determine the facts and then outline those facts for the American people."
Asked if that meant the White House would favor a public report if there were no indictments, Mr. McClellan said that the decision was Mr. Fitzgerald's, but that "we would all like to know what the facts are."
I'd actually prefer a few high profile indictments first. We can ferret out the facts at the pre-trial hearings or during the congressional investigation preceding resignations.