I'm not a lawyer, so this is just complete speculation from my side. I would love for some lawyers to provide commentary. But isn't extending the grand jury the most obvious thing to expect from Fitzgerald at this point? Especially if some people have recently started cooperating? Wouldn't he want to push the investigation as far as possible? Everyone on here is cracking their heads as to why he's waiting till the last day - it makes me think that maybe he isn't at all. Maybe he's decided a while ago to extend the grand jury and is just being tight lipped as usual. Unless there's some legal technicality that explains it all (like he was supposed to publicly file for grand jury extension two weeks ago or something). I mean, a lot of people are peeing from anticipation, but come on, if he extends the grand jury, that's twice as awesome. That's totally Macchiavellian torture for the rats who're already starting to flee the ship. See tonight's Raw Story below the fold.
Basically, the question is - if the special prosecutor uncovered some other crimes in the process of his investigation that are peripheral (or even not) to the original matter, what would his process be? And I don't mean perjury as peripheral. I mean, for example, if he somehow miraculously unearthed a potential forger of Niger documents like some people have suggested. Would he then continued to dig? Would he hand it off? Or would he issue a first series of indictments and THEN continue to dig with a new grand jury in tow? My guess would be the latter, assuming there are no technical reasons that prevent him from doing that.
Here's what Raw Story has to say about the postponement rumors:
Roll Call: Fitzgerald visited Rove's attorney Tuesday in leak case
Appearing to jibe with a report in the Los Angeles Times Tuesday evening which asserted that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is turning his sights back to Bush's chief advisor, Karl Rove, Roll Call's Mary Ann Akers will report in Wednesday's editions that Fitzgerald was seen at Rove's lawyer's offices.
Rove is among numerous officials who have been questioned about whether they had a role in outing covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, the wife of ardent Iraq intelligence critic Joseph Wilson.
According to Roll Call, Fitzgerald was spotted Tuesday at the law offices of Patton Boggs, the firm that employs Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin.
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Though Akers says in her column she "heard about the visit from a well-placed source," Luskin refused to confirm "why or even whether Fitzgerald visited him."
Akers adds: "The rumor floating around Patton Boggs Tuesday was that there “may” be no indictments this week because Fitzgerald “may” need to seek an extension from the presiding judge to wrap up his investigation of Flamegate (or Plamegate for those of us who aren’t Judy Miller)."
Sources close to the investigation told RAW STORY Tuesday that indictments had already made their way to the grand jury in the case, and that others were in preparation.
Fitzgerald's agents also visited the Wilson's neighbors Monday, asking them whether they were aware that Valerie was a covert CIA agent, according to the L.A. Times and the Associated Press.
Rove, Akers asserts, "was spotted visiting his lawyer on Friday."
The full paid-restricted column is available at Roll Call.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Roll_Call_Fitzgerald_visited_Roves_attorney_1025.html