It's tough to say who the CIA leak investigation will infect next. Lately it's spread to an impressive list of current and former Bush administration notables.
There's Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby, of course. But now add to the list Colin Powell, Condi Rice, John Bolton, Ari Fleischer, Karen Hughes, and who knows who else.
Today with the media focusing on the Gonzales Gap, the 12-hour delay in issuing the order for White House aides to preserve documents related to the case -- reported at the time, but largely ignored by the corporate media -- other players such as Bush's new Attorney General and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card have been drawn in.
I wonder. Could the public spotlight turn next to Mr Big himself? In the mantra of Sen. Howard Baker and the Watergate investigation: What did the president know and when did he know it?
So far, Bush has avoided this kind of pin-your-ass-down questioning, shouted or otherwise, from a docile media. But as affaire Plame continues to show its legs, the good times may not last.
Question One: Did the president know back in 2003 what the public learned just weeks ago? -- that Rove talked to reporter Matt Cooper and said Wilson's wife worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction. (And if Bush didn't know about the conversation then, when did Rove so inform him? Or, if Rove didn't tell him, does Bush still have confidence in having this man serve in the West Wing?)
Question Two: Did the president know back in 2003 that the White House was conducting a covert campaign to discredit Wilson for his op-ed in the Times debunking the administration's Niger yellowcake claim? And, specifically, did Bush know about the campaign before the Novak column?
Remember, Patrick Fitzgerald interviewed Bush for more than an hour in the Oval Office in 2004, and we have no idea what the special prosecutor asked or what the president answered.
Me? I'm thinking unindicted co-conspirator.
National Debunker