It'll be interesting to see the evidence against him. It's hard to believe an experienced lawyer like Libby would be so careless. It wouldn't surprise me if the newsies lied though. Odds are Libby (unless really stupid) ends up walking and several hundred thousand poorer.

So no conspiracy, not "retribution", no agent outed, no nothing except Scooter brain-fart. Well, we don't allow brain-farts so Scooter's history. Fuck, they got Scoots, man!

But no one's irreplacable. Sure, he was the guy with the plans to intern all the peaceniks until the war's over, but that plan is already in motion. He can watch from jail!

Gannon, Scooter--the price of liberty is high, men, and the blood of patriots and shit, right?

Meh. Not much of a Fitzmas for the Left, was it? Someone over at National Review said this was akin to Charlie Brown's "I got a rock" Halloween thing. The Left really wanted Rove but got Libby instead; they got a rock.

I'm still very puzzled. Libby is supposed to be a smart man. Fitzgerald is supposed to be an honest one. Why would Libby perjure himself over something minor? But why would Fitzgerald bring charges over a brain fart? Nonetheless, a bet is a bet...

...where's tubino!? Come to weasel! You were right and I was wrong...

Libby lied, Wilson cried? Meh.

Quote from the article:
"Though Libby has worked in relative obscurity, he is one of the administration's influential advisers because of his proximity to Cheney, one of the most powerful vice presidents in history."

Gosh! More powerful than John C. Breckinridge, Hannibal Hamlin, or Schuyler Colfax?? What were their advisors names again?

Whooooooo! Dealing the administration a mortal blow there! (Not)

I guess the game's up.

I don't see how they can get a conviction. The people who would testify against him are reporters and they have zero credibility.

Merry Fitzmas! Ho, Ho, Ho. This is just like Watergate. The chief of staff of the VP is no more. The republic has been saved!

I will give the left one thing (2 if you count scooter), I really think the phrase "Fitzmas" is really funny. The best new holiday since Festivus.

So Merry Fitzmas and Happy Chaka Khan (I feel for you if you were praying for a Rove indictment.) Maybe next Fitzmas.

So, do we celebrate Fitzmas on the last Friday of October? Because this was so much fun, I am so doing this next year!

I question the timing.

"Bush ordered U.S. troops to war in March 2003, saying Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program posed a grave and immediate threat to the United States. No such weapons were found."

How can they say that no such weapons were found? We did find sarin, uranium, and other WMDs in Iraq. Repeat a lie often enough and people start to believe it. What we didn't find were the huge stockpiles of WMDs, but to say no such weapons were found is a f'n lie.

How will this affect Festivus?

All that said, he should have told the truth. What a dope!

Count 1: Illegal possession of a paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged.

Count 2: Conspiracy to program Rush Limbaugh on wife's car stereo.

Count 3: Failure to acknowledge George Bush as Commander ChimpNazi during grand jury testimony.

Count 4: Conspiracy to accelerate global warming by forcing newspapers to consume scarce resources in creating breathless indictment headlines.

Count 5: Violating hate speech code with Illegal, snide, and hurtful comments in describing Joe Wilson's carefully mussed, boyish hair as "gayfag" and "homoqueer."

Two thoughts:

Maybe I'm missing something but it seems that Fitzgerald is ticked at Libby for having lied to Russert and Miller in claiming in conversations with them that he was 'surprised' to learn that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA when in fact Libby already knew of her identity and job (#2 and #3 on Page 17, among other places of the indictment).

And Fitzgerald is basing his case on the testimony of Russert and Cooper denying they told Libby what Libby claimed to the grand jury they did. I for one wouldn't be thrilled with having rely on the MSM to be my credible witnesses.

More here at Thoughtsonline

All that said, he should have told the truth. What a dope!

Maybe he thought he did? I don't know about you but i can't remember who told me what half the time.

This is the weakest crap ever, and it is weak no matter which side it happens to. Special prosecutors need to go. They are damaging to the political process.

The Night Before Fitzmas
By Uncle Jefe

Twas the night before Fitzmas
Through the whole blogosphere
And we reality-based patriots
Waited to hear
News that was old news
To us in the know;
Proof now at last!
Of that lying Karl Rove.
We’ve been waiting for years
to say ‘I told you so’
about this evil conspirer
who runs Bush’s show.
But ne’er came the day we could pin him with blame
until now that he’s caught outing Double-O Plame!
And Hark! Hear the words of the Times and the Herald-
On the morrow there’s gifts from Prosecutor Fitzgerald!
Settling down to our keyboards, cyber-snuggling with glee
A-taunting the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
For the time’s come for payback, as long we’ve been hintin’
For all the harm done to Dear Leader Clinton.
All of us in our kerchief-like tinfoil hats
Hootin’ and hollerin’, barking Moonbats.
Confident of rewards for the offerings we’d made
Mom’s ‘special’ brownies, and Dad’s favorite, Kool-ade.
But on came the morning, and what do we see?
He’s only indicting Scooter Libby?!
Oh, how we wailed, and the gnashing of teeth!
Again he escaped us, the Almighty Thief!
Not Rove?! Not Cheney?! Not BushHitlerChimpy?!!
Why, even Scoot’s charges look rather skimpy!!
We ran to the window, threw open the curtain
“You too, are on the payroll of CheneyHalliburton!!”
As Fitzgerald ignored us, it all came into view-
He must be from Jeebusland-Nascarland too!
And sure enough, he exclaimed “To those I didn’t indict,
Merry Fitzmas, y’all, and to all, a good night!”

Shades of Martha Stewart!! You try to cooperate with the Feds, they can't get a legitimate case against you so they accuse you of lying and then get a shrill to testify against you. I wonder if Wilson will be a witness for the prosecution.

I can't defend him on genuine perjury, but I'm waiting to see if this is a real charge or a bullshit one.

I'm listening to the press conference. Maybe, if old Valerie's cover was soimportant he shouldn't have gone so public and LIED on top of it.

So, has an extension been asked for?

If not, the Gloat Away, Lefties! It'll be like bragging about getting a Betamax when you really wanted a DVD player.

Whoops! My keyboard is not working. Make that:

I'm listening to the press conference. Maybe, if old Valerie's cover was so important her husband shouldn't have gone public and LIED on top of it.

Jefe, that brought a tear to my eye.

Good stuff.

This guy at the press conference ( I don't know who is speaking) is making an indictment sound like the guy has been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He has not.

Why is he trying this case during this press conference? Why are we hearing his opening statement? He has to know this will likely influence the pool of jurors. He has to know that. Unfortunatly his statements concerning the allegations will be quoted as fact for months before Libby or anyone else gets to say a word.

That is heavy-handed and wrong.

And he will be indicting Rove very soon. His delay is just pretext so he can tell himself and display to others that he is a reasonable and deliberative man. I know the type. So do most people.

a grave and immediate threat

IIRC wasn't it "not an immediate threat, but a grave and gathering danger?"

The only evidence one can infer from the indictment is that Libby and Tim Russert remember their conversations differently. This indictment is ridiculous, and I think you're right. Fitzgerald is your typical politically ambitious prosecutor.

I'm stealing this from somebody over at Goldstein's blog, but the left can't be too happy that all they got for Fitzmas was a Scooter...

Incidentally, The Corner has an interesting link to Newsbusters, comparing the media coverage of this story to the coverage Clinton appointees Mike Espy and Henry Cisneros got when they were inicted.

Why doesn't someone ask this asshat if he is going to investigate and indict all those who are responsible for the leaks that obviously come form his office?

He says he does not know Libby's motivation. How about it was to counter the fact that Wilson lied in an attempt to throw the election? Asshat.

How does he know the leaks were from witnesses who already testified unless he investigates? I want to see an investigation, damni!

Sheesh. I'm not going to comment outside of the indcitment. I give him a lot of credit for that. The problem is he is talking about issues outside the indictment. He's just keeping them vague.

He also just sluoghed off the leaking as something that MUST have come from witnesses because it would be illegal for the jurors or his team to do that. That should mean something to me?

The guy is not unlikable and crimes certainly may have been commited by Libby, but I think he is overzealous. He is focused in on what he believes and that is the way it is going to go in his mind.

"And so here we are. No crime was committed BEFORE the investigation, so he indicts someone on five charges (?) for statements made in the course of the investigation.

Without an investigation, no possible crime, apparently."

Hey Ace? If it worked for the KGB, why fix it?

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

It is pretty f'n funny that a prosecurtor investigating a leak cannot keep his own ship from leaking like a seive. I know that Andy McCarthy at NRO has a big woody for Fitzy, but he just jumped the shark in my book. Time to dust off the Dems' old Starr playbook and turn this guy's life into the hell that he has made Libby and Rove's.

Glad ya liked it, Warden.
I'm hoping it will be a story read for generations on this Fitzmas Day.
Can we make a pop-up book for it?

The question for me is how will the absence of Libby affect day to day analysis in the Cheney camp. Libby was a top aide. What will his departure mean?

I missed part of the pressgab, but it doesn't sound to me like he's continuing the investigation.

Does it really make sense to smear someone who is investigating whether or not the WH is smearing those it disagrees with? Especially one who has spent as long investigating corrupt Dems in Chicago as Fitzgerald has? Hard message to sell...

TDB: define "smear."

Fitzgerald and the indictment are careful not to say that Plame was a covert agent as covered by IIPA. The "underlying crime" is apparently release of classified information. Sandy Berger will be happy to testify to the seriousness of that offense. See Fact Finding

To smear a prosecutor is to claim that they are working for a personal vindictive purpose rather than to objectively discern what laws were broken and punish those responsible. From the comments here, it appears to me that several posters (including the esteemed Ace) believe just that.

"Straight shooter? I don't think so. Andrew McCarthy says he's "non-partisan," and perhaps he thinks of himself that way, but I can't help thinking that he knew what the New York Times and the rest of the media & university-club swells would have said had he wrapped up the investigation after a month. Their opinions matter to him, so he kept at it for two years, until he finally came up with what I'm guessing will turn out to be a rather debatable and ticky-tack perjury claim.

Had these been Democrats under investigation, the inquiry would have ended a month in, as it should have."

This claim is refuted by his prosecution of the Daley machine, where his investigations hardly ended prematurely. Fitzgerald is a tenacious lawyer who will fight as long as it takes to get to the bottom of something. I see no partisanship in taking the alloted amount of time a grand jury can be impaneled to investigate wrongdoing (ie to do the job the jury was formed to do). If he were partisan, we'd see indictments of Rove, Bush, Cheney, et al. It is apparent that Fitzgerald went after those who he could prove broke the law. Thats estimable prosecuting by my standards, and not something that conservatives should be complaining about. Screw Libby. He lied on multiple occasions to a grand jury, and I'm not going to defend it. It wasn't some innocent mistake.

There is the type of authority that lacks respect for self defense. This reeks of it. Fitz goes down in history with Rather, Mapes, and Blanco for blowing his career over BDS.

Even Lany Davis gets it. Busting lies using the truth was Libby's effin job.

I'm not going to defend it either. I can't construe our hosts' comments as crying partisanship but instead noting the pressure the guy was under to come up with something. Really, after all this time and the real lack of any conspiracy it seems petty to charge Libby.

Still, if he lied he's got to pay for it.

So the "crime" is lying to a grand jury in that his testimony disagreed with the testamony of a number of MSM reporters.

The lie was about lying to the media!

This sure sounds circular to me.

Somebody explain this to me.

Could have been, and should have been, wrapped up in a month, except for one thing: Libby perjured himself to the grand jury.

How can it be claimed this is unrelated to the underlying crime? The underlying crime has two parts: did Libby leak Plame's identity as a CIA agent, and if so, did he know she was undercover? Libby lied directly about the first part.

Libby didn't have to lie, he could have taken the 5th, he even could have told the truth and hung his hat on saying he had no idea she was undercover, but instead he chose perjury. He claimed to the GJ that he learned about Plame from the media when in fact he received information on Plame on four separate occassions from government officials prior to ever having a conversation with a journalist.

No, no Jason -- he simply misremembered, and could not recall where he got the information. It could have been officials in the CIA, could have been reporters, could have been a psychic hotline -- he just forgot. Sounds good to me. That one works in court (and in the realm of public opinion) so well.

Dude, put away the blinders.

Libby blatantly lied. They have the goods on him in a big way. His account is contradicted by multiple other accounts.

Ari Fleischer's testimony screws him.

Libby is done.

And did you miss the part where he said the investigation wasn't over?

Whitehall --
"So the "crime" is lying to a grand jury in that his testimony disagreed with the testamony of a number of MSM reporters.

The lie was about lying to the media!"

1) the "crime" is that his statement to the GJ contradicted his OWN NOTES, not just the testimony of MSM reporters. His notes said that Cheney told him about Plame. If your boss came to you and told you dirt on someone, and then suggested you spread it as far as possible, would you forget and attribute it instead to some reporter that you actually told instead?

2) The lie was about lying to a Grand Jury, not the media.

The comparison with Espy et al. is inapt. I think people are more interested in the administrastion's war related actions than Espy's which, although more serious as crimes, were of far less national and international importance.

Uncle Jefe, that was grand.

You'd think before going to a grand jury you'd take 5 minutes in your hectic day of saving the country to read your own personal notes. Guess that's old skool preperations for court.

The main point y'all are furiously trying not to notice is this:

The White House leaked classified information to the press---and they did it to take revenge upon one of their critics.

Does that make y'all proud to be Republicans?

(It probably does...)

Look, Geek's over here instead of embarassing himself at Macguire's. Tough day for you, eh, Esq.?

Don, that's exactly what the investigation proves didn't happen. Get the transcript of Fitz's presser, and bring a bucket to chuck up your lunch in.

The transcript will serve you better since it was hard to make out what the guy was saying over the moaning and weeping from the media trash.

No law broken, no covert agent outed.

Its over. Have a nice life.

As for Libby, the prosecutor makes it sound pretty locked. And Fitz seemed to blame his two year government funded media tour on Scooter's story.

Oh well, he'll get his day in court to see how strong that case is.

Gee, Libby lied under oath?
I guess he didn't tell them "That depends on what your definition of the word 'is' is."
Merry Fitzmas!
And thank you, Dave.

Gee, spongeworthy, I'm not the person who thinks that Libby had a 'misstatement' instead a pattern of bald-faced lies.

And I'm also not the one who doesn't understand the significance of a NEW grand jury being impaneled.

And Ace apparently heard Fitzgerald talk about a bunch of legal conclusions that no one else on the planet heard. He most definitively did NOT state that no crime had been committed.

Had Ace been paying attention, he would have heard Fitz talk about the WH "blowing her cover."

Ace accusing Fitz of partisanship is textbook projection.

Had Ace been paying attention, he would have heard Fitz talk about the WH "blowing her cover."

And yet, that's not what he's charged with. Now, why do you think that is?

"And yet, that's not what he's charged with. Now, why do you think that is?"

Because they haven't determined the INTENT of the leakers yet, i.e., whether she knew was NOC, whether it was done maliciously, etc etc.

Their ultimate determination of that issue was sidetracked by Libby's willful criminal obstruction of the investigation.

They are now going to lean like hell on Libby for him to be honest and say what really happened. They have plenty of leverage on him.

Geek,

I see what you are saying, but I thought that Fitz said they figured out that part, and the elements to that crime were not satisfied. Scooter's acts delayed the inevitable outcome of no indictments.

He didn't say that--he said that Libby lied about what he knew (and by extension, what other people in the administration knew). This in turn obstructed the element of the investigation into who knew what and when.

Fitz is not going to go forward with any charges related to the leak until he wrings every possible ounce of truth out of lying weasels like Libby--he's not going to go forward until he's fully loaded to bear on that issue

I doubt anyone is going to let Fitz keep his monkey circus going much longer.

I am sure some dude here can dig up the transcript of the conference to which I referred?

Because they haven't determined the INTENT of the leakers yet, i.e., whether she knew was NOC, whether it was done maliciously, etc etc.

So blowing her cover was only a crime if they believed it was? Is this one of those irritating Shroedinger's cat things?

"So blowing her cover was only a crime if they believed it was? Is this one of those irritating Shroedinger's cat things?"

Ah, you can always spot those without a legal education.

Intent is an essential element to just about every crime on the books. In the case of the Espionage Act, for instance, the prosecution has to show both that the defendant knew or had reason to believe that the disclosure of the information would be harmful to the US, and that such disclosure was illegal.

Wait -- so your contention is, once they've got this perjury thing nailed down, a whole butt-wad of real indictments are going to be forthcoming. This is Fitzmas delayed?!

Ah, you can always spot those without a legal education.

Yes. Some such people think that you are free to lie in SWORN congressional testimony without facing a perjury rap.

Ouch!
Nice one, Ace.
Say Weasel, does this mean that I may have to write more verses to 'The Night Before Fitzmas'?

"Wait -- so your contention is, once they've got this perjury thing nailed down, a whole butt-wad of real indictments are going to be forthcoming. This is Fitzmas delayed?!"

No, what I'm saying is that we don't know where this is going. This could be it, or it could really blow up. But, the rightwing talking points that the investigation has concluded that there was no crime committed is simply a lie.

But, I'm sure that Ace is really right on this.

I mean, Fitzgerald is only one of the most respected federal prosecutors in the country, whereas Ace is a rightwing blogger.

I'm just saying that anyone with a "legal education," which you implied you possessed, or who had read a newspaper for the past 15 years, would know that people have faced perjury and obstruction and false statements charges for lies during congressional testimony.

You guys amuse me. You're mostly kinda dumb, but you think because you're liberal that makes you smart. I think that's pretty much why you're liberals-- because your insecure intellectually, and deservedly so, and seek to assuage your doubts about your intellectual firepower by embracing the Ideology of the Intellectuals.

But liberalism doesn't make you smart by proxy.

It's this smug condescension, while displaying all manner of basic ignorance about matters you make self-assured pronouncements about, that just gives me the giggles.

It used to annoy me. Now it's just a laugh.

As EC said, "I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused."

"Smug condescension?"

That's rich coming from someone who just spouted off a bunch of threadbare talking points as reasons why a highly skilled and dedicated federal prosecutor is misperforming his job.

By the way, the offense of lying to Congress isn't called perjury, brainiac.

"By the way, the offense of lying to Congress isn't called perjury, brainiac."

What is it called, douchiac?

False statement, then. Same sentence, same requirements.

I'm not sure if you're right on that, but even if you are, I'm not sure what your point is.

Genius.

Incidentally, why is everyone ignoring the fact that Wilson "outed" his wife several weeks before Novak's column?

http://next.epic-usa.org/epicdev2/epicevents/forumaudio2003.php

Actually, I made mistake on that count.

There are two statutes that criminalize lying to Congress.

The general one is 18 USC 1001.

However, the perjury statute also applies so long as the committee has a quorum present and the witness is sworn.

It's Friday. Time to drink.

Hey Geek:

In the United States Criminal Code, there are two perjury offenses. The offenses are found in Sections 1621 and 1623 of Title 18.

Section 1621 is the broad perjury statute which makes it a Federal offense to knowingly and willfully make a false statement about a material matter while under oath. Section 1623 is the more specific perjury statute which makes it a Federal offense to knowingly make a false statement about a material matter while under oath before a Federal court or before a Federal grand jury.

Thus, a lie before Congress while under oath is perjury under Section 1621. Ask Rafael Palmeiro.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00001621----000-.html

Actually, I made a mistake on that count.

Really?

The annoying thing is I know you rushed in here after googling to see if you were wrong. And then, having MISread the fucking code, you again asserted you were right.

Either way-- without googling, I knew you couldn't lie in SWORN congressional testimony without facing a false statement rap of some sort, and you didn't.

But you're the one who can spot someone "without a legal education."

Where the fuck did you get your legal education from, Pal? K-Mart?

Geek:

18 USC 1001 isn't a perjury staute, it's a false statement statute. Section 1001 kicks in any time you intentionally offer a materially false statement or the like to a government agent, irrespective of how minor, even when you're not under oath (e.g., in an unverified declaration).

Section 1621 kicks in when you you make a materially false statement about a material matter while under oath.

Small difference in language, major difference in consequences.

Not trying to give you a bad time, but some of us here actually are lawyers and don't appreciate douche-nozzles like you dropping by and giving our boy Ace the kind of crap you've been peddling today. Capische?

Yeah. My boys'll roll ya, Marricone.

Just go away, Geek Esq. Your ego is writing checks your mediocre intellect can't cover.

Again, this is the moral vanity of liberalism. You're quite clearly not a lawyer. But because you're a liberal, you assume you know more about the law than conservatives... even practicing conservative lawyers.

It's a moral vanity that being liberal makes you smart. You figure you can just stride in here, unprepared & ignorant, and start learnin' the rightwing troglodytes.

You really ought to have a more realistic assessment of your smarts and your knowledge base.

Just because you've seen Farenheit 9-11 eight times doesn't mean you're smart.

Quite the opposite, really.

Just got the VRWC Newsletter and man, am I relieved! (It pays to be current on your dues, people. You know who you are.)

So, here's the deal. Cheney has been Bush's puppetmaster on foreign policy and Scooter has been Cheney's. This is so well known and uncontroversial I feel a little embarrassed rehearsing it. Naturally, Scooter hasn't exactly been his own man either and he will be easily replaced so we don't have to fear this temporary break in the chain of forearms up the asses of puppets. Rest assured that our plans for world domination under the benign leadership of the Junior Deputy Administrator for the Assistant Undersecretary of Agriculture are still secure.

Libby set himself himself up for indictment deliberately, of course, and the outcome of his trial was predetermined as far back as May of 2001 when we were still negotiating with Israel for the "Muslem" agents who provided us that badly needed cover for our plans of world conquest.

Here is how the newsletter described the plan:

As you know, the trult patriotic left has been agitating for the enfranchisement of felons for years before we illegally installed our puppet Bush when he lost the 2000 election. It is no secret that felons vote Democrat, especially considering how may of the present number worked for Clinton prior to our trumping up sexually based charges to use against them. This number will only increase as we gradually criminalize sex altogether.

Agent Libby is to be inserted into the correctional system and then rotated through various institutions while serving out a 2 year sentence. What makes the plan advantageous is that this technology is actually much further along than reported and it's all ours. Implanted victims are drawn irresistably to the right even without the complex understandings, mastery of facts and dark rituals traditionally required.

These chips are so tiny as to be invisible to the naked eye. While they are initially fuled by the endorphins released during digestion of all-organic foods/illegal drugs or by hot sweaty man on man loving, the chips need almost no power at all since they are to be used on very low powered brains. An initial fueling should therefore last for decades and any loss of power over time will undoubtedly be self-correcting. Like biological agents, the chips are self-replicating and can be communicated by aerosol transmission. Installation of the Right Chip (TM) as an airborne pathogen commences upon Agent Libby's introduction into general population. Billions of these nonotech devices will then spread across America's penal system with every prisoner transfer.

Once Phase I human testing has been completed on these inmates, we stand poised for Phase II: "caving" on the liberal demands that convicted felons be released early and often and with an immediate restoration of their right to vote.

All Hail Rovius Rex!

I don't know about you guys, but I feel a lot better now.

Wow! I just came on this site! I came here via the news release about the "God Blog Convention" coming up. From there I googled in conservative bloggers and picked you. I've been searching and mousing around trying to find a conservative reaction to the Libby news today. Even though I know I can't trust the news releases in the national papers, uneducated unbloggers like me have only known to go to the news websites for latest news. This has been a grand time strolling through all the comments. Thanks so much for the education!

Hello, anonymous 8:56pm.
I hope you brought your sense of humor, and I hope that sense of humor can stomach the 'out there' type of greatness that is Ace's place.
(I humbly welcome you, by the way, as I am no more than a humble crumb-seeker at the foot of the table...'tis not my place to welcome you as if the blog were mine... however, welcome you I will.)
Scroll down on the left to this
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
and take your time catching up.
Continue scrolling down to this
Top Top Tens
and the picture will most certainly come into focus.
Then, do as you will, but return, and spread the good news.

You're quite clearly not a lawyer. But because you're a liberal, you assume you know more about the law than conservatives.

A percentage of arrogant baby lawyers still drying the ink on their licenses sometimes manage to give the same vibe.

I would like to know how many millions of our dollars were spent to find out nothing of significance. These special prosecutors get paid to drag out these investigations forever. They should be set up for short (

Didn't preview my last comment well enough. Got cut off. They should be set up for a short period of time (

Man, Ace got cranky after reading Geek's posts. Law school is full, brimming, postively stacked with mental mediocrities who think that getting into law school entitles them to think of themselves as geniuses. I don't know if that's Geek's problem though. I think the key part is that we disagree on what Fitz actually said towards the end of his talker.

At the end, he finally said something to the effect that her status may have been classified, but there was no evidence she was covert. And she was classified merely because she worked at the CIA, not because of what she did there.

Second, I took his meaning that they had completed the portion of the investigation about wrongly outing a covert agent and came away with nothing. That Scooter's alleged perjury delayed that finding, but did not prevent them from figuring it all out.

Geek seems to think that Fitz is going to spend another two years getting the real Fitzmasclaus charges established with a new grand jury.

I tend to disagree, Fitz is done. He wasted two years for a perjury charge. He may wish that he could charge someone with a crime, but none of the statutes support any charges. I think he should be sent back to Chicago so he can waste someone else's time.

Did you really just drop a reference to elvis costello as "EC," like he's a fucking founder of a religion or philosophical school?

Cuz even I wouldn't go that far.