Michael Isikoff
Oversight Conflict Looming in Plame Case
Mon Aug 8, 2005 19:00
64.140.158.32
Leak Investigation: An Oversight Issue?
By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
15 August 2005 Issue
The departure this week of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who has accepted the post of general counsel at Lockheed Martin, leaves a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey was the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation.
With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recused, department officials say they are still trying to resolve whom Fitzgerald will now report to. Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum is "likely" to be named as acting deputy A.G., a DOJ official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter tells NEWSWEEK. But McCallum may be seen as having his own conflicts: he is an old friend of President Bush's and a member of his Skull and Bones class at Yale.
One question: how much authority Comey's successor will have over Fitzgerald. When Comey appointed Fitzgerald in 2003, the deputy granted him extraordinary powers to act however he saw fit-but noted he still had the right to revoke Fitzgerald's authority. The questions are pertinent because lawyers close to the case believe the probe is in its final stages.
Fitzgerald recently called White House aide Karl Rove's secretary and his former top aide to testify before the grand jury. They were asked why there was no record of a phone call from Time reporter Matt Cooper, with whom Rove discussed the CIA agent, says a source close to Rove who requested anonymity because the FBI asked participants not to comment. The source says the call went through the White House switchboard, not directly to Rove.
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FOCUS | Oversight Conflict Looming in Plame Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805Y.shtml
====================================
Mr. President, There's Someone Waiting, and Waiting, to See You
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805A.shtml
Mrs. Sheehan has vowed to camp out on the spot until Mr Bush agrees to see her, even if it means spending all August under a broiling sun beside a dusty road.
Iran Resumes Nuclear Work, a Step That May Lead to Sanctions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805B.shtml
Iran started work today at its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan, where raw uranium can be converted into gas, according to Iranian officials.
William O. Beeman | Dynamic Urumqi Confounds the West in Many Ways
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805D.shtml
The city looks like lower Manhattan, with skyscrapers rising almost in front of one's eyes. But, surprise! William O. Beeman tells us this is Urumqi [ooroomCHI], capital of China's western Xinjiang [shinJANG] autonomous region.
Norman Solomon | Big Star-Spangled Lies for War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805E.shtml
Norman Soloman states that a lot of people want to believe that the current war on Iraq is some kind of aberration - a radical departure from the previous baseline of US foreign policy. That's a comforting illusion.
US Scientists Find Flexible Stem Cells in Placenta
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805F.shtml
Scientists looking for easier and less-controversial alternatives to stem cells from human embryos said on Friday they found a potential source in placentas saved during childbirth.
Tom Engelhardt | The Bush Administration's Not-So-Silly Season
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805G.shtml
Tom Engelhardt asks that we give this much to our commanders, one upbeat prediction after another about "turned corners" and "tipping points," has proven wrong -- in fact, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that not a single positive Bush administration prediction about Iraq has proven accurate, and yet that stops no one.
Failure of Nuclear Discussions with North Korea
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805H.shtml
No one expected a miracle from the six-sided (China, United States, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea) negotiations in Beijing on the North Korean nuclear issue; there wasn't one.
William Rivers Pitt | Every Mother's Son
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805I.shtml
George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago. Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them.
Peter Jennings Dies of Lung Cancer
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805J.shtml
Nearly four months to the day since he announced in a hoarse voice on his evening newscast that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, longtime ABC "World News Tonight" anchor Peter Jennings died Sunday. He was 67.
Bush Still Stonewalling 9/11 Commissioners
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805K.shtml
The White House has failed to turn over any of the information requested by the 10 members of the disbanded Sept. 11 commission in their renewed, unofficial investigation into whether the government is doing enough to prevent terrorist attacks on American soil, commission members said.
Roberts' Senate Hearing to Raise Many Questions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805L.shtml
US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts will be grilled on matters from abortion to civil rights when his Senate confirmation hearing opens, but a key issue is how much the 50-year-old conservative will answer.
Fight over Alaska Oil Drilling Continues
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805M.shtml
Conspicuous by its absence in the sweeping energy bill that President Bush has championed and will sign Monday is his top energy priority: opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
Inquiry into Lobbyist Sputters after Demotion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805N.shtml
A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor and the inquiry ended soon after.
Families Learn of Recruiters' Lists - And How to Opt Out
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805O.shtml
As the military struggles to meet recruitment goals, activists are intensifying efforts to educate parents about how they can delete their teenagers' names from directories that schools are required to provide recruiters under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Oversight Conflict Looming in Plame Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805Y.shtml
The departure this week of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who has accepted the post of general counsel at Lockheed Martin, leaves a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey was the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation.
Knee Strikes Taught at Bagram to Gain Prisoner Compliance
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805Z.shtml
In a small courtroom at this vast Army training base, military prosecutors have been moving briskly to dispense with the cases they have filed in the brutal deaths in 2002 of two Afghan prisoners at the American military detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan.
By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
15 August 2005 Issue
The departure this week of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who has accepted the post of general counsel at Lockheed Martin, leaves a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey was the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation.
With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recused, department officials say they are still trying to resolve whom Fitzgerald will now report to. Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum is "likely" to be named as acting deputy A.G., a DOJ official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter tells NEWSWEEK. But McCallum may be seen as having his own conflicts: he is an old friend of President Bush's and a member of his Skull and Bones class at Yale.
One question: how much authority Comey's successor will have over Fitzgerald. When Comey appointed Fitzgerald in 2003, the deputy granted him extraordinary powers to act however he saw fit-but noted he still had the right to revoke Fitzgerald's authority. The questions are pertinent because lawyers close to the case believe the probe is in its final stages.
Fitzgerald recently called White House aide Karl Rove's secretary and his former top aide to testify before the grand jury. They were asked why there was no record of a phone call from Time reporter Matt Cooper, with whom Rove discussed the CIA agent, says a source close to Rove who requested anonymity because the FBI asked participants not to comment. The source says the call went through the White House switchboard, not directly to Rove.
-------
FOCUS | Oversight Conflict Looming in Plame Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805Y.shtml
====================================
Mr. President, There's Someone Waiting, and Waiting, to See You
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805A.shtml
Mrs. Sheehan has vowed to camp out on the spot until Mr Bush agrees to see her, even if it means spending all August under a broiling sun beside a dusty road.
Iran Resumes Nuclear Work, a Step That May Lead to Sanctions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805B.shtml
Iran started work today at its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan, where raw uranium can be converted into gas, according to Iranian officials.
William O. Beeman | Dynamic Urumqi Confounds the West in Many Ways
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805D.shtml
The city looks like lower Manhattan, with skyscrapers rising almost in front of one's eyes. But, surprise! William O. Beeman tells us this is Urumqi [ooroomCHI], capital of China's western Xinjiang [shinJANG] autonomous region.
Norman Solomon | Big Star-Spangled Lies for War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805E.shtml
Norman Soloman states that a lot of people want to believe that the current war on Iraq is some kind of aberration - a radical departure from the previous baseline of US foreign policy. That's a comforting illusion.
US Scientists Find Flexible Stem Cells in Placenta
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805F.shtml
Scientists looking for easier and less-controversial alternatives to stem cells from human embryos said on Friday they found a potential source in placentas saved during childbirth.
Tom Engelhardt | The Bush Administration's Not-So-Silly Season
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805G.shtml
Tom Engelhardt asks that we give this much to our commanders, one upbeat prediction after another about "turned corners" and "tipping points," has proven wrong -- in fact, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that not a single positive Bush administration prediction about Iraq has proven accurate, and yet that stops no one.
Failure of Nuclear Discussions with North Korea
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805H.shtml
No one expected a miracle from the six-sided (China, United States, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea) negotiations in Beijing on the North Korean nuclear issue; there wasn't one.
William Rivers Pitt | Every Mother's Son
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805I.shtml
George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago. Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them.
Peter Jennings Dies of Lung Cancer
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805J.shtml
Nearly four months to the day since he announced in a hoarse voice on his evening newscast that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, longtime ABC "World News Tonight" anchor Peter Jennings died Sunday. He was 67.
Bush Still Stonewalling 9/11 Commissioners
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805K.shtml
The White House has failed to turn over any of the information requested by the 10 members of the disbanded Sept. 11 commission in their renewed, unofficial investigation into whether the government is doing enough to prevent terrorist attacks on American soil, commission members said.
Roberts' Senate Hearing to Raise Many Questions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805L.shtml
US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts will be grilled on matters from abortion to civil rights when his Senate confirmation hearing opens, but a key issue is how much the 50-year-old conservative will answer.
Fight over Alaska Oil Drilling Continues
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805M.shtml
Conspicuous by its absence in the sweeping energy bill that President Bush has championed and will sign Monday is his top energy priority: opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
Inquiry into Lobbyist Sputters after Demotion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805N.shtml
A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor and the inquiry ended soon after.
Families Learn of Recruiters' Lists - And How to Opt Out
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805O.shtml
As the military struggles to meet recruitment goals, activists are intensifying efforts to educate parents about how they can delete their teenagers' names from directories that schools are required to provide recruiters under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Oversight Conflict Looming in Plame Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805Y.shtml
The departure this week of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who has accepted the post of general counsel at Lockheed Martin, leaves a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey was the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation.
Knee Strikes Taught at Bagram to Gain Prisoner Compliance
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805Z.shtml
In a small courtroom at this vast Army training base, military prosecutors have been moving briskly to dispense with the cases they have filed in the brutal deaths in 2002 of two Afghan prisoners at the American military detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan.
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