Report: Rove Is Mysterious 'Official A'

IS FITZGERALD SQUEEZING LIBBY TO GET TO ROVE?

At the end of the day, the announcement of five indictments against the Vice President's Chief of Staff had empty feeling of the Democrats winning a big game but losing a player to injury in the process.

Is Scooter Libby the only White House official to be prosecuted? Will we ever know who exactly leaked Valerie WIlson's name to columnist Robert Novak?

For defenders of the what's right in this country, the unmasking of dirty business in the Bush administration had a solemn comeuppance. Having our government shaken by scandal is not beneficial to this country. On the other hand, rooting out criminal activity is.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was very coy and intelligent during his nearly one-hour press conference. But his answers were easily parsed by reporters for their real meaning. This is what we know other than Cheney's righthand man and assistant to the President, Scooter Libby, was indicted on five felony counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statement.

Vice President Cheney and Libby both knew that Valerie Wilson was undercover before they spoke to reporters

On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Divison. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.

As Josh Micah Marshall said in the Talking Points Memo, both Cheney and Libby had vast experience working in the realm of National Security

The mysterious "Official A" that was contained in the 22-page indictment against Libby has been indentified by the Associated Press as, indeed, Karl Rove, who came away unscathed, at least, for now.

There was much speculation throughout the day that Rove was "Official A" or the "senior official in the White House". Fitzgerald did not answer questions about possible indictments against Rove, but Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, offered that his client is still under investigation.

The recent flurry of investigation from the special prosecutor's office involving, for one, reports that Valerie Wilson's neighbors and friends were asked whether they knew of her secret life. Ominously, Fitzgerald opened his press conference by using the words "blew" or blown our cover" twice in reference to Wilson's status as an undercover CIA agent.

While the possible crimes that Fitzgerald were chartered to find were evident in today's announcement, there's room for more speculation for another shoe to drop. Fitzgerald left opened the possibility that another grand jury could be convened for more evidence.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews noted that it's Fitzgerald's modus operandi to squeeze the number two man to get to the big fish. Apparently, he did it in the Chicago mayor's office. Who this "big fish" is nobody knows. Is it Rove or someone else under the radar?

In the end, this investigation is far from over. The indictment leaves important questions open, such as, who is the leaker? The narrative seems to suggest this "official A". If it's Rove, as the AP reports; where does this leave us?