SPECIAL COUNSEL PATRICK J. FITZGERALD TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE
Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald will hold a press conference at 2:00 P.M. EDT today, Friday October 28, 2005, regarding the status of the Special Counsel's criminal investigations.
I might have to wander over to the photo department to check it out on television. I'm very curious as to what will be said. It could be anything from dropping the case without releasing any information (very doubtful), to issuing indictments, and even empanelling a second grand jury to continue the investigation (also doubtful, IMO, but possible).
This could be quite an interesting press conference, to put it mildly.
It said Libby "lied to FBI agents who interviewed him" in October and November 2003; committed perjury "while testifying under oath before the grand jury" in March 2004; and "engaged in obstruction of justice by impeding the grand jury's investigation into the unauthorized disclosure -- or 'leaking' -- of Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA to various reporters in the spring of 2003."
"When citizens testify before grand juries they are required to tell the truth," Fitzgerald said in the statement. "Without the truth, our criminal justice system cannot serve our nation or its citizens."
Cheney said in a statement he accepted Libby's resignation "with deep regret" and said Libby must be "presumed innocent" before he is proven guilty.
As predicted....and hinted at by Conolezza Rice last week...the White House will use the adage of "Innocent Until Proven Guilty" when they wouldn't apply that Rule Of Law to the Iraq weapons inspections.
I think what's going on though, is Fitzgerald is still continuing the invesetigation - in other words, nothing has changed at all, but since he caught Libby in some lies while he was under oath, he threw the book at him. He went ahead and indicted him to send him to court, first of course to punish him, and possibly even to serve as a warning against anybody else who thinks about lying to the grand jury during his investigation.
Since the grand jury was expiring this week, I assumed this press conference would be the culmination of the entire investigation, and indictments would be issued. Apparently that's not the case at all, and this is just Fitzgerald telling everyone that he's not going to put up with anyone trying to obstruct his investigation.
