Indictments Coming Tomorrow; Targets Received Letters Today

Well obviously the courthouse is closed so we won't be able to celebrate Fitzmas until ..... when? Tomorrow? Steve Clemons has the scoop. An uber-insider source has just reported the following to TWN (since confirmed by another independent source): 1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end. 2. The targets of indictment have already received their letters. 3. The indictments will be sealed indictments and "filed" tomorrow. 4. A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday. The shoe is dropping. More soon. -- Steve Clemons Think Progress has an update from CBS News From the CBS Evening News, to air at 6:30PM: CBS’ JOHN ROBERTS: Lawyers familiar with the case think Wednesday is when special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will make known his decision, and that there will be indictments. Supporters say Rove and the vice president’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, are in legal jeopardy. But they insisted today the two are secondary players, that it was an unidentified Mr. X who actually gave the name of CIA agent V alerie Plame to reporters. Fitzgerald knows who Mr. X is, they say, and if he isn’t indicted, there’s no way Rove or Libby should be. But charges may not focus on the leak at all. Obstruction of justice or perjury are real possibilities. Did Rove or Libby change statements made under oath? Did they deliberately leave critical facts out of their testimony or did they honestly forget? Some Republicans urged Rove to step down if indicted. Not a happy prospect for president Bush. Any guesses on the identity of Mr. X? UPDATE: This bit from the CBS segment is also interesting – SCHIEFFER: John, I am very interested in Mr. X. Is there any clue or hint as to whether he be - maybe someone who outranks Libby and Rove or would he be a lower-ranking official? ROBERTS: The best guess is that Mr. X, even though his name is not known and some people are just speculating on who he might be or she might be, is somebody who is actually outside the White House, and in that case would be of a lower rank that both Rove and Libby. The right wing christian wingnuts can have their Justice Sunday, we will have our Justice Wednesday! I find it interesting that the indictments will be "sealed". That to me means there is more going on here than just the leak, and Fitzgerald has more in store for this Administration. According to U.S.Courts.gov, The indictment lists the crimes the defendant allegedly committed and describes the facts the government believes support those allegations. It is a roadmap to what the prosecution intends to prove at trial. Grand jury indictments are returned to the district court – usually to a magistrate judge – in a sealed court hearing. Indictments generally are unsealed after a defendant is arrested. Also, Fitzgerald is known to be very meticulous in his investigating so I wouldn't be surprised if he uses these initital indictments in order to ferret out others who may be involved and know he is looking at them. Letting them know they are next if they don't come clean now and cooperate. They may even be involved in negotiating a plea bargain. If he includes a request for an extension of the grand jury or seeks to empanel another grand jury in order to complete his investigation then we will know for sure he is after bigger fish. Let's not forget that when Fitzgerald appeared before a Judge seeking to jail Judith Miller the Judge didn't hesitate saying that this goes much much deeper than the original focus of the investigation and affects the very well being of the country.