He [Fitzgerald] wasn't totally gratifying in clearing up the murkiness of the case, yet strangely comforting in his quaint black-and-white notions of truth and honor (except when his wacky baseball metaphor seemed to veer toward a "Who's on first?" tangle). ... Dowd...
Before dawn on Friday, the lights were on at the Rove household in upper Northwest Washington, where three Secret Service agents stood watch out front. But Mr. Rove did not leave the house until after 7:30, much later than usual. He gave a chipper response to reporters at the edge of his yard who shouted questions about how he felt. "A very good mood today," he said. "I'm going to have a very good day." ... Anne Kornblut...
Mr. Bush had begun the day by leaving the jurisdiction, for a speech in Norfolk, Va., in which he thanked his audience "for the chance to get out of Washington." He ended it with a terse, angry-looking expression of regret at Mr. Libby's resignation, standing on the South Lawn of the White House, just yards from the spot where Mr. Clinton spoke defiantly on the day of his impeachment. ..."This keeps it hanging over their heads," said one senior official from a past Republican White House, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to quarrel publicly with Mr. Bush. "He needs to start anew. Now is the time to start anew. But I see no sign that they're going to."... Todd Purdum...
Mr. Libby's case has been assigned to Judge Reggie B. Walton of Federal District Court in Washington. No date has been set for the arraignment or the start of a trial. ...Eric Lichtblau, inter alia...
The developments left unresolved the fate of Karl Rove, President Bush's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, who had been warned by the prosecutor that he was in serious legal jeopardy but who was not charged in the indictment against Mr. Libby. With the term of his grand jury at an end, Mr. Fitzgerald said he could present any new evidence to an already impaneled grand jury if needed. Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, said in a statement he was confident Mr. Fitzgerald would conclude Mr. Rove had done nothing wrong. ... David Johnston....
Mr. Libby's trial on perjury and obstruction charges will largely turn on whether jurors are more inclined to believe a government official who played a critical role in devising the justifications for the Iraq war or members of a profession whose own credibility has been under assault. ...Katherine Seelye and Adam Liptak...
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