The president originally said he’d fire anyone on his staff who was involved with leaking Valerie Plame’s identity. He later changed his mind, saying he’s fire anyone convicted of a crime.
If Rove is indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald, will Bush keep his original pledge? It looks like Rove won’t put his boss in a position to make the call — if indicted, Rove will resign.
Karl Rove has a plan, as always. Even before testifying last week for the fourth time before a grand jury probing the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity, Bush senior adviser Rove and others at the White House had concluded that if indicted he would immediately resign or possibly go on unpaid leave, several legal and Administration sources familiar with the thinking told Time. Resignation is the much more likely scenario, they say. The same would apply to I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the Vice President’s chief of staff, who also faces a possible indictment. A former White House official says Rove’s break with Bush would have to be clean — no “giving advice from the sidelines” — for the sake of the Administration.
Severing his ties would allow Rove — who as deputy chief of staff runs a vast swath of the West Wing — to fight aggressively “any bull___ charges,” says a source close to Rove, like allegations that he was part of a broad conspiracy to discredit Plame’s husband Joseph Wilson. Rove’s defense: whatever he did fell far short of that.
It’s interesting, right off the bat, that Rove’s allies are already dismissing “bull___ charges” that haven’t been filed yet. In fact, Rove is in a bit of a bind in not having a suitable target for his rage and having to focus on the merit of the accusations, should there be any.
This isn’t a role to which Rove is accustomed. He can’t lash out at Democrats; they don’t have anything to do with the investigation. Rove could try to lambaste Patrick Fitzgerald, and make him out to be this decade’s Ken Starr, but that’s a long shot — Fitzgerald is too widely respected for this to be effective. And he certainly would have trouble blaming John Ashcroft’s Justice Department for tapping Fitzgerald in the first place.
So, what’s Rove left with? Having to quit his job and take on the burden of avoiding incarceration. Rove has a lot of skills and a long resume, but this isn’t his area of expertise.