From Maggie Burns in the Baltimore Chronicle:
- Powell told Bush & Cheney Plame was undercover: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that in July 2003 he shared information with both President Bush and Vice President Cheney from a classified State Dept. memo that made it clear that Valerie Plame’s identity was secret. A week later Bob Novak outed Plame in his syndicated column, citing two unidentified Bush officials.
- As many as 18 Indictments: “We are told that eight indictments have already been prepared, with the possibility of another ten. These indictments include senior White House staff, most notably Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff Scooter Libby, Fred Flights (special assistant to John Bolton), and—very surprisingly—National Security Adviser Steve Hadley. Apparently, Libby and Hadley have both been told by their lawyers to expect indictments. The indictment of senior Bush political advisor Karl Rove seems highly probable.”
- Bush is alone: “[If] any significant portion of this information is valid, it strongly suggests that the Bush team has been diminished to its irreducible core of Bush himself, his White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Karen Hughes, Harriet Miers, and a few of his relatives. This is their constituency, reduced to its true components, exactly where and what it should have been from the first, back when this quintessentially unqualified man started making little noises about running for the White House back in the late 1990s.”
Burns also confirms two rumors we have reported earlier:
- Bush wants Condi for VP: “Undoubtedly the White House would prefer to replace Cheney with Condoleezza Rice, who has been ingratiating herself with Bush. But either way, the situation is not a winner for the Bush team.” (Our story is here.)
- McCain being drafted for VP: “A parade of senior Republican senators have evidently been privately pushing McCain to lobby to be Cheney’s replacement. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has also been mentioned.” (Our story is here.)
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