Did Byron bury the lede?
In Byron York’s piece I linked below, he interviews Karl Rove’s lawyer Robert ‘Gold Bars’ Luskin. The main substance of the article is Luskin’s discussion of just what his client told Matt Cooper and the context in which he told it.
But down at the end of the article, as TPM Reader HS pointed out to me, is this graf …
Luskin also addressed the question of whether Rove is a “subject” of the investigation. Luskin says Fitzgerald has told Rove he is not a “target” of the investigation, but, according to Luskin, Fitzgerald has also made it clear that virtually anyone whose conduct falls within the scope of the investigation, including Rove, is considered a “subject” of the probe. “‘Target’ is something we all understand, a very alarming term,” Luskin says. On the other hand, Fitzgerald “has indicated to us that he takes a very broad view of what a subject is.”
Now, Luskin has made a number of <$NoAd$> statements over the last few days meant to suggest that Fitzgerald has assured him that Rove is not the one he’s after. I don’t remember, though, precisely what language he used.
Cut through the mumbojumbo in the excerpted graf above and you can see that Fitzgerald has told Luskin that Rove is a ‘subject’ of the investigation.
What does that mean? The next level up is being a ‘target’ of the investigation, in which case you get a ‘target letter’. Now, I’ll defer to the members of the defense bar in the audience. But my understanding is that when you get the target letter you’re in deep trouble, at least in terms of getting indicted. And being a ‘subject’ means just that: you’re one of the people they’re investigating.
So Rove is one of the people the grand jury is investigating.
Has Luskin said anything in the last few days that contradicts what he’s saying now? Mind you, that’s not a rhetorical question. It may be that he’s carefully used the ‘target’ language in all cases. But I’m curious. And if anyone has any examples, drop me a line.
