From this evening’s Nelson Report …
ROVE/LIBBY…the Joe Wilson/Valeria Plame scandal…many thanks for a ton of interesting and valuable feedback from Loyal Readers to last nightâs Report, and our use of the New York Timesâ Frank Rich to lay out the most hard-line âcaseâ against the Administration that could likely be imagined. Before we start, todayâs hot gossip is that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald may have sent a âtarget letterâ…an official warning of a likely indictment…to Vice President Cheneyâs deputy chief of staff, John Hannah. According to sources which have been right from time to time, Hannah has told associates he has been forced to cut a deal, and that they think this includes testifying against his immediate boss, Lewis âScooterâ Libby.
Hannahâs name resonates to the insiders, since he is a samurai for UN Amb. John Bolton, detailed to the White House while Bolton was Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs…in other words, an office with folks quite likely to have known the CIA connection which may form the basis of any criminal indictments in this case.
This is the hot gossip. But it’s more than gossip. Not necessarily the point about a target letter, but on the point of Hannah’s cooperation. A number of well-placed sources are now saying this. But there are logistical and inter-personal mysteries raised by Hannah’s claimed cooperation that still make the whole picture appear murky to me.
