Previously, Robert Luskin, Karl Rove’s lawyer, has insisted that Rove was no a target of the leak investigation. From the Washington Post, 10/6/05:

Robert Luskin said, Fitzgerald assured him in October and again last week that Rove is not a target of his investigation.

Today, Luskin has a different talking point:

I can say categorically that Karl has not received a target letter from the special counsel.

This is significant because, while U.S. Attorneys normally informs someone of their status as a target with a letter, they are not required to do so. Rove could have been warned he is a target with a phone call or an in-person warning. Here’s a relevant section of the USDOJ Guidelines (Ch. 7, Section 1, Part 1):

As the grand jury investigation concludes…attorneys will usually inform counsel for potential defendants of the status of the investigation. In most instances, potential individual defendants will be sent a letter identifying the individual as a target of that investigation, i.e., one who may be considered for indictment.

The fact that Luskin has changed his talking point suggests that Rove is now a target and has recieved a target warning by some means other than a letter. Indeed, the AP reports prosecutors “have warned they cannot guarantee [Rove] won’t be indicted.”

The real question Luskin needs to be asked: Has Rove received a target warning of any kind?

UPDATE: The above is excerpted from guidelines created for the antitrust division which are relevant but not directly applicable to the Rove case. Directly applicable is Section 9-11.151 of the Grand Jury manual, which also indicates that notification by letter is not required.

that sought to make marriage a requirement for motherhood (including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who do become pregnant “by means other than sexual intercourse”) has been dropped by its legislative sponsor.

“The special counsel has confirmed that he has not made any charging decisions in respect to Karl.” That must be comforting.

Rove is returning to the grand jury to provide more testimony. Breaking AP report:

Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th-hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer’s leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won’t be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation.

In the past, Rove’s attorney insisted that Karl had already shared all relevant information. Flashback to 7/16/05:

“‘[Rove] has shared with the special prosecutor everything he knows that is relevant to the investigation,’ Luskin said, ‘and the prosecutor was aware of all of these matters when he assured Karl that he is not a target of the investigation.’ [Los Angeles Times]

in CIA leak case without guarantee he won’t be indicted later, people familiar with the investigation say.”

During this morning’s speech President Bush made a noteworthy claim:

Overall, the United States and our partners have disrupted at least 10 serious Al Qaida terrorist plots since September the 11th, including three Al Qaida plots to attack inside the United States.

Not surprisingly, White House spokesman Scott McClellan was asked for more information. Here’s what he said:

MCCLELLAN: Some of them are known publicly, like the capture of Jose Padilla and Iyman Faris. Jose Padilla, if you remember, was involved in plots involving a possibility of a dirty bomb. And Iyman Faris was someone who had been in contact with people like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and captured with plots looking at a — blowing up or destroying a New York bridge.

And then there are other incidents that are still classified.

So let’s review what we know about the 10 incidents:

1. Jose Padilla. “Paul Wolfowitz, Mr. Rumsfeld’s deputy, stressed on Monday that ‘there was not an actual plan’ to set off a radioactive device in America and Padilla had not begun trying to acquire materials. Intelligence officials said his research had not gone beyond surfing the internet.” Since being detained in O’Hare airport in 2002, Padilla has not been charged with any crime or permitted to talk to a lawyer. [Daily Telegraph, 12/06/02; Washington Post, 9/10/05]

2. Iyman Faris. Faris was an Ohio truck driver who pleaded guilty in June 2003 to two felony charges of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. He was charged with plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, but U.S. officials admitted that Faris had abandoned the plot because he deemed it unlikely to succeed. “After scouting the bridge and deciding its security and structure meant the plot was unlikely to succeed, he passed along a message to al Qaeda in early 2003 that said ‘the weather is too hot.’” [CNN, 6/19/03]

3-10: Classified.

To recap: One three-year old arrest in a case where no charges have been filed, one two-year old arrest related to a plot that was already abandoned and eight “incidents” the administration won’t tell us anything about.

UPDATE: We’ve learned that the Valley View church discussed below is not the Valley View church that Harriet Miers attends. Apologies for the error. Read more

America is losing confidence in President Bush. A Newsweek poll reveals that “across the board…his most visible policies only pull the support of a third of the country: on the economy, 35 percent approve; on Iraq, 33 percent; on energy policy, 28 percent.” When all else fails, start fear mongering. Some excerpts from President Bush’s speech today:

All these separate images of destruction and suffering that we see on the news can seem like random and isolated acts of madness. Innocent men and women and children have died simply because they boarded the wrong train or worked in the wrong building or checked into the wrong hotel.

And while the killers choose their victims indiscriminately, their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil but not insane.
….

With greater economic and military and political power, the terrorists would be able to advance their stated agenda: to develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate Europe, to assault the American people and to blackmail our government into isolation.

….

No act of ours invited the rage of the killers, and no concession, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder.

….
In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves…They seek to end dissent in every form and to control every aspect of life and to rule the soul itself.

Read more