NYTimes points to possible conspiracy in Plame case

An article written by David Johnston was just posted on the NY Times website (10:15 ET) that points to a possible conspiracy between Libby and Rove (at least) concerning the Plame case. The author reports previously undisclosed information that Libby and Rove were working very closely together on the adminstration's response to the Niger controversy at exactly the same time that Plame was outed.

Looks like Fitz could have Ari Fleisher by the balls, too. This same NYT article reports that Fleisher testified before the grand jury that he never saw the INR memo. Others have stated, of course, that Ari had the memo in hand on Air Force one en route to Africa....

Some snippets below the fold.

At the same time in July 2003 that a C.I.A. operative's identity was exposed, two key White House officials who talked to journalists about the officer were also working closely together on a related underlying issue: whether President Bush was correct in suggesting earlier that year that Iraq had been trying to acquire nuclear materials from Africa.

They had exchanged e-mail correspondence and drafts of a proposed statement by George Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, to explain how the disputed wording had gotten into the address. Mr. Rove, the president's political strategist, and Mr. Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, coordinated their efforts with Stephen Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser, who was in turn consulting with Mr. Tenet. At the same time, they were grappling with the fallout from an Op-Ed article on July 6, 2003, in The New York Times by Mr. Wilson, a former diplomat, in which he criticized the way the administration had used intelligence to support the claim in Mr. Bush's speech.

The effort was particularly striking because to an unusual degree, the circle of administration officials involved included those from the White House's political and national security operations, which are often separately run. Both arms were drawn into the effort to defend the administration during the period.

Johnston also gives further confirmation of what we've been saying all along, that Fitzgerald has cast a very wide net in his investigation:

In another indication of how wide a net investigators have cast in the case, Karen Hughes, a former top communications aide to Mr. Bush, and Robert Joseph, who was then the National Security Council's weapons proliferation expert, have both told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that they were interviewed by the special prosecutor.

Here's the stuff about Ari:

Among those asked if he had seen the memo was Ari Fleischer, then the White House press secretary, who was on Air Force One with Mr. Bush and Mr. Powell during the Africa trip right after Mr. Wilson's article appeared. Mr. Fleischer told the grand jury that he never saw the memo, a person familiar with the testimony said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the prosecutor's admonitions about not disclosing what is said to the grand jury.