Sealed indictments
coming this week

WASHINGTON – As speculation increases about Vice President Dick Cheney as a possible target of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's CIA leak investigation, knowledgeable sources tell WND that up to five sealed indictments are likely to be issued as early as tomorrow and certainly before the end of the week.

Targets of the investigation have already been notified, though in sealed indictments the information would be withheld from the public.

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The 22-month-long investigation focuses on who identified CIA operative Valerie Plame to reporters.

Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, discussed Plame with reporters and is considered a likely target of the special counsel. But the New York Times reports of a conversation between Libby and Cheney a month before Plame's name was made public that suggests Libby learned about the CIA officer during a conversation with the vice president.

Questions surround who revealed Plame's name to syndicated columnist Robert Novak and Walter Pincus of the Washington Post.

Libby had previously said he initially learned Plame's identity during conversations with journalists.

The White House has been bracing itself for the end of Fitzgerald's probe, expected on Friday when the grand jury's term expires. Both Bush adviser Karl Rove and Libby have been informed that they could face indictment.

Fitzgerald, a U.S. prosecutor in Chicago, is investigating whether Plame's identity was leaked to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson. Wilson had traveled to Niger in a CIA-sponsored trip to check out allegations that Iraqi officials sought to purchase nuclear weapons materials there. Wilson wrote up his findings in a New York Times opinion piece titled "What I Didn't Find in Africa."

Wilson's report that the Iraq-Niger connection was dubious led to the White House's retraction of 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union Address that were used to support the decision to invade Iraq.

Today's New York Times report is the first indication the vice president discussed Plame with aides. Since Fitzgerald last interviewed Cheney more than a year ago, the revelations could indicate that discrepancies between Cheney and Libby's testimony have surfaced.

Sources within the investigation say it is unlikely anyone would be charged with violating a 1982 act that made it illegal to blow a covert U.S. agent's cover. Plame's undercover status has been the subject of debate, and testimony indicates there is little to prove Rove or Libby knew her identity was a secret.

But Fitzgerald has other options and the possibility of filing other charges. While sitting presidents cannot be indicted, charges may be brought against sitting vice presidents.

The sealed indictments are an indication, sources say, that Fitzgerald's investigation is not over. The grand jury's term expires at the end of the week. However, Fitzgerald could empanel a new grand jury if he wants to continue his probe.

Those who have testified under oath to date include White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Time magazine's Matt Cooper, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, Libby, former Cheney adviser Mary Matalin, current press secretary Scott McClellan, Judith Miller of the New York Times, Novak, Rove, who has been grilled four times, NBC's Tim Russert, former CIA director George Tenet and Wilson.

Cheney and President Bush both appeared last summer to testify, but not under oath.

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