Karl Rove, the president’s chief political strategist, may have felt relief last week when he avoided an indictment from Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, and instead had a walk-on role under the legal legal pseudonym, “Official A”, in the indictment of his colleague.
However, Mr Fitzgerald’s record as US attorney in Chicago - when he has cited “Official A” in other high-profile court filings - is ominous. Official As usually get indicted.
Mr Rove’s role in the CIA leak case emerged obliquely in last week’s indictment of Mr Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who appeared in court on Thursday. The filing says Mr Libby “spoke to a senior official in the White House (Official A) who advised Libby of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which [ex-ambassador Joseph] Wilson’s wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson’s trip [to investigate reports that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa].”
No other White House official in the investigation was singled out using this anonymous term. Mr Fitzgerald has side-stepped questions about Mr Rove, but his investigation into the CIA leak case is not over. “I’m not going to comment on anyone named, because we either charge someone or we don’t talk about them,” he said last week.
A former federal prosecutor said: “That suggests that A was within the scope of the investigation and that the grand jury found probable cause to believe the official did what the indictment says. Whether that official will be indicted, there is no way to tell. One reason not to identify them is that you do not wish to injure his reputation when there is little chance of indictment, or you want to disguise the progress of your investigation.”
Mr Fitzgerald’s record points to the latter. The best example concerns George Ryan, the former governor of Illinois. In May 2002 an indictment referred to a mysterious “Official A”, charged with authorising kickbacks in return for a share. Mr Ryan denied he was the official. “I don’t believe I am. I sure as hell don’t think I am.” Fast-forward three years and Mr Ryan has been not only unmasked as Official A but in September went on trial on 22 counts of corruption. “The State of Illinois was for sale,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
Another complaint, in October 2004, referred to “Water Department Official A”, who ran a hired truck kickback scheme, a scandal that rocked Chicago. The man was later identified as Donald Tomczak. In July he pleaded guilty to accepting $400,000 in cash.
Even without actual indictments, speculation about being “Official A” can be damaging to a political reputation. In September, Fitzgerald’s office cited a high-ranking “Public Official A” in connection with an indictment concerning a state pension plan scandal. Faced with rumours that he is the official, Rod Blagojevich, the current Governor, has denied any wrongdoing but issued an uncanny echo of Mr Ryan’s earlier response. “I have no idea who A,B,C, or Z is. All I can say again is, we don’t operate the way the document describes those activities. We don’t do those things. I don’t do those things.”
Until Mr Fitzgerald completes his inquiry, Mr Rove will remain in uneasy legal limbo. As Mr Fitzgerald warned a week ago, “I will not end the investigation until I can look anyone in the eye and tell them that we have carried out our responsibility sufficiently.”
In the meantime, Mr Rove is already faced calls to resign or apologise for what is known about his role in the CIA leak case. Last weekend on MSNBC Trent Lott was one of the first Republican senators to ask: “The question is should he be the deputy chief of staff under the current circumstances?”
