WTF was Fitzgerald doing?

If he knew Amitage leaked Plame's identity up front, why did he continue?

About the only logical reason I can think of was that his sole source of information was the Democratic Underground:

Team Bush vs. Team Cheney covering your ass covering your ass covering your ass covering your ass covering your ass
The story on everyone's lips right now is of course Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into whether individuals inside the White House conspired to reveal the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. We haven't commented much on this case of late, simply because until very recently there's been a lot more speculation than story.

However, as Fitzmas Day approaches, a flurry of leaks last week indicate that the administration could be in deep doo-doo.

First the Washington Post reported that the prosecutor has focused on Dick Cheney and Lewis Libby:

As the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name hurtles to an apparent conclusion, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has zeroed in on the role of Vice President Cheney's office, according to lawyers familiar with the case and government officials.

In grand jury sessions, including with New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Fitzgerald has pressed witnesses on what Cheney may have known about the effort to push back against ex-diplomat and Iraq war critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, including the leak of his wife's position at the CIA, Miller and others said. But Fitzgerald has focused more on the role of Cheney's top aides, including Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, lawyers involved in the case said.

Uh oh. That doesn't bode well for Team Cheney.

And not long after that report was released, Raw Story learned that one of Cheney's aides may have spilled the beans to the prosecutor:

A senior aide to Vice President Dick Cheney is cooperating with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, sources close to the investigation say.

Individuals familiar with Fitzgerald’s case tell RAW STORY that John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from the offices of then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, John Bolton, was named as a target of Fitzgerald’s probe. They say he was told in recent weeks that he could face imminent indictment for his role in leaking Plame-Wilson's name to reporters unless he cooperated with the investigation.

Others close to the probe say that if Hannah is cooperating with the special prosecutor then he was likely going to be charged as a co-conspirator and may have cut a deal.

Kapow! But Team Cheney wasn't going to take that lying down. One day later, the New York Daily News reported that:

An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair, sources told the Daily News.

"He made his displeasure known to Karl," a presidential counselor told The News. "He made his life miserable about this."

(snip)

Bush has always known that Rove often talks with reporters anonymously and he generally approved of such contacts, one source said.

But the President felt Rove and other members of the White House damage-control team did a clumsy job in their campaign to discredit Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, the ex-diplomat who criticized Bush's claim that Saddam Hussen tried to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger.

A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President.

"Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way," the source said.

Score three points for Team Cheney. Bush, of course, has maintained from the very beginning that "I don't know all the facts. I want to know all the facts. I would like this to end as quickly as possible. If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." So if the Daily News story turns out to be true, it looks like Bush may have just had his very own Monica Moment.

But the game's not over yet - late in the week, the Associated Press reported that:

Top White House aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby discussed their contacts with reporters about an undercover CIA officer in the days before her identity was published, the first known intersection between two central figures in the criminal leak investigation.

Rove told grand jurors it was possible he first heard in the White House that Valerie Plame, wife of Bush administration Joseph Wilson, worked for the CIA from Libby's recounting of a conversation with a journalist, according to people familiar with his testimony.

Which the Los Angeles Times followed shortly afterwards with:

Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff was so angry about the public statements of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a Bush administration critic married to an undercover CIA officer, that he monitored all of Wilson's television appearances and urged the White House to mount an aggressive public campaign against him, former aides say.

Those efforts by the chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, began shortly after Wilson went public with his criticisms in 2003. But they continued into last year - well after the Justice Department began an investigation in September 2003, into whether administration officials had illegally disclosed the CIA operative's identity, say former White House aides.

Slam! Touchdown, Team Bush. Can you imagine how uncomfortable it must be inside the White House right now?

ROVE: Hi Scooter.

LIBBY: Hi Karl.

ROVE: So, uh, see you later then.

LIBBY: Right. Later.

ROVE: Jackass.

LIBBY: Moron.

For his part, George W. Bush dismissed the oncoming political hurricane as "background noise," "chatter," and "a lot of speculation and opining." But, he said, "The American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to."

Thanks, George. Let us know when you plan to start.