1 Boring Old Man

There’s something kind of strange going on in the comments section of The Next Hurrah of a post by emptywheel – "You Could Write a Book on the Bad Journalism". A commenter called "charles" jumps in with this:

Good morning readers of The Next Hurrah

This is my first time commenting here. I feel it necessary to do so today. There will be a new wrinkle in this investigation soon, however, I cannot say whether it will help or hurt. I can tell all of you unequivocally that Jason Leopold, the reporter, has obtained raw copies of Grand Jury testimony that will likely see him having reported accurately on Karl Rove’s truly being indicted and the after-the-indictment deal hammered out between the prosecution and Mr. Rove’s attorney. I believe the letter to Mr. Luskin Mr. Leopold obtained will confirm that. But more importantly, in my opinion, the grand jury testimony that Mr. Leopold has–and may I add that whoever provided it to him did so illegally–has some very, very interesting information about VP Cheney and a certain individual at the CIA who used to work for John Bolton. If Leopold prints this story and provides copies of the testimony it will add yet another layer to this drama.

I speak about this based on second hand information. I know Mr. Leopold has been in Washington the past two weeks authenticating documents. Perhaps Mr. Leopold does not realize that the Beltway rivals Los Angeles as the gossip mecca of the US. Some of the attorneys and US Congressman he has been speaking with have thus shared his information with others.

I have not seen any of the materials first hand, but if what one of my Democratic aides to a particular Midwest congressman says is true all hell is about to break loose.

For those not clear about the contraversy over Jason Leopold, there’s a reasonable summary in the Wikipedia article on him. He reported that Patrick Fitzgerald was going to indict Karl Rove in the online magazine t r u t h o u t. It didn’t happen. The story was widely discredited, but t r u t h o u t stuck with it, claiming that the indictment was sealed – sealed vs sealed. Comes now "charles" with his revelation in the comments of a post about something else, Robert Novak. While the other commenters were largely skeptical, the cryptic "charles" stuck to his story, signing off with:

To the commenter Jeff, I believe you are mistaken in your premise. That report, at least the way I have been briefed, can very well be confirmed. Having worked in Washington for many years there have been instances when a story or even a rumor is later confirmed. That is not uncommon. Additionally, it is not uncommon for a reporter to obtain legal documents. And to the commenter pow wow, I agree with you. I have warned my legislative associate that reporting the information, while it will be seen as a vindication for Leopold in the personal sense, would hurt the integrity of the ongoing investigation.

I completely understand the skepticism regarding my credibility. I would rather withhold from providing additional information about myself. As I said earlier, I was asked to post a comment here by a well-known person in order for a dialogue to be entered into about these developments. I have now commented more than I had expected and certainly in more detail than was asked of me. I bid you all a good evening and the best of luck in your pursuit for justice.

It makes interesting reading. Who knows whether this is a scoop or a scam, a leak or a lark. Looks like we’ll know the answer to that pretty soon…