- Home
- About Us
- Contributors
- Departments
- Topics
- Back Issues
- Weekly Archives
- AmSpecBlog
- Subscribe
- Newsletter
- Advertise
- Donate
- Contact Us
- Daily Digest
- Templeton Essays
AmSpecBlog
A Prediction
Official Washington buzzes with the prediction Karl Rove will be indicted this week. Now is a good time to buck the buzz and predict he will not.
Just from reading the verbose news reports one can gather that the chances of an indictment for Rove are minimal. For one, though the press reports that lawyers (unnamed) say he has been told he is in "serious" danger, this loose language is insufficient to conclude indictment is near. I have yet to see it reported that Rove has been notified that he is a "target" of an investigation by the prosecutor, which according to the Justice Department guidelines is mandatory if he were in "serious" danger. Nor does it appear that he has even been notified that he falls into that far lesser category, namely, "subject" of an investigation. For another thing, the only problem with Rove's grand jury testimony that we are aware of is that during one of his grand jury appearances he neglected to mention a meeting with a reporter. It is unlikely that this omission could constitute grounds for an indictment. Innocent failure to recall when not asked a specific question is not a crime. When Rove was asked specifically about the meeting he apparently acknowledged it.
Thus my guess is Rove goes free. Karl, take the week off and clean up your garage or head for the beach.
Bob Tyrrell is founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. His books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn't Work: Social Democracy's Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; and The Clinton Crack-Up.
He makes frequent appearance on national television and is a nationally syndicated columnist, whose articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Washington Times, National Review, Harper's, Commentary, The (London) Spectator, Le Figaro (Paris), and elsewhere.
Bob is also an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute and a contributing editor to the New York Sun.