Fitzgerald outs 20 Valerie Plames

[amadeus]

From our friends at The Smoking Gun.

JANUARY 7--In a remarkable screw-up, a Department of Justice official today accidentally distributed to the media a document containing the names of nearly 20 confidential witnesses interviewed during a federal probe targeting the operators of a fraudulent investment scheme. In announcing felony charges against two men for their roles in an alleged $15 million Ponziesque swindle, the spokesman for Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (he of Rod Blagojevich- and Scooter Libby-prosecuting fame) e-mailed reporters a 62-page U.S. District Court complaint filed against John Walsh and Charles Martin, principals of the now-defunct One World Capital Group. Included in the document was a one-page key that identified by name sources referred to in the complaint only by monikers such as "Employee A," "Customer D," or "Individual F." The inadvertent disclosure of the sources--former One World employees, customers, and "other" individuals who spoke with FBI and IRS agents--caused Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn to send an urgent follow-up email asking journalists to destroy the complaint due to the "non-public information disclosing the identities of persons not named in the affidavit." A copy of the source key, which we've strategically blurred, can be found here.

When does the investigation of Fitzgerald begin?

 

[Martacus]

Indeed. Who prosecutes the special prosecutors?

 

[Masquerouge]

I thought Valerie Plame was a spy, not a confidential witness?

 

[amadeus]

I thought Valerie Plame was a spy, not a confidential witness?

They're "covert" witnesses.

 

[VoodooAce]

If he released the names as a juvenile act of political spite like Dick, then sure......

 

[JerichoHill]

Umm, this was a screwup by his office,not by Fitz himself.

 

[amadeus]

If he released the names as a juvenile act of political spite like Dick, then sure......

Nah, just carelessness.

 

[emzie]

The investigation into who messed up probably began before you posted this thread.