So John Ashcroft announced yesterday that he is recusing himself from the Plame case and appointing a special prosecutor. The Post article is filled with quotes from people speculating on the meaning of this move. On the one hand, some, like Floyd Abrams, suggest it means the investigation is zeroing in on a politcal appointee as a suspect. Others, like unnamed Republican legal sources, claim the move gives the administration political cover if the investigation does not end up prosecuting someone.
I tend to agree with the Republican sources here. I was surprised the administration didn't urge this when the investigation first came to light. With Ashcroft leading the investigation either a senior administration official would be criminally prosecuted, (a huge embarrasment to the administration to say the least), or they would be accused of covering it up. Still, if they weren't going to name a special prosecutor immediately, I'm not surprised they did it now. The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is an excellent time to release bad press. I actually expected that a scape-goat would have come forward this week. If that happened, it would get some press, but the story would be, to the extent possible, out-of-mind by the summer. Now the administration is once again faced this summer with either an embarrasing announcement of a suspect or cries of why the culprit had yet to be found. The "it's tough to track down a leak" bit just isn't going to carry much weight, especially if Novak is not subpoenaed.
UPDATE: Josh Marshall's take on this disagrees with my conclusions and reasoning. He dismisses out-of-hand that Ashcroft could have suddenly wisened up to the political danger of not recusing himself. As for the timing, he points out that today would have made more sense than yesterday if he had full control of when to release the news. Good point. Anyway I hope he's right and we see indictments soon.
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