REPORT: CHENEY'S CHIEF OF STAFF I. LIBBY JR. EXPECTED TO BE CHARGED WITH MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS

Here comes your 19th nervous breakdown...

Just got the headline in a Fox News email Alert, and we'll see...

UPDATE

FOXNews.com - Politics - Report: Libby to Be Charged in CIA Leak Probe

WASHINGTON — Working against the clock, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald (search) weighed criminal charges against top presidential aides at the end of a two-year investigation that put the White House in a state of high suspense Thursday night.

Fitzgerald raced against a Friday expiration of the grand jury that has been investigating the exposure of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame's (search) identity. Speculation flew across Washington about who would be indicted, or whether Fitzgerald would even bring criminal charges.

White House colleagues feared Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby (search), would be indicted Friday for at least false statements but held out hope that presidential political adviser Karl Rove (search) might escape criminal charges for the time being.

A person outside the legal profession familiar with recent developments in the case said Thursday night that Rove's team does not believe he is out of legal jeopardy yet but likely would be spared bad news Friday when the White House fears the first indictments will be issued.
Fitzgerald signaled Thursday he might keep Rove under continuing investigation, sparing him from immediate charges, the person said, speaking only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury probe."

Okay, so false statements it MIGHT be. He and Cheney are allowed to speak to one another or ANYONE else with a security clearance, but the charge would be that he spoke to a reporter about Ms Plame, and that'll be interesting for several reasons. Did he talk about her before her "covert" status became a moot point or after. Exactly what are the penalties for doing so, in this particular context, and on and on, none of which Fox was decent enough to include in their report. We'll know soon enough, it was just a childish reflex to be the first blogger reporting this "news".