SHIELDING ROVE FROM PROSECUTION?

There may be more to a GOP proposal to "review" the CIA leak investigation than meets the eye. This excerpt originally appears in Wayne Madsen Reports, which has no permalinks, so it's siphoned through TalkLeft courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced that his commitee will be "reviewing" the criminal probe by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald of the White House leak of the identities of covert CIA agents. If Roberts is serious and not just grandstanding, this may indicate that the White House is looking to give Fitzgerald's targets (Karl Rove, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and others) congressional general immunity from prosecution in return for their testimony before Roberts' committee. This was the method by which John Poindexter and Oliver North were able to avoid jail time for their roles in Iran-contra, their convictions being overturned by a federal appeals court because of their previously granted congressional immunity.

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I'm not too worried about this myself because of reports that Fitzgerald will soon finish his investigation: the reason the Iran-Contra convictions were overturned was because the Congressional hearings which granted immunity occurred well before there were actual legal proceedings. That is, if I understand correctly, Poindexter and North's convictions were not overturned because of they had "immunity;" rather, it was their testimony before Congress that was made off limits to the courts, and the judges who threw out their convictions believed those protected statements were used against them while on trial. This Wikipedia article makes what I'm saying more clear:

Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted on multiple charges on March 16, 1988. North, indicted on nine counts, was initially convicted of three minor counts, although the conviction was later vacated upon appeal on the grounds that North's Fifth Amendment rights may have been violated. The violation was said to be the indirect use of his testimony to Congress which had been given under a grant of immunity. Poindexter was convicted on several felony counts of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and altering and destroying documents pertinent to the investigation. His convictions were also overturned on appeal on similar grounds as North's. The Independent Counsel chose not to re-try North or Poindexter.

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So Congressional hearings after the criminal investigation has run its course are not such a big deal as far tainted evidence is concerned. As long as the prosecution is diligent about sticking only with evidence gathered during its fact-finding probe, there should be no problem. I think. Like I said, anything could happen, but I do know that if something does happen, it won't go down like Iran-Contra.

Still, this GOP pledge to "review" Fitzgerald's investigation is troubling, if only because it reeks of an impending smear-job, which is ironic, because a smear-job is what got this whole thing rolling in the first place. On second thought, given the current Republican modus operandi regarding smear-jobs, it's probably not ironic at all.

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