Fitzgerald Gets a New Boss

Posted on August 9, 2005

Michael Isikoff of Newsweek points out how a personnel changes at the Justice Department that could affect the investigation of the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name.

The departure this week of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who has accepted the post of general counsel at Lockheed Martin, leaves a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey was the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recused, department officials say they are still trying to resolve whom Fitzgerald will now report to. Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum is "likely" to be named as acting deputy A.G., a DOJ official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter tells Newsweek.

But McCallum may be seen as having his own conflicts: he is an old friend of President Bush's and a member of his Skull and Bones class at Yale. One question: how much authority Comey's successor will have over Fitzgerald. When Comey appointed Fitzgerald in 2003, the deputy granted him extraordinary powers to act however he saw fit -� but noted he still had the right to revoke Fitzgerald's authority.

So, Fitzgerald gets a new boss who may not let him investigate Plamegate to its ultimate resolution. In fact, his new boss could fire him or transfer him somewhere else. Or he could recuse himself if it turns out that he is too close to subjects who are under investigation by the grand jury. This should be interesting.

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