Kevin Drum offers a very plausible account of what could have driven the White House into such criminal recklessness in the Plame affair: the fear that Joseph Wilson might convince people that the White House knew the Yellowcake Road documents were forgeries before the 2003 State of the Union address with its famous “sixteen words.”
If that’s the truth, it might be relevant at a trial about the unmasking of Plame or its cover-up. I’d like nothing better. But as I read it, even if Fitzgerald had proof that, say, Dick Cheney had personally forged the documents, Fitzgerald lacks the authority to charge Cheney with that crime. He could, of course, ask for additional authority or refer matters beyond his scope back to the Justice Department for additional investigation and prosecution.