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A few days back, Patrick Fitzgerald wrapped up his investigation of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan (a Republican) with guilty verdicts on 18 counts of racketeering, mail and tax fraud, and mail fraud, making false statements. At the time I suggested Fitz's new freedom to focus almost exclusively on his Plame investigation might be making Libby and Rove a bit nervous...

Then, yesterday we get news that Rove has been "demoted" to a lesser position within the White House, his policy responsibilities reassigned so that he can focus on politics. I haven't yet blogged about the shake-up, but two things about it struck me as odd. First, it can't have been an accident that news of Rove's demotion was buried behind McLellan's surprise departure. If anything, its predicable that they'd try to take the heat off Rove. So no surprise there. But what was surprising was that there was no replacement named. Given that there was no urgent need for Scotty to go, you'd think they would have found his replacement before making the announcement, no? After all, that's usually how this sort of thing works. It all just sort of struck me as a bit rushed...

My initial suspicion, one that I haven't blogged until now, was that Scotty was pushed, and that he was pushed for a specific reason. They needed somebody fairly high profile to take the fall, and they needed it to happen quickly. They needed to manufacture a distraction. WH Press Secretary is a position you should be able to fill quickly, and rumors had already been circulating that he might leave for personal reasons this year, so... If you're going to offer up a sacrifice, he'd seem to be a logical choice.

The second thing that struck me as odd was how quickly this reshuffling came after Ryan's convictions. Again, it was nothing more than a hunch, but it seemed to fit. Scotty was offered up as a distraction, one that would allow Rove to move to a position with a lesser profile without much public comment. Because Rove is, you know... still in Fitz's sights.

But it was all a hunch... Until now:

Just as the news broke Wednesday about Scott McClellan resigning as White House press secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove shedding some of his policy duties, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the grand jury hearing evidence in the CIA leak case and introduced additional evidence against Rove, attorneys and other US officials close to the investigation said. The grand jury session in federal court in Washington, DC, sources close to the case said, was the first time this year that Fitzgerald told the jurors that he would soon present them with a list of criminal charges he intends to file against Rove in hopes of having the grand jury return a multi-count indictment against Rove[...] Fitzgerald is said to have introduced more evidence Wednesday alleging Rove lied to FBI investigators and the grand jury when he was questioned about how he found out that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the CIA and whether he shared that information with the media, attorneys close to the case said. Fitzgerald told the grand jury that Rove lied to investigators and the prosecutor eight out of the nine times he was questioned about the leak and also tried to cover-up his role in disseminating Plame Wilson's CIA status to at least two reporters. Additionally, an FBI investigator reread to jurors testimony from other witnesses in the case that purportedly implicates Rove in playing a role in the leak and the campaign to discredit Plame Wilson's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose criticism of the Bush administration's pre-war Iraq intelligence lead to his wife being unmasked as a covert CIA operative.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, may I be the first to wish you a very VERY merry Fitzmas!

Anyone want to make any predictions about what a Rove-less White House might look like?

(edited for grammar/clarity)

UPDATE: Olbermann's Countdown led with the story tonight, offering much of the same speculation I offered above. My guess? I'd say Rove's got less than two weeks before he has to start preparing his defense.

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