Minneapolis' City Pages has a good primer on RoveGate. A sample:

Who are the targets of the inquiry?

With apologies to Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, who has insisted the special prosecutor told him his client was not a "target" of the investigation, Rove clearly is a target. So is Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby. Both have been named in multiple grand jury leaks in recent weeks, though they may not be the only administration figures facing possible charges. Other Cheney staffers, most notably national security aide John Hannah, have been mentioned in press and blog accounts, and recent leaks [1] [2] hint that former press secretary Ari Fleischer may be on the short list too.

The Wall Street Journal reports today (free article) that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald could extend the term of the grand jury by six months. But there is little information other than speculation by outside lawyers as to whether he will.

The article also contains this statement.

Lawyers for both Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby said in recent days that prosecutors haven't told them their clients are targets of the investigation.

Would Fitzgerald notify the lawyers of their clients' changed status? I don't think so. Here are the rules from the U.S. Attorney's Manual on notification to targets.

Press release out today....26 Senators have written a letter to the House Speaker and Majority Leader of Congress calling for a Congressional investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame. Here's part:

The United States Congress has a constitutional responsibility to provide oversight of the executive branch, whether a law has been broken or not. It is time for Congress to fulfill that constitutional responsibility in this matter by initiating a thorough investigation.

We recognize that a criminal investigation is underway and that a special prosecutor continues to present testimony before a grand jury. These actions in no way preclude Congress’ responsibility to provide oversight. We urge you to exercise your authority as Congressional leaders by requesting the appropriate committees to begin oversight hearings and an investigation immediately.

The Senators named in the letter

Bump and Update: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared on CBS's Face the Nation this morning and responded to Frank Rich's column about a connection between his delay of 12 hours in notifying white house officials of their need to preserve e-mails and records in the Plame investigation and Bush's decision to pass over him for the Supreme Court. In doing so, he disclosed for the first time that the night he got the order, he passed it on to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Crooks and Liars has the video.

”After getting notification from the Justice Department about 8 p.m. that night, he asked if he could inform staffers at the White House early in the morning , and that was okayed. Schieffer then asked if he at least informed anyone at the White House that first night to “get ready” for the order. Yes, Gonzales said, he told the president’s chief of staff that night, and then the president himself “first thing” the next day.

[hat tip to Patriot Daily.]

So, Gonzales told Card immediately. Did Card tell anyone else? He's known as a straight shooter, but one has to ask. Think Progress has a lot more.

A week ago, I tried to connect some dots about who was on Air Force One from July 7 - 12, 2003 (Bush's trip to Africa) by checking some African news reports. Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Ari Fleisher, Deputy Foreign Secretary for Africa Walter Kansteiner, and Andrew Card were for sure on the trip. Karl Rove and Lewis Libby for sure weren't.

Scout Prime has picked up the ball and is running with it. She's now trying to find out if Powell's chief of staff White House Communications Director, Dan Bartlett was on the plane. Needlenose is also on the case. [Update: Bartlett was on the plane, Scout has pictures of him there]

Here are the text of the witness statements at today's hearing, “A Special Joint Oversight Hearing On The National Security Consequences of Disclosing the Identity of a Covert Intelligence Officer”, held jointly by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and the House Government Reform Committee Minority. All are in pdf format:

• James Marcinkowski,
  Former CIA Case Officer
• Larry Johnson,
  Former CIA Analyst
• Ret. Col. W. Patrick Lang,
  Former Director, Defense Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Service
• Senator Byron Dorgan,
  Chairman, Democratic Policy Committee

Via Atrios, from Steve Clemons at The Washington Note:

TWN has just learned from a highly placed source -- and in the right place to know -- that John Bolton was a regular source for Judith Miller's New York Times WMD and national security reports.

The source did not have any knowledge on whether Bolton was one of Miller's sources on the Valerie Plame story she was preparing, but argues that he was a regular source otherwise.

by TChris

Morale at the nation's intelligence agencies can't be helped by the knowledge that the president won't fire Karl Rove for leaking Valerie Plame's identity unless Rove is actually convicted of a crime. Former intelligence officers testified today that the president's inaction is jeopardizing national security.

In a hearing held by Senate and House Democrats examining the implications of exposing Valerie Plame's identity, the former intelligence officers said Bush's silence has hampered efforts to recruit informants to help the United States fight the war on terror. Federal law forbids government officials from revealing the identity of an undercover intelligence officer.

"I wouldn't be here this morning if President Bush had done the one thing required of him as commander in chief -- protect and defend the Constitution," said Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst. "The minute that Valerie Plame's identity was outed, he should have delivered a strict and strong message to his employees."

Johnson is a Republican, and he says he expects "better behavior out of Republicans." Don't we all? How long will it take the Rove machine to smear Johnson as a disgruntled bum? Or this retired colonel:

Over at Huffington Post, here is Larry O'Donnell's latest on Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's attorney.

With all the new articles mentioning grand jury testimony in RoveGate, here's some information I thought might be helpful for the non-lawyers analyzing the leaks by unnamed sources. It's not meant as legal advice, and I'm sure somewhere there will be a lawyer that can think of an exception, but generally, here's the deal on trying to figure out which side the leaks are coming from.

The key is Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Here's another key: If someone says they reviewed a grand jury transcript of anyone's testimony, it's a leak from someone now or formerly on Fitzgerald's team.

If someone says they are familiar with, or were briefed on the testimony (but doesn't mention seeing reading the transcript) it's probably the defense or allied Republican lawyers trying to help their "Administration official" friends.

Here's Bloomberg's Update Two today on RoveGate. Tom Maguire parses it out.

TalkLeft's detailed post on Ari is here.

David Corn says Ari won't reveal who his lawyer is? How come?

Karl Rove One: I never disclosed Valerie Plame's identity.
Karl Rove Two: I never disclosed Valerie Plame's name
Karl Rove Three: I first heard it from a reporter, I can't remember which one.

Karl Rove's current version in today's New York Times:

People who have been briefed on the case said the White House officials, Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby, were helping prepare what became the administration's primary response to criticism that a flawed phrase about the nuclear materials in Africa had been in Mr. Bush's State of the Union address six months earlier.

They had exchanged e-mail correspondence and drafts of a proposed statement by George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, to explain how the disputed wording had gotten into the address. Mr. Rove, the president's political strategist, and Mr. Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, coordinated their efforts with Stephen J. Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser, who was in turn consulting with Mr. Tenet.