NYT: Fitzgerald Struggling

The NYTimes, in a story utterly devoid of the words "Judith" or "Miller," has just reported that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is leaning against filing a report on his findings in the Plame Game nano-scandal, a sign that he is leaning towards indictments or no action.

According to the NYT, that means indictments because no action would "set off a political firestorm" -- an interesting comment, since the nano-scandal to date has not been capable of generating anything more than local squalls inside the Beltway.

Says the Times:

Some of the lawyers in the case [read: Fitzgerald staffers] say Mr. Fitzgerald seems to be wrestling with decisions about how to proceed, leaning toward indictments but continuing to weigh thousands of pages of documents and testimony he has compiled during the nearly two-year inquiry.

In recent days, Mr. Fitzgerald has repeatedly told lawyers in the case that he has not made up his mind about criminal charges.

Knowing the risks of trying to read anything into DC leak strategies, this passage seems to underscore what has been the problem all along: In this case, an indictment might be easy enough, but a conviction is a remote possibility.

h/t Memeorandum