Plamegate: Rove Indictment On the Way?

According to Jason Leopold of t r u t h o u t: "Sources said that Fitzgerald is now preparing the paperwork to present to a grand jury outlining the charges against Rove in hopes of securing an indictment." (You can read more about the history of the investigation into Rove's role in the Plame Affair here.)

It's well known that Fitzgerald runs a very tight ship resulting in very few leaks, so these latest revelations - if true - must be considered as being quite significant.

Leopold states that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald knew the identity of the leaker just one month after he began his investigation and that he "shifted gears and started to build a perjury and obstruction of justice case against White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby".

Leopold also reveals that the cooperating witness within the White House, who could bring down Rove and Libby, is John Hannah - who I wrote about over at Booman Tribune last October when speculation about his behind the scenes involvement was reaching a fever pitch.

Leopold writes:

That month, Justice Department investigators working on the leak case approached a senior official in the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney who had been identified by witnesses as having played a major role in the Plame Wilson leak.

The Bush administration official was given an ultimatum: either cooperate with the special counsel's probe or face criminal charges for his involvement in the leak, attorneys close to the case said.

The senior official decided to cooperate with the investigation and told Fitzgerald that Libby and Rove spoke to reporters about Plame Wilson, the attorneys said.

The official has been identified by attorneys and four current and former White House officials as John Hannah, a senior national security aide on loan to Vice President Dick Cheney from then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton.
[...]
Hannah was named Cheney's national security adviser the day Libby was indicted.

At the time Hannah's appointment was announced, it was believed that he was being rewarded for either doing Cheney's bidding by leaking Plame's name or for his cooperation with Fitzgerald's investigation. The internal politics still aren't clear, but we may now be one step closer to understanding exactly what did happen.

(Hat tip to BooMan for pointing the way to the Leopold article.)