We still can't say for certain what Patrick Fitzgerald and his deputies were telling a new grand jury Wednesday; with no witnesses testifying, there were no lawyers hanging around to offer self-serving leaks about the day's proceedings.
But here's a safe bet, as spelled out in both the New York Times and the Washington Post: Fitzgerald was simply getting a new batch of grand jurors up to speed on the case so that he can begin working with them on his continuing investigation into Karl Rove. Rove's lawyer says that his client's status hasn't changed since October -- when Rove wasn't indicted but apparently had been warned that he might be -- and one legal expert tells the Post that Fitzgerald's appearance before a second grand jury "is certainly a sign that the investigation is active."
It will remain active today, as Fitzgerald takes the deposition of Viveca Novak, the Time reporter who is said to have alerted Rove's lawyer to the fact that Rove had leaked Valerie Plame's identity to Matthew Cooper at a time when Rove wasn't "remembering" any such conversation and Cooper and Time were fighting to keep it secret. The Post says Fitzgerald has already taken the deposition of Bob Woodward, who belatedly revealed that somebody in the Bush administration leaked Plame's identity to him even before Scooter Libby dished to Judy Miller.
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