Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, said he expects indictments this week in the CIA leak case involving White House advisers Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
Kristol said "the mood is bleak in the White House today,” and said the environment surrounding the federal grand jury testimony is "pretty grim.” Although the indictments may not ultimately result in anything substantive, Kristol said there is a pins-and-needles feel to the grand jury investigation into the leaking of a CIA agent's name to the media in 2003.
"The net has been cast wide,” Kristol told Fox News Tuesday. "Lots of junior aides have testified. It’s been a very comprehensive investigation by the prosecutor. I think there will be indictments and the mood is pretty bleak in the White House.”
As for what this means for President Bush and the daily working of the White House, Kristol said it is too early to tell.
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"The White House has to ask, ‘How do we segregate this?’ … This is a problem, but the legal system has to run its course.
"Meanwhile,” Kristol said, "the president has to take the initiative on foreign policy and economic policy and sort of set this aside.”