Reply #8: The grand jury is the authority, ultimately, for the subpoenas. [View All]

The testimony that's commanded is for their benefit, not Fitzgerald's. Completely voluntary things, like depositions, can be requested. But unless the requests are granted, the prosecutor's stuck. His authority is derivative.

You don't know you have a case until you get the evidence and question the witnesses. For that, apart from exceptional cases in which the witness wants to give testimony and freely answer the questions--and the prosecutor's convinced that the answers were, indeed, complete--you need the GJ.

Fishing expeditions are fine and dandy things for a grand jury, as long as there's some suspicion that a crime took place. But 'suspicion' is far from 'thinking you have a case'.

Fitzgerald may well already know exactly what indictments he'll be requesting. He might have an inkling as to what the indictments might be. He might be acting the part of a thorough prosecutor, and making sure indictments aren't in the works.

Remember the great flurry of reports, almost all of which were completely wrong, before the first indictment was handed up? When he has something to say, he'll say it.