According to two paragraphs at the end of a long Reuters story, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which is chaired by Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, will “hold hearings on the use of espionage cover” and “review the probe of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has been investigating the Plame case for nearly two years.”

I’m no fan of Roberts, who has repeatedly dodged the White House’s manipulation of intelligence about weapons of mass destruction before the war in Iraq. But with the certainty of a scandal-mongering true believer, Josh Marshall quickly asserted that the order to investigate Fitzgerald came down from the White House:

Can any Senate Democrat not see now that Sen. Roberts only use for his committee is as a tool to defend the political interests of the White House? And will anybody deny that the decision to investigate Fitzgerald comes down on the orders of the White House?

And then in another post he did the same thing again:

And yet now we hear that [Roberts] plans to investigate Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation itself.

What this man won’t do when Karl Rove calls.

This is close to an accusation of obstruction of justice. And Marshall has no proof; he just asserts that the White House is involved. Didn’t Democrats used to object when the GOP acted like this during the Clinton years? It may turn out that the White House was involved, but who knows? Roberts may have decided to do this on his own. And that’s the point — we just don’t know.