The new 'Did Karl Rove out Valerie Plame' thread

Revolt · Jul 8, 2005

Mods, feel free to merge w/ original - if you can find it.

Well, hidden amongst today's tragic stories about London, the Rove question is gaining traction:

[A] fast-moving series of decisions over the past week involving Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper have brought a renewed public focus on what role White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove may have played in disclosing the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
A White House spokesman long ago asserted that Rove was "not involved" in disclosing Plame's identity. Rove, who has testified before a grand jury investigating the case, likewise has maintained that he did not break the law, saying in a television interview, "I didn't know her name, and I didn't leak her name."

But Fitzgerald still appears to want more answers about Rove's role. The prosecutor is apparently focused on Rove's conversations with Cooper.
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Cooper on Wednesday agreed to testify in the case, reversing his long-standing refusal after saying that he had been released from his pledge of confidentiality just hours before he expected to be sent to jail for contempt of court. In an interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday, Luskin denied that Cooper had received a call from Rove releasing him from his confidentiality pledge. Yesterday, however, Luskin declined to comment [...] that the release came as a result of negotiations involving Rove's and Cooper's attorneys, nor would he speculate that Cooper was released from his pledge in some other fashion than a direct conversation with Rove. "I'm not going to comment any further," Luskin said.
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Revolt · Jul 8, 2005

I'm not making any predictions, but If I were a reep strategist, I would be quirming right now.

Mr. Cooper's decision to drop his refusal to testify followed discussions on Wednesday morning among lawyers representing Mr. Cooper and Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser, according to a person who has been officially briefed on the case. Mr. Fitzgerald was also involved in the discussions, the person said.

In his statement in court, Mr. Cooper did not name Mr. Rove as the source about whom he would now testify, but the person who was briefed on the case said that he was referring to Mr. Rove and that Mr. Cooper's decision came after behind-the-scenes maneuvering by his lawyers and others in the case.

Those discussions centered on whether a legal release signed by Mr. Rove last year was meant to apply specifically to Mr. Cooper, who by its terms would be released from any pledge of confidentiality he had made to Mr. Rove, the person said. Mr. Cooper said in court that he had agreed to testify only after he had received an explicit waiver from his source.

Richard A. Sauber, a lawyer for Mr. Cooper, said he would not discuss whether Mr. Cooper was referring to Mr. Rove, nor would he comment on discussions leading up to Mr. Cooper's decision.
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Ian McCracken · Jul 8, 2005

Is there any "new" news to justify this thread? Sounds like same-old, same-old.

Hard Karl · Jul 8, 2005

speculation speculation speculation

if rove wasn't involved with this particular stink I am sure he's been involved with stuff equally as sketchy.

NGV · Jul 10, 2005

There's a new Newsweek article on the case, which describes Cooper's email to his editors.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek/

The content is about what you'd expect from the comments by Rove's lawyer. Rove spoke to Cooper before the publication of Novak's newspaper column, telling him that Wilson's Niger report was suspect because his trip had been authorized by his wife, who worked for the CIA. But, no mention of the name "Valerie Plame" (or "Valerie Wilson," for that matter) and no indication that Rove knew of her covert status. It may contradict a previous reported claim by Rove that he didn't get involved in pushing this info until after Novak's column came out, but it's not clear exactly what Rove told investigators about that matter. According to sources close to Rove, there's no inconsistency between this evidence and Rove's previous testimony.

As I've said before, I suspect the question of how and where Rove got his info in the first place may be important. I tend to doubt that someone in his position would be normally expected to know about Valerie Plame's employment at the CIA, or about the internal agency deliberations that led to Wilson's trip to Niger.