I understand that she was once a covert agent, but the evidence points to her having been known (in Washington social circles) as a CIA agent. The very fact that she was widely known to work at the CIA means Rove couldn't have possibly "outted" her. All he did was state that Wilson had been sent to Africa on her recommendation, which was true.
Wilson had been shown to be a liar and he, the democrats and their mouthpiece MSM wanted to try and embarrass the Administration. So they threw up the "outted" allegations, and they got caught in their own liars web.
There's no way I have ant sympathy for the creeps......
Why go down that road, though? Both Cooper and Rove say that Rove did not say she was covert. Heck, Rove did not even know she was covert, so how could he have outted her? You don't even get to the question of whether someone outted her before Rove. Rove did not do it.
It's simple.