Cooper Email Identifies Rove as "A" Source

WSJ ^ | 7/10/05 | JOE HAGAN

[harpu]

-snip-

That said, the disclosure that Mr. Bush's top political strategist discussed the CIA employment of Mr. Wilson's wife amounts to a political embarrassment for Mr. Rove and the White House. A presidential spokesman had previously given what appeared to be an unequivocal public assurance that Mr. Rove hadn't been involved in the disclosure of Ms. Plame as a CIA operative. Discovery that earlier denials may have been carefully parsed would represent another blow to the administration's credibility, compounding damage from the underlying issue that initially brought Mr. Wilson into the spotlight.

Mr. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, last week denied that Mr. Rove had contacted Mr. Cooper last Wednesday, and said that when Mr. Rove spoke to Mr. Cooper two years ago, "Karl didn't disclose Valerie Plame's identification to anyone. That's not a technical statement. That's as practical and direct as I can make it." He also told The Wall Street Journal that Mr. Rove had never asked any reporter to treat him as a confidential source in the matter, "so if Matt Cooper is going to jail to protect a source, it's not Karl he's protecting."

Yesterday, Mr. Luskin explained that Mr. Rove, like other White House officials, had signed a document provided by Mr. Fitzgerald in December 2003, allowing reporters to testify about conversations with him. On Wednesday, before Mr. Cooper was headed to court and a possible jail term, his attorney, Richard Sauber, called Mr. Luskin and asked for reassurance that the earlier waiver encompassed Mr. Rove's discussions with Mr. Cooper. If so, Mr. Sauber sought more express consent. Mr. Luskin checked with Mr. Fitzgerald as to whether more specific consent was necessary, and then gave that consent to Mr. Cooper, who said last week that he received the permission in "somewhat dramatic fashion."

[Mo1]

Good for Deborah Orin for stating the facts about Joe Wilson

E.J. Dionne jumped on her for mentioning it also

[Mo1]

BTW ... is there a copy of this email so that we can see it?

[Fedora]

I didn't see Hardball, so thanks for filling me in. I think the Dems have been trying to concoct a pretext for another Watergate for a while now, with Halliburton being another example of how far they'll reach to contrive an appearance of scandal. Watergate was the "glory days" for Kennedy, Clinton, and Kerry and their left-wing media supporters like Hersh and Pincus, but they don't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more, so they're trying their best to turn Bush into a new Nixon, and if that doesn't work they'll settle for Cheney or Rove as a new Agnew/Kissinger. And they'd love to use some trumped-up prisoner abuse scandal to stick Rumsfeld with a "My Lai II". I seriously think the Democratic left is fixated--in a clinical sense--on hating Nixon, and they're perpetually stuck in the mental timewarp of a neverending rerun called "That 70s War".

[Fedora]

I've only seen the clips from the online version of Isikoff's article. I don't know if the whole email has been reproduced elsewhere. I'd like to see that, too.

[Mo1]

I'm watching Count Down ... they just showed more of the clip of David Gregory and Terry Moron jumping all over Scot McClelland ..

Gregory flat out asked Scott if he thinks Rove commented a crime ..

Scott's response was that he wasn't going to respond to an on going investigation .. that was when Moran jumped in

By the look on Scott's face was TICKED OFF

IMO .. the media is trying to turn this around .. this is a set up

[Mo1]

Grrr

commented a crime = committed a crime

[MJY1288]

I'll have to watch the replay at 11:00

[mystery-ak]

WOW...great post.....welcome to FR

[M. Thatcher]

Rove leaked the identity of a CIA official

Not.

[RobRoy]

This is getting downright hilarious.

[MJY1288]

Excellent report, you put into one post that many of us had written in 200+ posts.

IMHO the special prosecutor will be asking the Grand Jury to indict the Handsome and dashing Joe Wilson and his lovely Wife Val, as well as Val's ex Boss

[MJY1288]

The one thing about this whole saga that has laways caused me to refer to Joe Wilson as a FRAUD is the simple little fact that when Joe Wilson went to Niger, the Itilian Document was not in the picture. Yet Wilson cites the document as part of the reason he went to Niger

[ken21]

i think it was ann coulter who said that

it was common knowledge in washington d.c. that

plame drove her car to the cia. so, apparently she worked there.

[Mo1]

IMHO the special prosecutor will be asking the Grand Jury to indict the Handsome and dashing Joe Wilson and his lovely Wife Val, as well as Val's ex Boss

After watching what the Press did to Scott McClelland today and then Harry Reid's comments

I can't wait to see that

[Laverne]

Ithink you are spot on; this whole investigation is beyond the Plame game and into the forgeries.

[McGavin999]

Why is this even a story? This is less of a scandal than Whitewater.

Because they have to get the London bombings off the front pages before the American people remember there's a terrorist threat.

[mystery-ak]

If you are the target of the SP/GJ does he have to inform you and your lawyer?..

[McGavin999]

Everybody in town knew she worked for the CIA. How is that "leaking"?

[MJY1288]

The 2 MAJOR questions I have with this whole case is.....

1) HOW did the forged document end up being used as reference material in Colin Powell's written statement to the U.N.?

2)And who was behind this obvious sabotage?

For the above reasons is why Jack Straw said he could not share their Intelligence with the United States. That's because it was obvious that there was a MOLE in our State Department and/or CIA. THESE ARE SERIOUS CHARGES and the cry for Rove's head is almost laughable to me

[MJY1288]

This is why Joe Wilson is calling the whole investigation "A Sham", he knows they are looking at him and his wife. Plus her ex boss. <p.I believe before this over we will Joe Wilson and his Wife doing the Perp walk