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."

[MJY1288]

I'm not sure, from what I believe, all activities of the Grand Jury are kept secret

[MJY1288]

If you remember, Bill Clinton did not know Ken Starr and the Grand Jury were looking into his affair with Monica until Slick Willy and his Lawyers saw her name on the Paula Jones hearing. So my guess is that the GJ doesn't announce their direction

[mystery-ak]

God, I hope you're right re Wilson and his lovely wife doing a perp walk....It must have killed the MSM all weekend to sit on this story until today...they had to cover London dontcha know........I know I read on FR some time ago that a SP has to informed the subject that he is under investigation and that he is the target....I wish I could remember where I read it.

[MJY1288]

I should be a bit clearer,........ Slick Willy didn't know Ken Starr and the GJ were looking into his affair with Monica unil her name showed up on the Witness list in the Paul Jones case

[mystery-ak]

That's right...I forgot about that...so much for my theory...or is it....hmmmmm

[razorback-bert]

Discovery that earlier denials may have been carefully parsed would represent another blow to the administration's credibility

Hmmm, I never saw this statement during X-42's reign.

[MJY1288]

For me there is simply way too many flaws in Joe Wilson's story and I'm just a Body Shop owner, imagine what a special prosecutor and a team of investigators can figure out.

This was an inside job to sabotage the Bush Administration reputation and it did great harm to the United States and our effort to confront the real threat that Saddam posed.

Wait until the Oil for food scandal gets linked into this (and it will) and that's when the arrests will start happening. These (ret) State Dept and CIA people were trying to prevent us going into Iraq for a reason!!!!!

[MJY1288]

How much do you want to bet that one or more of the Middle Eastern Companies Joe Wilson was giving business advice to, just so happened to ink a lucrative deal with the Oil for Food Program?

[mystery-ak]

Nothing more will surprise me with Wilson, he and his wife are players in the DC crowd, but this may be one game they are in over their heads on.... I praying he's the target and won't the rats of the MSM have a stroke....I'm also praying that Rove is smart enough not to lie to the GJ

[John Lenin]

If Rove never said her name who did provide it ? Maybe Wilson himself ?

[MJY1288]

If those in the Media had any dirt on Karl Rove, it would have made the headlines before the election. Joe Wilson called the investigation a sham, because his lawyers saw the names on the witness list, that the only information they get. The Grand jury is deciding whether charges will be filed, there is no disclosure until the charges are actually filed :-)

Karl Rove's attorney is very confident that Rove is not the Focus, can Joe Wilson feel Rove is, when he calls the investigation a "Sham"?

To me! this probe by the Special Prosecutor has gotten much larger than "Who Leaked Valerie Plame's name to the Press" I am certain that the probe is looking at the whole story, and if I was the Special Prosecutor, I would void the Passports of Joe & Val the day before the Grand Jury hands down it's conclusion

[okie01]

This is ridiculous. both parties make arguments for "their guys" that even their guys don't make for themselves. Sandy Berger did wrong and so did Rove. I'm sure Bush, Sr. is really happy with Rove .You can do things that are wrong without it being a crime. Our standards are pretty low if "no crime was committed" is the standard.

What, I might ask, is wrong about revealing that Wilson's mission was not conducted at Cheney's (or Tenant's) behest -- which Wilson had claimed? And closing the circle by indicating it was the man's wife who authorized the mission?

Your statement presumes that Rove knew Plame was covert. There is absolutely no reason to believe he was at all aware that she had been covert, at one time.

This is almost certainly not a case of Rove doing anything wrong. Instead, it is a case where the left desperately wants people to believe that Rove did something criminal (though they'd settle for "wrong").

[mystery-ak]

I had a theory that this investigation by the GJ turned into a perjury rap, but now I'm not so sure...this has got to be more than lying to the GJ....

[okie01]

Very well done. You've effectively reprised an argument that many of us have grown tired of making.

[MJY1288]

I have never thought it was about lying to the GJ, this would have been over months ago. I believe the SP has asked and has gotten subpoenas on travel records, phone records,credit card records and CIA files related to Wilson's trip to Niger. This would lead to which reporters were talking to whom, and Judith Miller is not in jail because she wants to protect Karl Rove.

What I am hoping for is that this will expose just how far the left in this country will go to regain the power the voters took away from them. In the end, this is what the Joe Wilson story is about. Wilson's trip was nothing but an attempt to damage the Bush Administration and Wilson had no intentions of looking for any evidence, he went there to make the claim that there wasn't any.

JOE WILSON IS A FRAUD

[okie01]

This was an inside job to sabotage the Bush Administration reputation and it did great harm to the United States and our effort to confront the real threat that Saddam posed.

And we even know when it might've been hatched. It happens that the Democrat Senatorial Policy group held a get together at one of the Senator's homes in January, 2003.

In re-hashing the drubbing that they'd taken the previous November, they resolved that they had to do something to specifically "chip away at the President's credibility".

It so happens that there were several guests at this meeting: Among them Paul Krugman of the NYTimes, Walter Pincus of the WaPo...and Joseph C. Wilson IV (whether representing himself, the Saudis or the dissidents in the CIA is unclear).

[af_vet_1981]

A source of what, though?

Rove was not the source. He was the target. That is why Cooper and Miller were willing to go to jail instead of testifying. Cooper blinked because he knew that the Special Counsel had the goods. He will either take the 5th (assumes he tried to frame Rove), give someone else up, or take his chances on an indictment and the MSM to try to get himself a favorable jury. Notice the full court press by much of the liberal media ...

[YHAOS]

I've thought about what you say, and you may be right. Or the Grand Jury may indict one or more reporters for lying in their testamony. The only original thought in my head is that the Jury may throw the whole lot out as just a bunch of nonsense and bullroar.

I really haven't a clue about what's going to happen.

[YHAOS]

Like you, I've grown tired of this argument. But, I hadn't done anything with it since October of '03, so I thought, 'what the heck . . . once more for old time's sake.

[Just mythoughts]

Has the "E-mail" been published yet???

Wilson claimed in the beginning that there were 6 reporters who were given a call, when he named Rove, how did Wilson know what he knew? Could we call this a "VAST LEFT WING CONSPIRACY yet?