Posted on 07/14/2005 9:13:31 PM PDT by HAL9000
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Presidential confidant Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA operative originally from journalists, then informally discussed the information with a Time magazine reporter days before the story broke, according to a person briefed on the testimony.The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.
Rove testified that Novak originally called him the Tuesday before Plame's identity was revealed in July 2003 to discuss another story. The conversation eventually turned to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was strongly criticizing the Bush administration's Iraq war policy and the intelligence it used to justify the war, the source said.
The person said Rove testified that Novak told him he had learned and planned to report in a weekend column that Wilson's wife, Plame, had worked for the CIA, and the circumstances on how her husband traveled to Africa to check bogus claims of alleged nuclear material sales to Iraq.
Novak's column, citing two Bush administration officials, appeared six days later, touching off a political firestorm and leading to a federal criminal investigation into who leaked Plame's undercover identity. That probe has ensnared presidential aides and reporters in a two-year legal battle.
Rove told the grand jury that by the time Novak had called him, he believes he had similar information about Wilson's wife from another reporter but had no recollection of which reporter had told him about it first, the source said.
When Novak inquired about Wilson's wife working for the CIA, Rove indicated he had heard something like that, according to the source's recounting of the grand jury testimony.
Rove told the grand jury that four days later, he had a phone conversation with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper and _ in an effort to discredit some of Wilson's allegations _ told Cooper that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, though he never used her name.
An e-mail Cooper recently provided the grand jury shows Cooper reported to his magazine bosses that Rove had described Wilson's wife in a confidential conversation as someone who "apparently works" at the CIA.
Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, said Thursday his client truthfully testified to the grand jury and expected to be exonerated.
"Karl provided all pertinent information to prosecutors a long time ago," Luskin said. "And prosecutors confirmed when he testified most recently in October 2004 that he is not a target of the investigation."
Rove's conversation with Cooper took place five days after Wilson suggested in a New York Times opinion piece that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. Novak's column identifying Wilson's wife as a CIA employee and Cooper's magazine piece came out a few days later.
Pressed to explain its statements of two years ago that Rove wasn't involved in the leak, the White House refused to do so this week.
"If I were to get into discussing this, I would be getting into discussing an investigation that continues and could be prejudging the outcome of the investigation," McClellan said.
I suppose "More of the same" means the truth actually comes out, huh?
It must be hell for them to deal with........LOL.
Some 'Rat senator on Fox (Reigal?) is still saying Rove should be fired. Someone needs to pass him some more Kool-Aid, he's determined to make himself the Senate Idiot.
He'ssssss mmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeellllllllllltttttttttttiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg!
He's a little late to the party, isn't he?
I'm wondering if Valerie didn't leak more widely, given the people that her husband was being paid by.
What if Fitzgerald's inquiry is expanding to see what CIA intelligience was going the 'other way.'
I think Wilson may be doing all of this posturing and whining to set up his scenario that the Bushies are picking on him by indicting his wife somewhere down the road....
They have some twisted game plan in the works. We need to look ahead to see what their end game is, imo.
Pinz
LOL--wonder what his DU screen-name is? He's probably joining the pity party over there!
It would be interesting if our gal Val was also the leaker for the Muslim charities leak to the now jailed Ms. Miller.
I see you are enjoying this as much as I am.......LOL.
I await Novak's column blowing the lid off this thing!
If there's a God in heaven, PLEASE let it be Joe Wilson's fault!
>>>>So why were these folks so dead set against going to war with Iraq? What was their motive? Were they afraid that all the talk of Saddam's WMD would be found out to have been a lie? Or were they truly afraid Saddam would use them against us? >>>>>
Or were they all getting regulr payments from the Oil-for-Food program?
Pinz
I think you are well on the way to uncovering why Miller is really sitting in jail. The investigation moved away from Rove long ago.
Cooper's 11th hour shenanigans was more smoke and mirrors, imo. But designed to make us all think the GJ is still stuck on Rove.
Pinz
Novak's original column was written because of he wondered why Wilson was selected in the first place.
His background didn't qualify him-but his name was submitted by his wife and he was selected for the assignment.
Who else was considered, and why was Wilson selected as being the best candidate?
Now that connection is darn near a four lane highway!
One can only hope.
Pinz
Who selected Wilson? Who paid his expenses?
Was this a convenient bit of additional business while he was there on other matters? A cover for less savory deals he was/is working on?
Who has Wilson's allegience? He's up to his neck (not to mention his wallet) in relationships, both business and personal with people who operate on the seamy side of the road.
What 'venture' was his trip originally about? We have seen for 2 years how he willingly twists and turns things to suit his short-term goals. I can't help but wonder what his long-term goals are.
Pinz
So all we have to do is link Kristof to Miller (other than the screamingly obvious link of both being at the NYT).
DESERVES ITS OWN THREAD, DON'T YOU THINK?
Timeout, do you have a link to that VF article?
Thanks!
One other point I have wondered about: what kinds of information did Plame have access to within the CIA and in her (supposed) position with Counterproliferation?
Was she in a position to pass information on to Wilson as ammunition in his public posturing and statements against President Bush and the administration, was it part of a plan by divisions of the CIA to force the WH/Administration to address particular areas they were ignoring, or maybe as retribution?
The MSM are dupes most of the time. I don't think it would be that hard to lead them to certain conclusions. (I state the obvious!)
I saw that thread the other day, and it made all of this shift a bit in my mind.
This is SOOOOO not about Karl Rove. Rove is collateral, something for the DUs to focus their puny little brains on.
Wilson is involved in bigtime shadiness, even if he's completely legit, which I would doubt, given all the sweat pouring off of him yesterday.
Remember the dizzyness you felt when you were trying to comprehend the possibility of all the mess with Whitewater being true? And hoping it was not because the implications were mind boggling?
That article made the same impact. We're looking at international collections of people hell-bent on accumulating money/power/whatever, and willing to kill off all of us little people in the process. I think we're looking at another face of E-V-I-L.
I still think Fitzgerald is looking closely at the Plame-Wilsons. And that's why Joe was sweating so bad, as he was trying to tapdance out a plausible scapegoat.
Pinz
Pinz
"I bet it was Wilson himself that leaked it. What an idiot, didn't want to tell his wife it is an idiot, so he is playing dumb. "
He HAD to have been the leaker to the press. After all, he was the one flogging the dead horse about Bush lying, so he had to puff himself up and must have insinuated that hiw wife was CIA to the press he was in cahoots with.
>>>>what kinds of information did Plame have access to within the CIA and in her (supposed) position with Counterproliferation? >>>>>
I've been wondering this myself....
They bought off Scott Ritter pretty effectively, which allowed Saddam to do what he wanted with WMD. Clinton even helped out with withdrawing all of the inspectors, didn't he? (And all the OIl-for-Food money to spead around to friends)
Is it just coincidence that Plame worked the WMD desk? Could she have been funneling info in both directions? Did Saddam use that info to hide the weapons he did have? (And it does seem more and more like CIA is compromised with political operatives.)
It's interesting that of all of the opposing arguments that might be made for the Iraq war, WMD is the one the left settled on across the board. Even though they were fine with Clinton's bombing during impeachment, which was rationalized with WMD arguments.
So I have to wonder if they're all playing this game together, tracking WMD, hiding WMD, and knowing that it's safe to rail about it. Wilson seems to know many of the bad people who know the other bad people in the know. Plame is only one person removed from all of that.
Kind of makes me wonder who was setting up whom.... Could it be that WIlson fell into a trap that the wily Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld team designed? =:-0
Pinz
"She made no bones about the fact that she was an agency employee and her husband was a diplomat," Fred Rustmann, a covert agent from 1966 to 1990, told The Washington Times.
What should really be investigated is how can a CIA agent, such as Valerie Plame abuse her position to send her husband, a totally unqualified person to check on important information, and who was doing it for political reasons in the first place. Can you imagine the outcry, if a Republican had done this?
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