Posted on 10/07/2005 3:27:53 PM PDT by frankjr
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally assured President Bush in the early fall of 2003 that he had not disclosed to anyone in the press that Valerie Plame, the wife of an administration critic, was a CIA employee, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the accounts that both Rove and Bush independently provided to federal prosecutors.
During the same conversation in the White House two years ago-occurring just days after the Justice Department launched a criminal probe into the unmasking of Plame as a covert agency operative-Rove also assured the president that he had not leaked any information to the media in an effort to discredit Plame's husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson. Rove also did not tell the president about his July 2003 a phone call with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, a conversation that touched on the issue of Wilson and Plame.
But some 22 months later, Cooper's testimony to the federal grand jury investigating the Plame leak has directly contradicted Rove's assertions to the president. ...
Rove on Thursday agreed to appear a fourth time before the federal grand jury, as federal prosecutors warned him that they could not guarantee that he would not be criminally charged, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
According to outside legal experts, it is rare for prosecutors to seek to question a witness before the grand jury so late in the course of a high-profile investigation and after the witness has already testified three times, unless criminal charges are being considered.
Sources close to the Fitzgerald investigation say that Rove's personal assurances to the president and his initial interview with the FBI are central to whether the grand jury might charge Rove with making false statements to investigators or with obstruction of justice. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
I find Rove later remembering about the Cooper meeting as an oversight that he corrected...this article makes it sound like a criminal act.
...this article makes it sound like a criminal act.
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Welcome to the ugly, leftist media, the news outlet for the DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE...always negative, always trying to make Repubs look exactly like what they are...crooked, liars, criminals, slimey, the list goes on.
It's not even clear any crime was committed. And I really don't think Rove's failure to recall a conversation rises to the level of concealment of evidence or lying to federal prosecuters or whatever the heck they're talking about.
No way would Rove return to the WH after the 04 election if he thought there was anyway he broke the law, or felt he needed to lie under oath to protect himself.
He would not do that to the Pres.
Rove: "I am not a crook"
ping
Murray Waas is a tool. Just ask any DUmmie. They love him.
I don't know anything about Waas, but he is making a bigger deal out of this Cooper thing than it deserves. Plus if Ftiz thought Rove obstructed or perjured himself because of this, he could have issued an indictment a long time ago. Plus Rove's lawyer said this week that Rove is still not a target.
Well, it would have been pretty damned stupid of Rove to tell Bush anything if he had been involved because short of immediately reporting Rove to the authorities, Bush could have been implicated in a conspiracy.
This is not the type of situation where executive privilege or right to legal counsel could be claimed, so if Rove had been naughty, naughty (and I'm not saying he had), then the right thing to do was lie to Bush.
Good thing Rove didn't lie.
Absolutely. I was just pointing out the inanity of the writing.
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