Posted on 07/14/2005 9:32:15 PM PDT by blake6900
Source: Rove Got CIA Agent ID From Media By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
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.
On Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada pressed for legislation to strip Rove of his clearance for classified information, which he said President Bush should already have done. Instead, Reid said, the Bush administration has attacked its critics: "This is what is known as a cover-up. This is an abuse of power."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Democrats were resorting to "partisan war chants."
Across the Capitol, Rep. Rush Holt (news, bio, voting record), D-N.J., introduced legislation for an investigation that would compel senior administration officials to turn over records relating to the Plame disclosure.
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," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
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Associated Press special correspondent David Espo contributed to this story.
Whoops, democrat copperheads wiping egg from their faces.
The focus will shift on whether or not this was an attempt to discredit Wilson.
Funny thing is, Wilson discredited himself, and Rove merely pointed that out.
I really can't see how these people can be so ignorant.
HHHMMMMM....Perhaps it was Judith Miller who first told Rove about Wilson's wife?????
ROTFLMAO!!!!
These liberals are funny...they make me laugh.
Could be...which might explain why she never actually wrote a story on the subject. It could also explain that Rove was not her source...but Joseph Wilson was.
I hope the grand jury indites Wilson for purjury... that would cause all of the dems to fall over dead.
So....what do you'all think the Dems NEXT "smart move" will be.....BBAAAAAWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
blake! LTNS.........I have missed you!
That would explain a lot.
This story needs to get out! Anybody here post in USENET and Yahoo Message boards? This one needs to be posted!
http://members.tripod.com/~jednet207/PoliticalNewsGroups-PC.html
I think Judith Miller told Scooter who told Rove.
Now I want to know who told Judith.
Where did the media get it from?
Democrat-Americans and their wholly-owned MSM subsidiary are beginning to sweat like B. J. Clinton in a girl's dorm. Karl Rove, that eeeeevilll genius, turned the tables on 'em after they tried to rope-a-dope him.
I'm so happy I don't don't know whether to take a dump or go blind!
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Now, THAT is a scenario I really, really like! Please God, let it be!
LOL! I had the same feeling this afternoon watching them on the Senate floor; I swear, I think the Republicans KNEW about this then and just egged them on.
I'll be up early in the morning to hear the moaning.
And, of course, the "next" talking point.
Well, I suppose they could still try to pin it on Cheney or Scooter Libby. But if they're smart they'll just let it go away.
It's funny that this comes out right after Joe Wilson goes before the cameras to demand Rove's head. It's like the White House was waiting for them to take that one step too many. Schumer's probably hittin' the bottle right now, wonderin' why he opened his yap on this one!
Meanwhile, we should now demand that John Kerry be investigated for leaking a CIA agents name last April during a Senate Committe hearing, doncha think?!
Hugh Hewitt was just talking about that. He was saying that Wilson himself was backtracking on Wolf Blitzer this afternoon, saying that his wife wasn't undercover at the time.
The media had to have gotten it from Uncle Joe. Where else?
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