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.
And maybe Judity Miller's source is a big time Democrat??????
Just d**n. The Republicans haven't been stellar of late, but the Democrats are going to lose 2006 big time if they keep pursuing the trivial stuff. Just like they did in 2004...
VERY interesting.............Alamoudi/Hagel = Riady/Clinton?
Yes, except that Alamoudi worked as an adviser to Hillary, too.
Wow, you've blown my mind with that information! Do you have any hope that the Special Prosecutor's investigation is uncovering any of this information (following the oil for food money)? I'm praying that Joseph Wilson will be charged with perjury and that this scam will be uncovered. Karl Rove has been called in front of the Grand Jury three times. I'd love to know how many times Joseph Wilson has been called to testify. He's already a proven liar. I just wish he'd get charged with perjury to shut the dems up for a good long time. It would be such sweet revenge.
Wow! That site has a ton of bloggers! Thanks.
Yeah, and they are big name bloggers. They call each other by their first names.
I don't think that Wilson has been called at all. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor, told all the witnesses that they were potential targets and that they couldn't talk about the proceedings. My guess is that it is his wife who has been called.
Hope Fitz nails them.
Yeah, I don't anything about him, but he sure seems tenacious.
Do you remember what Sidney Blumenthal did during the Clinton impeachment? He went on tv and lied about his testimony. At least this time Wilson can't say anything about what is going on inside the investigation, because he either doesn't know, or can't say. Anyway, Wilson doesn't work for the CIA, so he can't really leak security secrets, but his wife can.
I don't know anything about Fitzgerald, except that Ashcroft picked him.
What I don't understand is the people on that Blog are some of big bloggers and they knew last year, what I am just putting together. Why are they keeping quiet now?
No, I just think that we'll get Valerie Plame. She won't have to worry about being exposed. I think that this investigation was a parting gift from Tenent to George Bush. It's just a start in getting rid of some of the partisan, Clinton hangovers in the CIA and state. It's not much, but it's a start and there are a lot people who will be a lot more careful about what they do or say.
Fitzgerald is a bulldog and was chosen partly because he had just indicted a republican before this story broke and the dems couldn't say anything bad about him.
I am thinking that Wilson has lied so many times and changed his story that he couldn't keep them all straight under oath. Also, we know there was a group in the CIA doing everything they could to undermine the Bush administrations policies. It didn't matter to them that they weren't elected to make those decisions because like many dems they 'know' what is best for the American people. I think Ms.Plame was feeding info to some of the NYT and WP journalists through her husband or directly and when the phone records were compared to the stories appearing in the paper it was obvious the Wilson's were up to their necks in feeding info to the press.
One thing I know for sure--Judith Miller isn't going to jail to protect a republican. It didn't take 2 minutes for Time to release a copy of the Rove conversation.
Judith Miller's former employer was The Progressive, if that tells you anything about her politics.
I don't think that those politicized CIA agents even gave a thought as to what was best for the American public, all they care about is power.
It's time for the a/c to be lowered or to flush a copy of Das Kapital down the toilet to get her to break. Have their been any reports on her prison stay?
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