Posted on 07/08/2005 11:21:00 AM PDT by kddid
Now that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper has agreed to testify regarding the leaking of a CIA operative’s identity, speculation continues to mount that Cooper will name presidential adviser Karl Rove as a source for his story.
And even though Rove’s lawyer has said that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald assured him Rove is not a target of his investigation, "Fitzgerald still appears to want more answers about Rove’s role,” according to the Washington Post.
Cooper finally agreed to testify just hours before he expected to be sent to jail for contempt of court, along with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Cooper said his turnaround came because a source had released him from his pledge of confidentiality.
Rove’s attorney Robert Luskin told the Post that Rove wasn’t that source.
But the Post reports: "More evidence points to Rove as the source Cooper was seeking to protect – although what information was provided is not clear.”
Luskin admits that Rove spoke to Cooper in July 2003, a week before media reports revealed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic and former special U.S. envoy Joseph Wilson.
Luskin maintains that Rove "absolutely did not identify Valerie Plame.” But the Post states that Fitzgerald "is apparently focused on Rove’s conversations with Cooper.”
Wilson has said in the past that he suspected Rove played a role in revealing his wife’s cover.
Wilson believes the White House leaked her name in retaliation for a July 2003 article in the New York Times written by Wilson, accusing the administration of using bogus intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Leading White House critic Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has gone so far as to call for President Bush to force Rove to explain his role in the Plame affair or resign from office.
But the White House has long maintained that Rove was not involved in disclosing Plame’s identity.
And attorney Luskin stated: "It is certainly my understanding that Karl has testified absolutely truthfully about all his conversations about everybody that he has been asked about.”
Is the Washington Post an honest paper, or do they just want it to be Rove? Really, I get the papers mixed up.
They don't just want it to be Rove, they are DYING for it to be Rove...
FWIW, "target" is a very specific term given only to someone about whom the prosecutor already has evidence linking that person to a crime. If the prosecutor believes that person has committed a crime but has no evidence, that person would not be a "target," even though he could very well end up being charged. In that situation, the person would be a "subject."
So saying he is "not a target" simply means that at this point Fitzgerald does not have evidence he can use to prosecute him, but it does NOT mean that Fitzgerald is not trying to gather that evidence.
Just wanted to make that clear.
It's obviously someone. The question is who? I'm guessing Tenet.
Wouldn't it be a hoot if it turned out to be Joe Wilson himself?
Good guess. "Slam Dunk" Tenet never could control his mouth.
I think that Wilson is at the top of the list of most likely suspects. I heard yesterday that he's begun condemning the investigation itself.
Tenet or an aide is a good possibility, given they had a motive to undermine Wilson.
If it was Rove the press would not have been protecting him; they would have been shouting it from the mountaintops. Well, maybe not the mountaintops. They would have been shouting it from the balconies of their penthouse apartments.
A point to consider.
is Valerie Plame her real name? That may be her cover "real name". This sounds devious, but its done. If that is her cover "real name", she hasn't been exposed in the slightest.
From ORBAT.COM
Ping.
who cares if it's Rove? double standard? you bet!
Novak has already said that he called Tenet to get a confirmation, and Tenet told him that he could not confirm whether she was a CIA operative. Apparently, Novak took that to mean that he was not denying it. In reality, Tenet was afraid that he would be violating the law if he told him she was an operative. And he did not want to lie to him by telling him she was not.
What he should have done is tell him "If she is an operative, then I cannot tell you because it's a felony to disclose the name of an operative."
Oh no! Not mounting speculation!
Three different answers.
And pigs are lining up on airport runways.
"Is Valerie Plame her real name? That may be her cover "real name". This sounds devious, but its done. If that is her cover "real name", she hasn't been exposed in the slightest."
I suspect no one told Novak or Cooper Plame's name. Whoever started it just said "wife."
Clues: Novak said her name is in "Who's Who in America." Recently Joe Wilson said his wife has gone by the family name "Wilson" since they were married. So, I suspect Novak in pursuit of his amibition to shame the Bush Admin from "hiring" people who might undermine him ran with the "leak" and I bet "Plame" is the name listed in Who's Who for Wilson's wife. Also, the leaker did not mention the wife for her to be outed, but to color the story why Wilson was hired.
The "leakers" may be many, and it appears the reporters told "White House officials" about Wilson's wife, not the other was around, at least at first.
The Rove stuff is nonsense, spewed by O'Donnell, meat for the Rove-obssessives. Cooper had two articles, he spoke to many people. Also, the person who leaked might have had doubts about WMD's, even anti-Bush, but still recognized Wilson's role as insignificant, even deceitful.
I think the MSM is just trying to splat up as much mud as possible in order to scream conspiracy after teh truth comes up.
They probably KNOW who it is and just say rove to sell a few more newspapers to their core left wing readers.
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