For Time Reporter, Decision to Testify Came After Frenzied Last-Minute Cal

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/11time.html


For Time Reporter, Decision to Testify Came After Frenzied Last-Minute Calls
By ADAM LIPTAK

This article was reported by David Johnston, Jacques Steinberg and Adam Liptak and was written by Mr. Liptak.


WASHINGTON, July 10 - Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine, stood before a federal judge on Wednesday, facing up to four months in jail for refusing to testify about a confidential source. But he told the judge that he had just received a surprising communication from his source that would allow him to testify before a grand jury investigating the disclosure of the identity of a covert C.I.A. operative.

.....

But the facts appear more complicated than they seemed in court. Mr. Cooper, it turns out, never spoke to his confidential source that day, said Robert D. Luskin, a lawyer for the source, who is now known to be Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser.

The development was actually the product of a frenzied series of phone calls initiated that morning by a lawyer for Mr. Cooper and involving Mr. Luskin and the special prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald. And the calls were the culmination of days of anxiety and introspection by a reporter who by all accounts wanted to live up to his pledge to protect his confidential source yet find a way to avoid going to jail as another reporter, Judith Miller of The New York Times, was about to do.

....

"Karl was not afraid of what Cooper is going to say and is clearly trying to be fully candid with the prosecutor," Mr. Luskin said.

A report on Newsweek's Web site on Sunday, that the magazine said was based on a document Time produced to the special prosecutor, added other elements to the puzzle. While Mr. Rove did identify the operative in a conversation with Mr. Cooper, Mr. Rove did not use her name - Valerie Plame, as she has been called in news accounts, or Valerie Wilson, as she prefers - or refer to her covert status, Newsweek said. Lawyers involved in the negotiations did not dispute the accuracy of the document Newsweek cited.


<</SNIP>>

[Cha]

1. Bullshit! Is matt cooper in

bed with karl the hijacker rove?

[lovuian]

2. No Rove knew his emails and phone records were there

he might as well let Cooper talk cause he may help him!!!

My only warning to Cooper is you deal with the devil and your going to burn!!!

[janx]

3. My Dear Lord.

The media and the government are One, and lawyers are seeing to it that they stay that way.

[Jane Austin]

15. Love your puppy!

But that's an awfully sweeping generalization to say that the media and the government are One.

Way too big part of the media is compliant with the administration, but not all of it is.

And there are parts of the government that aren't against the people.

Maybe you meant the administration instead of the governent?


(Edited for comical typo.)

[johnfunk]

4. The story's real lede: Rove himself NEVER OKed Cooper's testimony!

Now isn't THAT interesting.

[Pirate Smile]

12. Exactly, and the NYT wants to point it out.

This entire story has a bizarre quality to it because many of the people and entities reporting on it are personally involved.

[tandem5]

16. Yes that's the most interesting part of the article. nt

[Pirate Smile]

5. It sounds like Rove's and Libby's attorneys are trying to discredit Cooper

"In court shortly after 2, he told Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the Federal District Court in Washington that he had received "an express personal release from my source."

That statement surprised Mr. Luskin, Mr. Rove's lawyer. Mr. Luskin said he had only reaffirmed the blanket waiver, in response to a request from Mr. Fitzgerald.

-snip-
Mr. Cooper's statements on Wednesday echoed his rationale for testifying last summer. "Mr. Libby," a statement issued by the magazine at the time said, "gave a personal waiver of confidentiality for Mr. Cooper to testify."

In an interview Friday, Mr. Libby's lawyer, Joseph A. Tate, disputed that.

"Mr. Libby signed a form," Mr. Tate said. "He gave it back to the F.B.I. End of story. There was no other assurance."

[janx]

6. Of course. When Cooper gave that melodramatic statement

in front of reporters, he hadn't talked to Rove at all. The lawyers had been battling it out.

[eleny]

7. "Mr. Libby signed a form,"

What's with *that* wording? Is he going to try and say he didn't know the meaning of the form? The snakes are slithering.

[Bumblebee]

10. Here is the part that startled me

"But after a federal appeals court refused to block Mr. Fitzgerald's subpoenas, Time and Mr. Cooper replaced Mr. Abrams with a team led by Theodore B. Olson, a former United States solicitor general in the Bush administration who is now with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher."

We all know perfectly well that Olson would NOT suggest anything to Time or Cooper that would be harmful to Rove...

There is also an article re all that in the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB112104330395581808-IdjeoNolaF4opyrZH6HcaWDm4,00.html

POLITICS AND POLICY


Cooper Email
Identifies Rove
As a Source

By JOE HAGAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 11, 2005

The government's investigation of the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent continues, with new revelations further deepening a mystery that has captivated Washington and the news media.

After a week of seemingly contradictory reports, one fact appears to have solidified: Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and architect of President Bush's election victories, was a key confidential source used by Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper in his July 2003 article about a Central Intelligence Agency operative.

A federal judge last week sent New York Times reporter Judith Miller to jail for refusing to reveal confidential sources, and at the same time granted a reprieve to Mr. Cooper, who agreed to testify after receiving last-minute permission from his own source to reveal the source's name. Mr. Rove's lawyer yesterday confirmed that his client was the source that Mr. Cooper was apparently protecting.

Time Warner Inc.'s Time Inc. unit had already turned over Mr. Cooper's notes to the grand jury. Yesterday, Newsweek magazine reported that among Mr. Cooper's notes was an email he sent to one of his editors describing a conversation with Mr. Rove a few days before columnist Robert Novak first identified Valerie Plame as a CIA agent in print. Mr. Cooper's email said Mr. Rove told him the wife of former diplomat Joseph Wilson "apparently works at the agency on wmd issues." Mr. Wilson had sparked controversy by publicly questioning the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's efforts to build nuclear arms.

Mr. Rove hasn't denied speaking to Mr. Cooper but has said all along that he never named Ms. Plame, who is Mr. Wilson's wife. If he did -- before Mr. Novak's article appeared and her name became public -- he could be in violation of a 1982 law prohibiting the leaking of CIA agents' names. It isn't clear whether Mr. Rove mentioned Ms. Plame by name to Mr. Cooper or even knew she was undercover, which special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald would need to know to prove Mr. Rove violated the law, known as the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. That law says it is a crime to knowingly expose the status of an active-duty CIA agent, and it is unclear whether "naming" would literally have to be the person's name.

The unmasking of Mr. Rove marks an important milestone in the case. On the one hand, the details of Mr. Rove's discussion with Mr. Cooper -- especially if he didn't name Ms. Plame -- may exculpate him of the intentional, illegal disclosure of the identity of a covert CIA operative. Much will depend on whether Mr. Rove truthfully described any conversations in testimony before the grand jury. If he did, that would clear him of even a perjury charge and any criminal liability.

That said, the disclosure that Mr. Bush's top political strategist discussed the CIA employment of Mr. Wilson's wife amounts to a political embarrassment for Mr. Rove and the White House. A presidential spokesman had previously given what appeared to be an unequivocal public assurance that Mr. Rove hadn't been involved in the disclosure of Ms. Plame as a CIA operative. Discovery that earlier denials may have been carefully parsed would represent another blow to the administration's credibility, compounding damage from the underlying issue that initially brought Mr. Wilson into the spotlight.

[Pirate Smile]

11. Thanks for posting the WSJ article. It adds some more analysis.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[Bumblebee]

13. The WSJ Article

Thank you. The WSJ article is actually the most cogent of the "trifecta" (WP and NYT) appearing tomorrow morning. It is the only one that clearly states that it is a big political embarrassment regardless of how the more complicated legal issues are going to be resolved.

[symbolman]

17. Excuse me, but is Joe Wilson a Mormon?

Just how many WIVES does Joe have? Let's see.. ONE. And her name would be? Valerie Wilson/Plame..

Of course she has a NAME, everyone has one, especially a CIA Agent.

This is absurd. All I can think of is the quote they used against President Clinton..

"That would depend on what the Meaning of 'is' is.." PARSING is all they DO.

AND this part KILLS ME:

"Much will depend on whether Mr. Rove truthfully described any conversations in testimony before the grand jury. If he did, that would clear him of even a perjury charge and any criminal liability."

Translation: Karl Rove is a lying scumbag and we're going to let him off on a technicality, and since we let him off on one technicality we've created a precendence for his innocence so we are going to let him go SCOTT FREE..

Media/Court/Collusion/Legistative/Executive Branches = NO CRIME.

I say it's time to send them to Egypt and let THEM ask these folks a few questions...

[TahitiNut]

8. This article in the NY Times bends over backwards for Rove.

Big surprise. Not. :eyes:

[Zorra]

9. OK, so: Rove to Cooper: Guess what? Joe Wilson's wife is a CIA agent.

I'm not going to tell you her name though. But I'm telling you this info because Joe Wilson crossed the the WH by exposing our lies about WMD, and this info is designed to get revenge and fuck Wilson over. I told a bunch of other reporters this, too. Ha-ha. Because I can!

Could be as simple as that. Does not directly use her name, does not directly divulge her covert status. But he knows this information will be used to by an investigative journalist to find out her name and covert status.

The intent is there. Rove needs to got to prison.

[demgrrrll]

14. I do not know what to make of this. The thing that puzzles me is the

alleged frantic nature of the decision about Cooper. I agree that it means one of two things. They either think that nothing Cooper has to say can harm Rove or they are scared to death and wanted to take a preemptive move so they could create a presumption of innocence. That would have been harder to do if they had not given Cooper the waiver. Looks are everything with this crowd and they seem to believe they can get by with a shoeshine and a smile. I look at it this way if the notes came out and fingered Rove and he had not given the waiver he looks very guilty. Giving the waiver makes it appear that he has nothing to hide which allows some leeway for a presumption of innocence and buys some time to develop some sort of spin and a plan.

[Voltaire99]

18. Anyone writing for Time is already well accustomed...

...to acceding to power.

Cooper's a worm who has wriggled off a hook, free to inch to his next assignation with lies.

[Moderator]

19. kick

[Shakespeare]

20. For Time Inc. Reporter, a Frenzied Decision to Testify

Note to mods: This is NOT a dupe; it's the first explanation of how Cooper was given "permission" to reveal his source. It answers many, many questions (and certainly doesn't help Rove out).

WASHINGTON, July 10 - Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine, stood before a federal judge on Wednesday, facing up to four months in jail for refusing to testify about a confidential source. But he told the judge that he had just received a surprising communication from his source that would allow him to testify before a grand jury investigating the disclosure of the identity of a covert C.I.A. operative.

"A short time ago," Mr. Cooper said, "in somewhat dramatic fashion, I received an express personal release from my source."

But the facts appear more complicated than they seemed in court. Mr. Cooper, it turns out, never spoke to his confidential source that day, said Robert D. Luskin, a lawyer for the source, who is now known to be Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser.

<snip>

Around 7:30 on Wednesday morning, Mr. Cooper had said goodbye to his son, resigned to his fate. His lawyer, Mr. Sauber, called to alert him to a statement from Mr. Luskin in The Wall Street Journal.

"If Matt Cooper is going to jail to protect a source," Mr. Luskin told The Journal, "it's not Karl he's protecting."

That provided an opening, Mr. Cooper said. "I was not looking for a waiver," he said, "but on Wednesday morning my lawyer called and said, 'Look at The Wall Street Journal. I think we should take a shot.' And I said, 'Yes, it's an invitation.' "

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/11time.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1121101388-7Lej0FuwUQBqfz4bKvIQ1Q&pagewanted=print

[Shakespeare]

21. kick....lots of revealing info about Rove's "waiver"

:kick:

[Politicub]

22. The call was Karl's last gasp

to save himself. It is so tranparent. Perhaps Rove is losing his touch. Identifying Plame was nothing less than an act of treason and there are laws in place to punish such behavior.

It's fun watching this gang of crooks hang themselves. Plame was Rove's biggest gamble and he LOST.

Fuck him. He deserves the death penalty for commiting an act of treason. No less.