Rove Learned CIA Agent's Name From Novak (7-15 AP Story)

[cthrumatrix]

Rove Learned CIA Agent's Name From Novak
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer




WASHINGTON - Chief presidential adviser Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he talked with two journalists before they divulged the identity of an undercover CIA officer but that he originally learned about the operative from the news media and not government sources, 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 grand jury secrecy, 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.

snip

Rove testified that Novak told him he planned to report in a weekend column that Plame had worked for the CIA, and the circumstances on how her husband traveled to Africa to check bogus claims that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials in Niger, according to the source.

snip

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050715/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak_rove

there you go....the big bad media made Karl do it.

[Walt Starr]

1. There's the perjury charge

Rove is definitely going to be indicted.

[thinkingwoman]

27. Yep, that's what I thought

the moment I read it.

That was the cover story Rove told the Grand Jury and my gut tells me Rove was counting on Matt Cooper and Judith Miller to never reveal otherwise.

That's why Rove's stupid lawyer Ruskin went around claiming Rove had been "burned" by Cooper.

Just my humble opinion of course.

[WildClarySage]

2. That all-powerful Douchebag of Liberty strikes again.

[ObaMania]

3. ... and NoFacts got it from Libby, who in turn got it from his boss..

.. Crashcart! :eyes:

I sure hope this is a possible angle that Fitz is investigating.

[mmonk]

4. So journalists harbor state secrets

and presidential confidant and party leader Carl Rove does not. This is so much bullshit and madness.

[EVDebs]

35. It's all part of Operation Mockingbird and media manipulation

Too bad it's illegal for the CIA to do these domestic operations. Oh, THAT's why Miller is keeping her mouth shut, to keep Pandora's Box from opening...

[Kindigger]

5. If that were true

then who are the other two?

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.

[desi]

6. It's going to get really interesting

..if they are attempting to throw Novak overboard to protect Rove, Libbey, Cheney and the rest of the crime family. Maybe that is why Miller decided it was safer to sit in jail for a while. I may even watch some of CNN just to hear Novak's reaction.

[acmavm]

8. Oh crap, Rove has to go to Novak to find out Wilson's wife is CIA?

Maybe we should be revoking Novak's security clearance or whatever it is he has that makes him privvy to such info.

[desi]

11. I think you say that in jest..

..but maybe Novak does really know more about what is going on inside the Bush White House than Bush does...:evilgrin:

[ClintonTyree]

7. Yes, the media is privy to all sorts of classified information.....

and THEY were telling poor KARL the news! :eyes: It's pretty sad when the media, who is buried under all of these classified secrets, must make our president's top aide aware of them. Gee, they must be keeping poor KKKarl out of EVERY loop!
Who, then, inside the bush administration, made all of these media people aware that Plame was a covert agent? It SURELY wasn't KKKarl, he didn't know ANYTHING, right? :sarcasm:
Someone's digging their grave with their mouth here, wonder who it could be? :shrug:

[leveymg]

9. So, Who Told Rove? Round n' round we go.

Recall the Washpost report that Judy Miller had an active role in spreading Plame's identity around, and that government officials under investigation may have learned about Plame's CIA undercover status from her. This seems to have some validity, knowing who Miller is and what she did with the Iraqi WMD story.

Now, we're supposed to believe that Novak was a source? This, of course, suggests that Novak -- who is very Bush-Cheney friendly -- was part of some kind of media-driven cabal to entrap poor Rover? Somehow, that doesn't ring true.

[ClintonTyree]

10. Recommended for the "Greatest Page"......

there's a treasure trove of speculation that could come of this. This is worth keeping bumped for all to see.

[Botany]

12. Why don't they just say that the dog ate the homework?

This is going to be huge ....... I bet it goes to the faked Niger
documents, DSM, and the Iraq planning group in the White House.

Both bush & DICK have hired criminal lawyers in the Plame case.
Why?

According to an ex CIA agent called Rogers the * White House outed
British Intel in Pakistan, other American agents, and compromised other
intel as pay back.

Those election stealing fuckers are going down. :bounce:

[Boo Boo]

13. I think Bushco knew exactly who Valerie Wilson was and

came up with a way to screw the Wilsons without screwing themselves. That is, put a story out there in some fashion and then wait for it to come back to them so Rove could further spin the story. That would fit with Rove's claim, and might imply that Miller holds the key to nailing these guys. If Rove wasn't the original leaker, then somebody else in the administration was. If Miller knows who that person is, and doesn't talk... Who knows, maybe they'll get away with it.

Or, it could be that both Novak and Rove perjured themselves, but that seems somewhat unlikely. It's hard for me to imagine Novak having the balls to do something like that.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

14. Rove SAYS he learned CIA agent's name from Novak

is the better headline. BUT, how could he confirm something he didn't know? That means he couldn't be hearing it for the first time.

Also, didn't he say he only discussed it with anyone AFTER Novak's column appeared.

Thirdly, IF Rove wasn't one of the 2 sources cited by Novak (who said he learned about Plame from the White House and not vice versa)
then that means there is a still undisclosed (to the public anyway) source within the White House.

I think reporters keep detailed notes of their conversations and I bet Novak turned his over to the grand jury.

[Paradise]

15. serves "the big bad media" right! n/t

[Marnieworld]

16. Okay but how did Rove spread around that Plame sent wilson to Niger?

The knowledge that Plame suggested Wilson for the trip was classified information. It was contained in a classified State Department document that it would be espionage, a felony, to tell reporters. So Karl, what exactly did you tell reporters and how did you learn this information? We can drop the IIPA and still get them all on espionage, for political purposes no less. 2 years of investigations and the president has his own lawyer. This is gonna get fun folks.
:popcorn:

[sattahipdeep]

17. "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak

blew her identity,"

Wilson acknowledged his wife was no longer in an undercover job at the time Novak's
column first identified her.

:wtf:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050715/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak_rove


Federal law prohibits government officials from divulging the identity of an undercover
intelligence officer. But in order to bring charges, prosecutors must prove the official knew
the officer was covert and nonetheless knowingly outed his or her identity.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

19. Yeah? I'd like to see that CNN transcript, because I don't believe....

...Wilson said what they are claiming he said.

Furthermore, if what Wilson had said was true, the CIA would not have formally and publicly requested that the Department of Justice begin a criminal investigation into who leaked her name.

[SillyGoose]

22. My take on that quote is that Wilson meant Valerie Plame's

cover was blown the very moment Novak's piece was published, hence Wilson's assertion she was no longer a covert officer the day Novak's story appeared because that story outed her and the CIA front company she worked for. Unfortunate choice of words by Wilson that will be distorted by the GOP talking heads to mean she was not an undercover operative at the time Novak's story appeared.

BTW, I find it interesting that very little attention is being paid to the fact that a CIA front company was outed, too.

[Jackpine Radical]

23. Typical Pubbie parsing.

I took that to mean "The moment Novak blew her identity was the moment she ceased to be undercover."

[spanone]

18. This article appeared in my local paper today. What horseshit

So Novak is INFORMING Karl Rove???? These fuckers REALLY think the American public is stupid.

[cascadiance]

24. Even if Novak "leaked" Plame to Rove...

... that still begs the question as to who "leaked" Plame to Novak? Why isn't his ass in the Grand Jury (or in jail) now to tell us where he heard it from, if he's the original source! It would have been who told him who was committing the criminal act! Now if that was Scooter Libby, who was told by Rove or someone else in that food chain, we still have a crime folks! Just an elaborate Enronesque way of trying to bury the trail to the source! Probably talked to Fastow about how to organize this!

If Rove were an honest and well-meaning public servant, he or someone else would realize that someone who had talked to Novak had broken the law by "outing" Plame and would have called the CIA in, etc. to put Novak's ass and whoever told him Plame's identity in prison before they had a chance to publish that article. Of course we know that in this scenario he has more of a motivation to be a partisan political opportunist echo chamber for Novak's information rather than an honest law abiding servant of the government that would have tried to protect our CIA's operations.

[theboss]

20. This is not outside the realm of possibility

It's no secret that the press leaks to the government as much as the government leaks to reporters.

[seabeyond]

21. wilson is saying the had a "find everything out" meeting on wilson

so this doesnt go with what rove is stating that reporter told him. wilson has been right on everything. the two people he had always pointed finger at is rove and liddy. he seems to be right on that. what is being reported and what fitz know dont have to be the same. may be a wait and see kinda thing

[earthmama]

25. I don't get it ....

How would a reporter have that kind of info on someone if it is 'gov' info? Having that type of info would point the finger to someone in the gov telling him. Right?

[Singular73]

26. Heh, relax

This is the perjury charge.

You think Miller is sitting in prison if Fitzgerald doesn't have a very solid case regarding something huge?

Think again.

[txindy]

29. Exactly. This is what Rove testified happened.

That means those are the words he can't take back. The words that will be his downfall.

[mistertrickster]

28. TIMELINE! people TIMELINE--if Rove told Cooper and Miller about

Plame BEFORE he spoke to No-Facts, then his story is lie without a shadow of a doubt.

Burn, baby, burn.

[Pawel K]

30. Can you give a little more information on this?

I really need some more facts about this as I simply don't understand it. Do we know for a fact that Rove talked to Cooper before he talked to Novak?

[mistertrickster]

37. No, sorry, I don't--I was just thinking that Rove may have talked to them

first. Somebody should dig into this . . .

[Mr_Spock]

31. This is so fucking rediculous - does he think we are MORONS??

THese people have NO shame, NO integrity and NO humility.

They MUST GO! They are destroying our country - it's our responsibility to get rid of these people - it's supposed to be a government OF the people damn it!

[Pawel K]

32. Doesn't this clearly mean Rove wasn't the original source?

Lets not assume this was article is wrong, what could this possibly mean. That Rove was telling the truth? (Highly unlikely)

[WinkyDink]

33. New Fox ABSURD claims!!

I'm too new to start a thread, but JUST now on Fox came this insanity:
1. David CORN (The Nation) is the true original OUTER! "From Joe Wilson himself."
2. Wilson is just seeking the limelight! To get back at Rove!
3. Question below the talking idiot (last name "May"?): "Did Amb. Wilson out his wife?"

PLEASE, God, get the Fitzgerald case on the fast track to TRUTH!!

[Straight Shooter]

34. Well, that really begs the question, then: Why would Novak tell Rove?

IOW, what possible result could come from Novak telling Rove, unless and except it was to:

1. Confirm Valerie Plame's status (which begs another question, how the hell would Rove know?)

2. Set the attack dog in motion against Joe Wilson.

Rove and Novak go a long way back. There is a lot more hidden than what we're seeing.

[Disturbed]

36. "These fuckers REALLY think the American public is stupid."

Yes, they do. If that wasn't the case GW Bush wouldn't have been selected Pres. the 1st time.

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." H.L. Mencken