Cooper about to NAIL Karl Ruh-Rove in Time...

[FormerRepublican]

...looks like his lawyer's smear of Cooper is about to play out:

"WASHINGTON — Journalist Matt Cooper (search) on Wednesday confirmed to a grand jury that White House aide Karl Rove was his source for a story about a CIA operative that has investigators deciding whether any laws were broken by the leak of the agent's identity.

Cooper told reporters he would give them details of his grand jury testimony — in a future article for Time magazine.

"I'm not going to scoop myself today," Cooper, a White House correspondent for the news weekly, said outside the U.S. District Court Wednesday afternoon.

Cooper spoke after a two-and-a-half hour appearance before the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's (search) identity. He was one of several journalists to whom Plame's identity was leaked following the publication of an editorial written by her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson (search), in which Wilson criticized the Bush administration."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162406,00.html

I'm surprised Faux News carried the story.

[Walt Starr]

1. TWO AND A HALF HOURS!!!!

Damn.

Is that rain on my head? There must be a leak.

:evilgrin:

[ewagner]

14. 2-1/2 hours is a long time

to say "yes, I wrote those memos".


I think Fitzgerald got a lot of mileage out of Cooper.....I hope it's enough to nail the leaker(s). That is, Rove and whoever the second "High Rankning White House Official" is....

[whistle]

2. Why did Matt Cooper not go to jail along with Judy Miller....

...both refused to give names of their sources, did they not?

[Walt Starr]

3. Cooper just gace up his source

Karl Rove.

[Marnieworld]

5. On the day he was supposed to go to jail...

he was released by his source (Karl Rove) from confidentiality. Judy still refused so that's why she sits in jail and he doesn't.

[myrna minx]

7. Actually...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1622377

I believe Rove's attorney gave Cooper an out by mistake (and hubris.)

[Sparkly]

8. Judy may have another source she's protecting.

IIRC, Novak mentioned he had two White House sources. Judy may have spoken to someone in addition to or instead of Rove.

A logical White House source would be Cheney. Going beyond the WH, it's possible but harder to believe that it was Tenet (why did Goss do such an aggressive purge as soon as he took over)? Could have been Rummy or Wolfowitz, I suppose, or even Condi.

In any case, I think they're silent on Rove right now because they're afraid there's more coming. SOMEbody else is involved.

[Emit]

15. This may be insignificant, but re: the two sources Novak mentioned

Something about Novak's quote has been bothering me--

Novak writes about Wilson's wife first, then writes that 2 sr. admin officials told him Wilson's wife had suggested sending Wilson to Niger.

It may be insignificant, but who's to say that the 2 officials Novak refers to are the same that actually told him that Plame worked as a CIA Agency operative on wmd? I mean, he didn't write "2 Sr. officials told me Wilson's wife worked for the CIA....and that she suggested sending Wilson to Niger..."

He could have gotten the details about Plame being a CIA operative from someone else entirely, in other words.

Here's the original:
"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me."

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml

[LSparkle]

4. I'll bet Fitzgerald is one happy prosecutor right about now

He finally got his man. Now let's see what he does with that information.

[dbeach]

6. go Fitzie ..Closer to the TRUTH

I wish Fitzie the luck of the Irish and will even kiss the Blarney stone souvenir that I carry..

[distantearlywarning]

11. He's going to need all the luck he can get

I'm predicting the "smear campaign" (to use their words) against Fitzgerald is already in the works as we write.

[dbeach]

12. ya know it

I can hear the lies..hes irish.. must be a drunk...too combative..never been a repuke..and the most dreaded of all.hes one of dem librals and from da nort to boot..

[Walt Starr]

17. The "smear campaign" already started in teh Wall Street Journal today!

n/t

[whistle]

9. This guy is still acting as the mouthpiece for KKKarl Rove....

..."I'm not going to scoop myself today," Cooper, a White House correspondent for the news weekly, said outside the U.S. District Court Wednesday afternoon, according to a report by Fox News and the Associated Press.

He does not have to scoop himself. Just get a copy of the testimony he gave and let his own words scoop him. The bastard will still be lying! That's why Rove let him speak, Cooper is part of the cover-up and anything he has to say will only corroborate Rove's stuff. He however isn't culpable, since he committed no crime.

Miller on the other hand can hang Rove with her testimony, but refuses to give it, because she knows that would result. It will also hang her because of her cooperation in the Rove outing. So again, she'll stay in jail until she can cut a deal to expose Rove and still go free. She in essence is the whistle blower, but she is not clean.

[Bumblebee]

10. He doesn't want to be scooped by Newsweek

Like with the e-mails :)

[MsTryska]

13. well he better scoop it in next weeks's issue

goddammit - cuz i will not wait another what? 30 years? for the whole thing to blow wide open.

[skip fox]

16. Rove Will Go Down Plames!

All data suggest the positive: one or more indictments for Rove and at least one more for another "high administration official," resulting to a loss of Republican credibility of being the party or morals and personal responsibility.

We know there were 6 calls because 6 contacts were made (Miller, Cooper, Novak among them). We know 3 contacts confirmed their stories with another "high administration official."

Therefore

1.) 1 man (named Rove by Cooper) made all 6 calls (which reduces the contention of "unknowingly" providing Plame's identity laughable). But he would have had to make sure that there were a few other "high administration officials" ready and willing to confirm his story, which strongly suggests coordination. Did Rove mastermind this portion before "unknowingly" releasing Plame's identity 6 times? Was this coordination "unknowing" as well? What does "knowing" mean? Repeated deliberate acts and coordinating with others for future support suggest a strong and clear intentions. It has knowledgeable design written all over it.

or,

2.) more than 1 person (Rove and at least one other) made the 6 calls. (The fact that one source released Cooper from his agreement of confidentiality but one source did not release Miller suggest at least 2 sources.) Rove would have more to coordinate! To establish guidelines like: No source should call another's contact, Pitch the information off hand, not as the main subject, Make the contact think the source is trying to do him or her a favor ("Don't go too far out on this Wilson thing, I don't want you burnt."), etc. AND Rove would have had to field a group of officials to support the sources stories.

I say Rove coordinated because it is obvious he did so since anyone in the administration in possession of the Plame-Wilson-CIA link would have gone straight to the world master of deceitful politics, and now we know Rove was at least one of the leakers.


So, in the first case we have at least 2 indictments for Rove (exposing and conspiring to expose) and (perhaps) 1 or more indictments for others (confirming and condoning the exposure while furthering it).

But in the second case we have at least 2 for Rove (same as above, but more evidence of conspiracy) and 1 or more clearcut indictments for others (both leakers and confirmers for exposure).

And then we haven't even begun to ask the question of how Rove got the information. (Doesn't leaking the information to him also constitute a crime?) Did Plame give information to officials as one report suggested? Why did Ashbery recluse himself? Did Rove have the proper clearance prior to becoming Deputy Chief of Staff to have seen the material? Or were other federal laws broken to the effect that classified information was used for political purposes? Etc.

I think the great thing we have going for us on this case is Patrick Fitzgerald. By all accounts a fine prosecutor.