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July 10, 2005
Frog March?

Isikoff writes on Matt Cooper’s Source:

NEWSWEEK obtained a copy of the e-mail that Cooper sent his bureau chief after speaking to Rove. [..]

Cooper wrote that Rove offered him a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Rove told Cooper that Wilson’s trip had not been authorized by "DCIA"—CIA Director George Tenet—or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rather, "it was, KR said, wilson’s wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip." Wilson’s wife is Plame, then an undercover agent working as an analyst in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division.

It would be nice to see KR leave the White House in hand-cuffs.

But I do not expect that. Instead he and his supporters will argue on some technical reasoning along this line.

Rove said he did not "disclose the name" of Valerie Plame and that may even be true. A perjury charge is thereby difficult to pursue. To charge him based on the Intelligence Identities Protection Act is nearly impossible as one would have to prove that Rove did know Plame’s status as a result of having "authorized access to classified information" plus that he has revealed her position "intentionally".

So no frog march, but at least some fire under Rove’s ass which may distract him from more sinister deeds.

Posted by b on July 10, 2005 at 09:45 UTC | Permalink
Comments

I will say that I am thoroughly indifferent to Rove’s fate.
Why should we care if he gets the Martha Stewart treatment? G. Gordon Liddy made a career of having gone to jail.
Who here thinks that even a jail sentence (unlikely IMHO) would stop Rove from raking in millions from his fascist buddies and continue spewing his venom.
A Nuremberg-like fate (or even, were we that type of country, a Ceaucescu-like one), yes, certainly. But otherwise it’s like going to Monopoly jail (miss 3 turns), with equal consequences.
Once again, I fear, the Left allows itself to be blinded by shniy baubbles.

Posted by: Lupin | Jul 10 2005 12:55 utc | 1

It looks like Rove shared his e-mail with Isikoff. If so, isn’t he trying to generate a little spin on the story as it unfolds? And why would he bother to do this unless he were scared? But scared of what? Of the unknown, perhaps? Because it’s possible that Rove really doesn’t know what Fitzpatrick is up to, or what he’s discovered in the past eighteen months. And so perhaps he should be scared, or at least a little worried. After all, he’s always tried to spin things–that’s what he does for a living. No doubt he tried to spin things back in September and October of 2003. No doubt he perjured himself. Perhaps he thinks he’ll be lucky to see 2006 without having to fight off a felony charge or two.

Posted by: alabama | Jul 10 2005 13:04 utc | 2

Jeralyn at TalkLeft has a good post
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011415.html

Posted by: dk | Jul 10 2005 13:13 utc | 3

One other thing: the judge’s remarks to Miller and Cooper were really, really angry. His take on the gravity of the thing was unmistakably…grave. From which I infer that two (2) folks know the score, namely Fitzgerald and the judge.

Posted by: alabama | Jul 10 2005 13:52 utc | 4

Yes, I for one sleep soundly knowing that the Mayberry Mussolini is running things behind the curtains in Washington. What? You say the curtains have come down…you can espy the eye of Lady Justice’s breast?
ASHCROFT!!! (Pumps fist at the heavens.)

Posted by: Porco Rosso | Jul 10 2005 13:54 utc | 5

Mr. Cooper said that he spoke to Mr. Rove on:
“double super secret background”
Sheesh.
Do they really speak to each other like this?
After all, I thought Dean Wormer was done.
.

Posted by: RossK | Jul 10 2005 22:24 utc | 6

Rove Told Reporter of Plame’s Role But Didn’t Name Her, Attorney Says

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove spoke with at least one reporter about Valerie Plame’s role at the CIA before she was identified as a covert agent in a newspaper column two years ago, but Rove’s lawyer said yesterday that his client did not identify her by name.
Rove had a short conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper on July 11, 2003, three days before Robert D. Novak publicly exposed Plame in a column about her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV.
…
To be considered a violation of the law, a disclosure by a government official must have been deliberate, the person doing it must have known that the CIA officer was a covert agent, and he or she must have known that the government was actively concealing the covert agent’s identity.
Cooper, according to an internal Time e-mail obtained by Newsweek magazine, spoke with Rove before Novak’s column was published. In the conversation, Rove gave Cooper a “big warning” that Wilson’s assertions might not be entirely accurate and that it was not the director of the CIA or the vice president who sent Wilson on his trip. Rove apparently told Cooper that it was “Wilson’s wife, who apparently works at the agency on [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip,” according to a story in Newsweek’s July 18 issue.
Rove’s conversation with Cooper could be significant because it indicates a White House official was discussing Plame prior to her being publicly named and could lead to evidence of how Novak learned her name.
Although the information is revelatory, it is still unknown whether Rove is a focus of the investigation. Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, has said that Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has told him that Rove is not a target of the probe. Luskin said yesterday that Rove did not know Plame’s name and was not actively trying to push the information into the public realm.
Instead, Luskin said, Rove discussed the matter — under the cloak of secrecy — with Cooper at the tail end of a conversation about a different issue. Cooper had called Rove to discuss other matters on a Friday before deadline, and the topic of Wilson came up briefly. Luskin said Cooper raised the question.
“Rove did not mention her name to Cooper,” Luskin said. “This was not an effort to encourage Time to disclose her identity. What he was doing was discouraging Time from perpetuating some statements that had been made publicly and weren’t true.”

Well, you know, I did it, but then I didn´t do it.

Posted by: b | Jul 11 2005 7:06 utc | 7

No doubt you’ve all heard about the head of the House Judiciary Committee (and preemptor of “PATRIOT” Act hearings) Sensenbrenner’s writing to a 7th Circuit judge to demand he impose the federal sentancing guidelines on a certain drug offender. Simply the right wing pulling another Schiavo-esque “oversight” of the federal courts? Hardly. The prosecutor who decided not to impose the mandatory minimum, one P. Fitzgerald.
And so, the character assasination begins.
The Chicago Post is behind a subscription wall, so I give you a link to digby’s thorough and astute coverage (which reprints a good amount of the article). Scroll down to “Push Back”

Posted by: lone stranger | Jul 11 2005 14:48 utc | 8

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