Date: July 12, 2006 8:26:31 AM PDT
Subject: [SPY NEWS] Rove finally outed for CIA agent leak
Rove finally outed for CIA agent leak
July 13, 2006
WASHINGTON: US newspaper columnist Robert Novak has said publicly for the first time that White House political adviser Karl Rove was a source for his story outing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.
In a column, Novak also said his recollection of his conversation with Mr Rove differs from what the Rove camp has said.
"I have revealed Rove's name because his attorney has divulged the substance of our conversation, though in a form different from my recollection," Novak wrote.
He did not elaborate.
Novak said he was talking now because chief investigator Patrick Fitzgerald told the columnist's lawyer that after 2 1/2 years his probe into the CIA leak case concerning matters related to Novak had been concluded.
Triggering the criminal investigation, Novak revealed Ms Plame's CIA employment on July 14, 2003, eight days after her husband, White House critic and former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of manipulating prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.
Novak's secret co-operation with prosecutors while maintaining a public silence about his role kept him out of legal danger and had the effect of providing protection for the Bush White House during the 2004 presidential campaign.
The White House denied Mr Rove played any role in the leak of Ms Plame's CIA identity and Novak, with his decision to talk to prosecutors, steered clear of potentially being held in contempt of court and jailed. Novak said he had declined to go public at Mr Fitzgerald's request.
In a syndicated column, Novak said he told Mr Fitzgerald in early 2004 that Mr Rove and then-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow had confirmed information about Ms Plame.
Contacted yesterday, Mr Harlow declined to comment. But a US intelligence official familiar with the matter denied that Mr Harlow had been a confirming source for Novak on the story.
The official said Mr Harlow repeatedly tried to talk Novak out of running the information about Ms Plame and that Mr Harlow's efforts did not in any way constitute confirming Ms Plame's CIA identity.
Mr Harlow may end up being a witness in a separate part of Mr Fitzgerald's investigation, the upcoming criminal trial of Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI.
In his column, Novak said he also told Mr Fitzgerald about another senior administration official who originally provided him with information about Ms Plame. Novak said he could not publicly reveal the identity of that source even now.
"I have co-operated in the investigation while trying to protect journalistic privileges under the First Amendment and shield sources who have not revealed themselves," Novak said.
"I have been subpoenaed by and testified to a federal grand jury. Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue."
Mr Rove's role in the scandal was not revealed until last year when Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper disclosed that Mr Rove had leaked to him the CIA identity of Mr Wilson's wife.
Cooper co-operated with prosecutors only after all his legal appeals were exhausted and he faced jail.
AP
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