|
| Rove Says He Wasn't Involved in CIA Leak |
| Saturday, October 08, 2005 |
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told President Bush and others that he never engaged in an effort to disclose a CIA operative's identity to discredit her husband's criticism of the administration's Iraq policy, according to people with knowledge of Rove's account in the investigation.
They said Rove's denial to Bush occurred during a brief conversation in the fall of 2003, a few months after media reports revealed that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked as a covert CIA operative.
Those with direct knowledge of evidence gathered in the criminal investigation spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy.
Rove is slated to testify before the grand jury soon for a fourth time, although prosecutors have told him they no longer can assure he will avoid indictment. Rove offered in July to return to the grand jury for additional testimony, and Fitzgerald accepted that offer after taking grand jury testimony from the formerly jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
The discussion with Bush, along with others, was general and did not get into specifics concerning Rove's contacts with two reporters, Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who wrote stories identifying Plame, the people familiar with Rove's account said.
They said Bush asked Rove to assure him he was not involved in an effort to divulge Plame's identity and punish Wilson, and the longtime confidant assured him so. He answered similarly when White House press secretary Scott McClellan asked a similar question.
Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, declined Friday to comment on the specifics of the discussions with Bush but confirmed his client maintains � then and now � he did not engage in an effort to disclose Plame's identity. |
posted by Jay Are @ 2:10:00 AM   |
|
|
|
|
|
Post a Comment