Last Saturday Lawrence O'Donnell (blogging at Huffington Post) "broke" a story about Bush political adviser Karl Rove leaking the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame to Time reporter Matthew Cooper. Well...the "break" O'Donnell gave us in the story was more like confirmation that Rove was interviewed by Cooper for the story in question (and absolutely no new information about who did leak Plame), but O'Donnell and his supporters have been all but saying "case closed" ever since.
Well this Saturday another Huffington Post contributor is claiming to have received information that will lead to another break in the Rove/Plame story. This time its David Corn:
To be clear, this new evidence does not necessarily mean slammer-time for Rove. Under the relevant law, it's only a crime for a government official to identify a covert intelligence official if the government official knows the intelligence officer is under cover, and this documentary evidence, I'm told, does not address this particular point. But this new evidence does show that Rove -- despite his lawyers claim that Rove "did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA" -- did reveal to Cooper in a deep-background conversation that Wilson's wife was in the CIA. No wonder special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald pursued Cooper so fiercely. And Fitzgerald must have been delighted when Time magazine -- over Cooper's objection--surrendered Cooper's emails and notes, which, according to a previous Newsweek posting by Michael Isikoff, named Rove as Cooper's source. In court on Wednesday, Fitzgerald said that following his receipt of Cooper's emails and notes "it is clear to us we need [Cooper's] testimony perhaps more so than in the past." This was a clue that Fitzgerald had scored big when he obtained the Cooper material.This new evidence could place Rove in serious political, if not legal, jeopardy (or, at least it should). If what I am told is true, this is proof that the Bush White House was using any information it could gather on Joseph Wilson -- even classified information related to national security -- to pursue a vendetta against Wilson, a White House critic. Even if it turns out Rove did not break the law regarding the naming of intelligence officials, this new disclosure could prove Rove guilty of leaking a national security secret to a reporter for political ends. What would George W. Bush do about that?
Sends kind of a mixed message, doesn't it? Already Corn is setting us up for the possibility that this new information won't indicate that any sort of crime has been committed, yet suggests that the President must "do" something even in the absence of law breaking.
Because its not the facts that matter, but the seriousness of the charge.
So what exactly is this? An actual break in the story or just a rather shoddy attempt at re-hyping a story that had largely been driven from the headlines by the terror attacks in London for new news cycle?
I guess we'll find out later today.
Rob Port is the owner and operator of Say Anything.
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Comments (12)
Rob - "What is this?"... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Chad Evans | July 10, 2005 3:16 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Rob - "What is this?"
It's the Huffington Post. What more can we expect other than conspiracy theories and whackjob "celebrities?"
1. Posted by Chad Evans | July 10, 2005 3:16 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 10, 2005 03:16
2. Posted by sandra moore | July 10, 2005 4:27 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Corn's distinction between that which is officially illegal and that which, though technically legal, is sufficiently disgusting to bring immense political trouble, is very simple for a person of average intelligence to grasp.
Tell me then, please, why it is beyond you ?
2. Posted by sandra moore | July 10, 2005 4:27 AM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 04:27
3. Posted by arb | July 10, 2005 5:42 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Let's see...
Rove testified several times before the grand jury.
Rove signed a release allowing reporters to testify that they had spoken with him.
David Corn has an as yet anonymous source claiming that Newsweek has proof that Rove leaked Plame's name.
Newsweek previously had "proof" from an anonymous source that a Koran was flushed down a toilet.
Until shown evidence to the contrary, I flush Corn's story and source down a toilet.
3. Posted by arb | July 10, 2005 5:42 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 10, 2005 05:42
4. Posted by Eneils Bailey | July 10, 2005 7:07 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
They will try to take the public knowledge of Wilson and Plame being in Africa together and try to parlay that into a Rove leak. There is absolutely nothing to this. With everything going on in the United States and the global War on Terror, the left and thier puppets in the press are losing the respect of the general public. Heard Karl Rove is controlling hurricane Dennis with a CIA-converted Xbox from an undisclosed swamp in Florida. I have read and heard Corn speak, he is a big assplug for the left.
4. Posted by Eneils Bailey | July 10, 2005 7:07 AM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 07:07
5. Posted by Vanshalar | July 10, 2005 9:06 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
You know this is all a Rovian plot right. It's gonna come out that the leaker was someone in say the State Department or CIA (i.e. Democrat) and then it'll be fun watching how they reverse their position again about the legality and seriousness of leaking info.
5. Posted by Vanshalar | July 10, 2005 9:06 AM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 09:06
6. Posted by Wanderlust | July 10, 2005 9:10 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
sandra moore, do you mean disgusting - like a sitting President that gave a BJ to an intern while conducting official business on the phone; or illegal, like a sitting President who committed perjury?
At any rate, I'm not surprised to see Isikoff in the middle of this. After all, if I were him, I'd want to work off a little feeling of guilt by bringing down my adversary all the harder, if it were possible.
Rove Knew!
(channeling Howard Dean)
6. Posted by Wanderlust | July 10, 2005 9:10 AM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 09:10
7. Posted by Eneils Bailey | July 10, 2005 10:28 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Off the topic, a friend of mine noticed the allusion to hurricane Dennis, and it upset her. I am sure we are all concerned and praying for the people along the Gulf Coast today.
7. Posted by Eneils Bailey | July 10, 2005 10:28 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 10, 2005 10:28
8. Posted by B Moe | July 10, 2005 11:29 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Sandra Moore: What is beyond me is why a bunch of moonbats who are already disgusted with Rove, think Bush will fire him if they conjur up another reason to be even even more disgusted.
Even among the most rabid of the extreme right "Clinton-Haters", I don't remember this kind of action toward Carville, et al.
8. Posted by B Moe | July 10, 2005 11:29 AM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 11:29
9. Posted by Krusty Krab | July 10, 2005 11:43 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
arb: Until shown evidence to the contrary, I flush Corn's story and source down a toilet.
Aha! Yet another admitted act of main-stream media desecration.
9. Posted by Krusty Krab | July 10, 2005 11:43 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 10, 2005 11:43
10. Posted by shark | July 10, 2005 1:38 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Even if it turns out Rove did not break the law regarding the naming of intelligence officials, this new disclosure could prove Rove guilty of leaking a national security secret to a reporter for political ends. What would George W. Bush do about that?
REMIND ME TO GIVE A SHIT WHEN SANDY BERGER HAS TO FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR STEALING AND DESTROYING NATIONAL SECURITY DOCS FROM THE ARCHIVES TO PROTECT CLINTON AND HELP KERRY
10. Posted by shark | July 10, 2005 1:38 PM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 13:38
11. Posted by Jim | July 10, 2005 3:13 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
David Corn is such a nutjob that you cannot honestly expect anyone to take his spin seriously other than the kneejerk liberal collective.
Much ado about a desperate nutjob rehyping a faltering attempt to take down Rove.
11. Posted by Jim | July 10, 2005 3:13 PM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 15:13
12. Posted by Jim | July 10, 2005 11:51 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Let me get this straight: Sandy Berger stuffs secret documents down his pants and in his socks, but Libs are getting bent out of shape because Rove mentioned Wilson's wife worked at the CIA? Hell, there's a memo from Plame to the DCIA recommending Wilson to to Niger to investigate the yellow cake allegations. That horse was out of the barn last year after Wilson appeared on 60 Minutes before the 2004 elections. Remember those days when each week they paraded another Bush Basher in front of the cameras?
This whole Rove/Plame thing is bullshit. Heck, Kerry leaked the name of a CIA operative on national television, or doesn't anyone remember his grilling of Bolton when Bolton kept using the name "Mr. Smith" and Kerry kept using the operative's real name.
12. Posted by Jim | July 10, 2005 11:51 PM |
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Posted on July 10, 2005 23:51