Is Rove the Leaker? Stay Tuned...
by Joshua Frank
www.dissidentvoice.org
July 7, 2005



 

Earlier this week I reported that a handful of Washington insiders had admitted that they believed Bush's top political strategist, Karl Rove, would be indicted for perjury within the next two weeks. Rove, who has spoken to a grand jury on more than one occasion about the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative, has relayed through his lawyer, and most likely told the grand jury, that he never "knowingly" passed along any confidential information to the press.

The claim that Rove may be indicted for perjuring himself could be inching toward reality. As Time reporter Matthew Cooper spills the beans to a grand jury, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may be receiving the testimony he needs to finally charge Rove with a federal crime.

In order to indict an alleged perjurer, the prosecution needs at least two witnesses to step forward. Several journalists have already given their testimony (perhaps the infamous Robert Novak himself) to a grand jury, and it is believed that at least one (possibly more) has already listed Rove as the leaker. If this is true, all Fitzgerald needs is an additional person to claim Rove was their inside guy.

At this point there is no significant evidence that proves Karl Rove played a central role in the outing of Plame. However, there is still ample reason to believe that Rove may have done just that. According to Adam Liptak of the New York Times:

Mr. Cooper's decision to drop his refusal to testify followed discussions on Wednesday morning among lawyers representing Mr. Cooper and Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser, according to a person who has been officially briefed on the case. Mr. [prosecutor Patrick J.] Fitzgerald was also involved in the discussions, the person said.

"In his statement in court, Mr. Cooper did not name Mr. Rove as the source about whom he would now testify, but the person who was briefed on the case said that he was referring to Mr. Rove and that Mr. Cooper's decision came after behind-the-scenes maneuvering by his lawyers and others in the case.

"Those discussions centered on whether a legal release signed by Mr. Rove last year was meant to apply specifically to Mr. Cooper, who by its terms would be released from any pledge of confidentiality he had made to Mr. Rove, the person said. Mr. Cooper said in court that he had agreed to testify only after he had received an explicit waiver from his source....

Did Rove give Cooper a waiver to testify? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Rove may not be Cooper's guy after all. We will soon find out. Writing for The Washington Post Carol Leonnig reports that Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, has "said Rove was not the source who called Cooper yesterday morning and personally waived the confidentiality agreement."

Well, perhaps Rove didn't call Cooper, but that doesn't necessarily mean Rove wasn't the leaker. As Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball reported for Newsweek.com, "Luskin would make no other comments, including whether there had been any other form of communications between Cooper and Rove."

Regardless if Cooper fingers Rove in his grand jury hearing, Fitzgerald may already have enough to indict Rove -- or perhaps someone else in the White House like Scooter Libby. Fitzgerald has already gathered the testimony of numerous journalists, and admits that he is nearing the end of his two-year long investigation. If Matt Cooper pins the leak on Karl Rove you can expect an indictment to be handed down in the very near future.

Joshua Frank is author of the highly anticipated new book Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush, which has just been released by Common Courage Press. You can order a copy or two or ten for a discounted rate at: www.brickburner.org.

* Read an excellent review of Left Out! by Adam Engel

Related Articles

* Judith Miller -- Drum Major for War by Norman Solomon
* Rove To Be Indicted? by Joshua Frank
* Judith Miller is No Martyr and Sulzberger is No Saint by Ahmed Amr
* Will the NY Times Pay For Its Crimes? by Ahmed Amr
* Chasing Judith Miller Off the Stage by Derek Seidman
* Judy Miller's War by Alexander Cockburn
* Decline & Fall of American Journalism: The Case of Judy Miller by Alex Cockburn
* This is Not Your Daddy’s Watergate by Ahmed Amr

Other Recent Articles by Josh Frank

* Rove To Be Indicted?
* Conrad Burns: A Senator and a Liar
* The War Path of Unity
* Bombing Iran: The Facts Don't Matter
* With Hand on Heart: Pelosi Admits Israel Comes First
* Newsweek's Koran Story Rubber Stamped by DoD
* Chavez's Economy: Is it Sustainable?
* Bush to Dine with Porn Star: Mary Carey Does DC
* John Kerry's Hate Speech
* Leaked UK Memo Indicts Blair's Iraq Folly
* A Bipartisan Assault on Teenage Girls
* A Scandal of Irony
* The Horowitz Gang: Nothing Short of Fascist
* Environmentalists Against Nature
* Supporting the Troops While Opposing Their Actions
* Calling Their Bluff: The Delay Scandal is Not a Partisan Issue
* The Minuteman Project: Gunning for Change but Shooting Blanks
* US Intelligence “Dead Wrong”: Skeptics Were Right All Along
* The Selling-Out of the Antiwar Movement, Part Two
* The Selling-Out of the Antiwar Movement, Part One
* Hope in Red State America: Lessons from the Big Sky Country (Part 2)
* A Red State Paradox (Part One): Montana on the Cusp
* Protecting Campaign Coffers, Not Nature: The Trials of Max Baucus
* Diagnosing the Green Party: Narcissism Runs Rampant
* Farewell Hope: The Hogtying of the Deaniacs
* It Just Takes One McVeigh to Ruin Your Day
* The Distortions of Acumen Continued: More Liberal Trashing of Ward Churchill
* The Distortions of Acumen: Liberals Trash Ward Churchill
* Howard Dean’s Been Suckered: The Establishment Corrals the Deaniacs
* Democrats Support Bush’s Iran Policy
* Hope is Not on the Way: The Farce of the DNC Contest
* Privacy Piracy? What Howard Dean May Bring to the DNC
* Voter Fraud as Fundraiser: David Cobb and the Ohio Recount
* How the New York Times Misreports: An Interview with Howard Friel
* Liberalism and Its Bounds
* The Reelection of George W. Bush: A Possible Bright Side?
* Blame Kerry’s Loss on the ABB Crowd: An Interview with Kevin Zeese
* Face the Music: Time to Oppose Our Troops’ Actions
* Democrats Commit Suicide
* The Dems Should be Ashamed: Bush With a TKO
* For Kerry, It’s Not Easy Pretending to be Green
 

HOME