Rove Told Bush He Did Not Leak to Reporters in Plame Case

[flowomo]

By E&P Staff
Published: October 07, 2005 5:00 PM ET

NEW YORK The plot continued to thicken this afternoon in the Plamegate scandal, as veteran investigative reporter Murray Waas wrote in the National Journal online that Karl Rove had “personally assured President Bush in the early fall of 2003 that he had not disclosed to anyone in the press that Valerie Plame, the wife of an administration critic, was a CIA employee, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the accounts that both Rove and Bush independently provided to federal prosecutors.”

Waas, who has been researching and writing about the Plame case for months, continued: “During the same conversation in the White House two years ago--occurring just days after the Justice Department launched a criminal probe into the unmasking of Plame as a covert agency operative--Rove also assured the president that he had not leaked any information to the media in an effort to discredit Plame's husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson. Rove also did not tell the president about his July 2003 a phone call with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, a conversation that touched on the issue of Wilson and Plame.”

According to Waas, Rove also did not disclose the Cooper chat to FBI agents in his first interview with. He subsequently changed his account.

“Sources close to the leak investigation being run by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald say it was the discovery of one of Rove's White House e-mails--in which the senior Bush adviser referred to his July 2003 conversation with Cooper--that prompted Rove to contact prosecutors and to revise his account to include the Cooper conversation,” Waas writes.

www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001262957

[MidwestTransplant]

1. Sure he did. Like * didn't know. They are just trying to protect him

from any conspiracy/perjury charges.

[H2O Man]

4. Bush's dad

formalized the policy of "plausible deniability." Something he learned working at a government agency. Rove will protect Bush. And he'll turn on Cheney and Libby.

[NEOBuckeye]

25. Big deal. So he protects Bush. If he takes Cheney down with him...

Then Bush is screwed anyway.

[Jackpine Radical]

80. Exactly.

In the Nixon era, this was technically known as a "limited, modified hangout."

Protect the boss.

There is still time for Rove to squeal some more, after the charges come down & the prosecution begins in earnest. I hope Fitz has a few other things on him to bargain with.

[BillZBubb]

2. Gotta protect POTUS!

Sure, Bush didn't know anything about it! I believe!!!!!

[janx]

3. Trying to protect Chimpy.

This isn't going to fly.

[jazzjunkysue]

5. "I yam notta crook."

:boring:

[shanti]

90. jowls shaking just like tricky dick's too!

i SO want to see this clown do the perp walk!!

[goforit]

6. I don't see anything new in this story except protection of the Prez!

[H2O Man]

12. Though many suspected it,

it is the first time it was noted that Rove did not admit telling Cooper in his early testimony. That is new.

[pinto]

7. for those old enough to remember Watergate: "Oh what an evil web we weave"

[tinfoilinfor2005]

86. tangled web...

:)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Perjury is looking more credible as an indictment against Rove.

[Fight_n_back]

9. Plausible deniability

this clears it up for when when the little one testified that he had no idea

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Like anyone should believe Rove about anything.

[Old and In the Way]

11. The Bush "Out of the Loop" theory of government.

Bush/Rove have always teamed up on their political enemies....but not this time? Make Bush take a lie detector test.

[NVMojo]

13. all I can do is ...

:rofl:

[kikiek]

14. It was obvious Bush knew the day he stood there and said that the WH had

a big staff and it was doubtful they would find out who leaked the info. He was in on it from the start.

[nytemare]

15. He didn't know her name!

He could not possibly have leaked her identity if he did not even know her name!

:sarcasm:

[MADem]

39. Yeah, ole Wilson's haraam had many wives, which one could it have been?

Time for Karl to sing: http://www.toontracker.com/nutty/uhoh.ram

[rodeodance]

76. just this morning Fox was saying Rove did not leak her name (Plame).

[mike_c]

16. the establishment of plausible deniability begins....

"I am not a crook."

[warrior1]

17. liar liar

pants on fire.

[peacetalksforall]

18. Don't forget the activity on the flight to Africa - Plame's secret

personnel file was on board with Bush. Rove didn't go. Who called whom? What did the journalist see? Wasn't Bush sitting with the group who held the file?

The WHIG must go down. You can't call a war on lies causing untold death and maiming for the profit of a few.

Mary Matalin - are you listening?

Why are there no laws on the books for illegal wars?

Phoney targets. Underfunded. Non-existent supplies and coverage. Lying excuses. Torture, torment, and scapegoating. Phoney war hero stories. Lousy to non-existent reasons. Money stolen. Unholy alliances with Iraqis and other wealthy people. Unncessary destruction. The deaths of two economies. People living like they did 100 years ago without electricity and heat or refrigeration. Schools bombed. Mosques trashed. Phoney threats.

Where is the law on all of this? We are suckers.

[DoYouEverWonder]

33. Rove didn't have to tell Bush anything

Because Bush was the one that made the decision to smear Wilson and his wife and to blow the cover for a CIA operation that monitored WMD's for years.



It was on this trip to Africa that the plan was hatched. It was from AF1 that the calls went out to Rove and Libby to expose and discredit people who dared to contradict them.

[peacetalksforall]

36. Yeah, I agree, the petulant little snotty sagebrush cowboy. History

will be consumed in words documenting his obsessions with perceived betrayal and revenge. Man, they really picked a sick person. Or - it will show that they filled him with as many delusions as they are trying to rain down on the world. My choice is that George started out obsessed AND they also pump him up with lies.

However, I still want to believe that Cheney had more to lose. George is just sick. Dick is diabolical, greedy, traitorous, and sick.

[robbedvoter]

81. I believe. Thay Harvard professor said it was his nature as a student

to malign others when cornered.

[gratuitous]

19. Oh, well that settles it! Never mind; dismiss the grand jury

Under the new rules of the United States, wherein Bush is not only the Executive, but also the Legislative and Judicial, that should be all she wrote on this. Bush will now issue his judgment in the matter, and then pass a law that what he did was totally legal.

[kestrel91316]

35. Bush is the President! He has a MANDATE! To him this means

he can do anything he damned well pleases.

Somebody needs to inform the MOFO that he wasn't elected f---ing KING.

[MADem]

40. He has a mandate all right

The clown was at the massive rightwing rally the other weekend...




Have ANOTHER drink, Georgie!!

[lovuian]

20. Oh Bush looking to cover his butt!!!

:bounce:

[R.I.Publicanism]

21. riiiiiiight

Rove's end is coming

[wellstone dem]

22. The sad thing is, I kind of believe this

I don't think they tell Bush much except what to say.

[bklyncowgirl]

24. Plausible Deniability nt

[Thor_MN]

28. They say Rove is Bush's brain, but that makes Bush Rove's asshole

How often do you tell your asshole what you are about to do? Other than "Look out, I just ate at White Castle", I don't carry on too many conversations with mine...

[clydefrand]

32. I think you're right on with your comment.

He is only told on a need to know basis. And apparently he doesn't need to know much to succeed in whatever he does...just hacks to do his work and prop his arse up.

[thinkingwoman]

23. Operation Protect POTUS Behind

well underway.

[cascadiance]

26. Mr. Bush! Me want pardon later!

[jaysunb]

27. Why am I laughing ?

Oh...it's the regular liars and their enablers with their little juicy little leaks again. Or should I say , " more misdirection?"
:evilfrown:

[David Zephyr]

29. The Entire White House is a Comedy, a Farce, a Joke.

:rofl:

[tableturner]

30. What if someone inside the White House flipped?

I DO remember a while ago in a MSM organ, I cannot remember which, that there had been grand jury testimony that Bush and Cheney knew EVERYTHING right from the beginning. I really believe that somebody inside the White House has flipped, and if that ends up happening, it would be the death knell for the Bush administration. And I do in fact believe that devastating indictments are indeed coming.

Something else: why do some think that Fitz's pursuing perjury at this point in time means that he will not indict relative to the basic charges that precipitated the investigation in the first place? This has been going on for two years. The first area of investigation surely concerned the original criminal allegations. Seems to me that perjury investigations, to at least a great degree, have to follow basic investigations, because most perjurious acts spring forth from, and as the RESULT of, basic investigations.

Fitz knows about the original crimes and is now finishing up by looking at perjury and obstruction of justice. The fact that he is doing that last IS NORMAL, and DOES NOT mean that those who have been investigated have been cleared of the original charges.

[Dr Fate]

31. These liars even lie about their lies. As Pops Fate used to tell me:

"Son, you cant even keep your lies straight."

[applegrove]

34. Like he didn't know that Karl lies - having named him turdblossum.

[paineinthearse]

37. Murray Waas sezzzzzz...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5006394

[MasonJar]

38. And there is this bridge in Brooklyn....

[demgrrrll]

41. Oh he's doing the old Steve Martin routine,,two simple words, I forgot..

Judy found some notes, Rove's memory is returning...Damn interesting I'd say.

[Kenergy]

42. Oh, we believe you KKKarl. Whatever you say n/t

[Singular73]

43. Rove says he wasn't involved in CIA leak case

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051008/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_rove


WASHINGTON - 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.

<snip>

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




Ahhh, how wonderful. His defense is not that he did not LEAK the name, his defense is that he did not ENGAGE IN AN EFFORT.

He's fucked.

Motive does not matter.

[sandrakae]

44. He's a fucking liar.

[dchill]

45. I am "engaged in an effort"

not to puke.

[Aimah]

46. Roving Liar

Just like he didn't fake the bug story, or the rumor that McCain had a black love child. It seems like his mode of operation.

[UpInArms]

55. let's go back even a bit further

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/rove072399.htm

excerpt:

In 1973, he and the College Republicans were accused of encouraging dirty tricks during the Watergate campaign year of 1972. The Republican National Committee, which was then chaired by Bush's father, investigated and eventually exonerated Rove, who blames political opponents from his chairmanship race for spreading false allegations.

But Rove acknowledges that, in 1970, he used a false identity to gain entry to the campaign offices of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon, who was running for state treasurer. Once inside, Rove swiped some letterhead stationery and sent out 1,000 bogus invitations to the opening of the candidate's headquarters promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing."

...more...

let's see that stealing - or more accurately considered robbery (as he broke into Dixon's campaign office) and forgery complete with lies.

hmmm....

[merwin]

47. *shocking*

I am completely, 100%, utterly, amamzingly, shocked that he would say he is innocent.
:sarcasm: :rofl: :rofl: :sarcasm:

[JDPriestly]

67. It's so original, isn't it.

I wonder what percentage of perpetrators admit to doing wrong. Not very high, I bet.

[MADem]

48. Sing, Karl, SING!!!!

http://www.toontracker.com/nutty/uhoh.ram

The NUTTY SQUIRRELS are alive and well, and getting government salaries!

[dchill]

49. OK, seriously, Rove is NOW "engaged in an effort"

to cover up his lie to the president two years ago. This is exactly how houses of cards are felled.

[aquart]

71. You've swallowed the lie that he lied to Bush?

Good grief. Bush is probably the one who said, Get the bastard.

[Singular73]

50. Engage in an Effort

Looks like he is trying to get in front of a conspiracy charge.

[Elidor]

51. You've nailed it perfectly

Rove is trailing blood in the water.

So have a good drown
as ya go down all alone
dragged down by the stone

[Just Me]

52. So, now, the "plausible deniability" is at play.

Bush is completely innocent/ignorant.

Rove is asserting he was not a part of the conspiracy.

Motive DOES MATTER. It's blatantly obvious what motives are at work, right now. The motives are "plausible deniability" and covering up a conspiracy.

[BiggJawn]

53. "It depends upon what your definition of 'Is' is...."

These slime bundles have NO room to talk.

Nooooo....Rove never "Engaged" in any effort, it just sorta kinda maybe "slipped out"....

[murielm99]

58. He never engaged in an effort...

It just sorta slipped out to all six reporters he called.

It takes no effort to dial the phone six times and yak.

[ShockediSay]

64. It depends on upon what your definition is of engaging "in an effort

It depends on upon what your definition is of engaging

"in an effort to disclose a CIA operative's identity to discredit her husband's criticism of the administration's Iraq policy,"

is.


"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

[Singular73]

66. NOTICE: This is not a legal defence. Its a political defence.

[Mr_Spock]

68. Damn, you beat me to it!

I was just going to post exactly the same thing :D

[shraby]

54. If he didn't do it to discredit Wilson, why DID he do

it then?

[Carolab]

57. To stop Val.

That's why.

It's all here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cea-usa/message/8768

[Just Me]

60. To stop the operation exposing WMD links,...to our own weapons dealers.

They attacked to cover-up their own illegal weapons dealings, IMO. This could be an "oil for arms" scandal or,...whoah,...my imagination is getting pretty wild, right now: arming the very groups which are "terrorists".

[Carolab]

62. That's what I get from it. Thought so all along.

The Roveleak is a distraction. The issue is not the leak itself but WHY. Always ask: "Cui bono?" A simple act of revenge does not justify this.

[seemslikeadream]

83. Yes Just Me and we've known it for a very long time - MERRY FITZMAS

haven't we?















It's all in the sign line

[Carolab]

85. Cheney exposed Plame to cover up his association with A.Q. Khan.

You said it.

BTW, I downloaded your document. Thanks for this.

[Carolab]

56. Liar, liar, pants on fire. What's that smell?

Barbecued Rove?

[daleo]

59. It was effortless

So I guess that is his excuse. Now for Bush, it would be 'hard work'.

[brentspeak]

61. Nyuk,nyuk,nyuk!

Rove is sweatin' bullets!

:thumbsup:

[SoCalDem]

63. Well gee whiz.. That's solves everything, doesn't it.. ?

I guess we will just have to take his word for it :eyes:

[HuffleClaw]

65. word parsing ? that his his defense ?

thats pretty weak. pathetic in fact. kindergarten excuse. methinks he's screwed. i expect the next step will be an ALL OUT assault on fitzgerald by the hate radio types and print pundits. THEN we'll know just how desperate they've become.

[IndianaGreen]

69. The fact that Roe and Bush even discussed the matter...

may put Bush in legal risk.

[lovuian]

70. Bush should have IMMEDIATELY kicked him out when he was

shown to perjure himself with Cooper but where Bush is guilty is by keeping a felon in the White House!!!

[WinkyDink]

72. Not merely a felon;

an actual, real-life, by definition TRAITOR.

[Flammable Materials]

73. "I did not have verbal intercourse with that man, Mr. Novak" n/t

[T_i_B]

74. Trouble for Bush's guru adds to air of crisis

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/08/wbush08.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/10/08/ixportal.html

First, America's all-conquering conservative coalition shuddered and now its creator may be in deep trouble.

Compounding a miserable week for the White House, Karl Rove, President George W Bush's chief political adviser, will spend possibly the most anxious weekend of his career as he waits to hear if he faces criminal charges.

Mr Rove, the architect of Mr Bush's two presidential victories, is to testify next week to a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity.

The federal prosecutor will not divulge whether he intends to press charges as his two-year investigation reaches its climax but to the titillation of Washington he has pointedly not ruled it out.

[rodeodance]

75. first this story hits the UK Telegraph, now hits the US on Sat. am.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051008/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_rove;_ylt=AhNgvQ5EagPUpOpaJvvXn9Ws0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
Rove Says He Wasn't Involved in CIA Leak

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 35 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Senior aide Karl Rove denied to
President Bush that he engaged in an effort to disclose the identity of a covert CIA operative to discredit her husband's criticism of
Iraq policy, say people familiar with Rove's statements in a criminal investigation.

Rove's brief discussion with Bush has been a mystery for two years because the White House publicly referred to it but refuses to say anything about it.
.........
The White House denials collapsed in July amid the disclosure of Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper's conversations in July 2003 about Wilson's wife with Rove and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President
Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

Bush asked Rove in the fall of 2003 to assure him he was not involved in an effort to divulge Plame's identity and punish Wilson, and the longtime confidant assured the president so, people familiar with Rove's account say.

[NashVegas]

77. And God Told Bush to Invade Iraq

George W. Bush's daddy, George HW Bush, invented plausible deniability in politics.

[Mark E. Smith]

78. How sweet!

Karl is covering Georgie's ass.

"You take what you got coming and you keep your damn mouth shut, you hear?" seethed George to his clearly abashed chief political advisor. "You keep me the fuck out of this, uh, make sure nobody knows it was me that put your sorry ass up to it. We'll take care of you later on, but for now you take the goddamn hit, you got that Karl?"

"Yes Mr. President."

[robbedvoter]

79. "If thy brain offends thee...."

I have this image of W running in circles like a headless chicken.

[robbedvoter]

82. Who remembers this suddenly related oddity? "Laying under the plane"

Bush Adviser Lays Under Air Force One

Bush Political Adviser Karl Rove Lays Himself Under the Wheels of Air
Force One

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=176743

The Associated Press

McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. Oct. 18, 2004 - Karl Rove laid himself on
the line Monday for his boss, the president of the United States.

That is, he laid himself under the wheels of Air Force One. Reason:
Unclear, but it seems to have been an inside joke between Rove and
President Bush.

Returning to the aircraft after Bush's foreign policy speech, the two
men traded words. As Bush climbed the stairs, his top political adviser
set his briefcase down in front of the tires and stretched out on the
ground with his back to the wheels.

Rove stood back up moments later; a smiling Bush waved from the plane
and they both got aboard.
"It was a humorous moment on the campaign trail," was all Bush campaign
spokesman Scott Stanzel would say about Rove's antic.

Sounds like a play on words to me - they were playing "mime" and Rove was miming "sounds like" lying about Plame"

[tinfoilinfor2005]

88. Sure, They were playing charades, and he was trying to get

get across the message: I'm lying about Plame. So he was lying in front of a plane. And bush got it; that's why he was smiling.

[paineinthearse]

84. See Friday night post in GEN authored by Murray Waas

New National Journal Story on Plame investigation: What Karl Rove told the President - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5006394

[DrZeeLit]

87. Aren't ya'll so sick of these guys?

I'm so up to here with them all.
I am so glad I don't have a t.v. and I don't have this shit blaring at me 24/7.
It's bad enough here -- and I AM NOT COMPLAINING about DU.
It's just that they are so disgusting.
It's all about Lying and Death and Money and more Death.

I'm just sick of them. I don't usually wish ill on others, but they deserve some retribution.
I hope their karma kicks ass.

[Treclo]

89. That picture of Rove

under the plane last year was just wierd. If it really was a play on the words "Lying about Plame", that just fits in with their bloated egos that no one would ever get it.

But if it wasn't, WTF was he doing?

[Charles19]

91. The loophole

The loophole will be Bush told them to leak the name and Bush can claim he didn't know she was covert.

With a republican controlled Congress they know are safe.

Yet another reason not to have all of congress and the executive branch run by the same party.

[Algorem]

92. Cockeye Roberts said on This Week that Bush'll be mad if Rove lied to

him.Bill Kristol on FOX Sunday stopped flashing his pearly-yellows for a few seconds to say White House lawyers told him they're very worried about 1-3 indictments that may be coming in next two weeks of senior White House officials and that it would be verrry bad for the Bush assministration.

[lanlady]

93. poor Bushes

They're always, always "out of the loop" whether it concerns Iran/contra or Niger/Wilson. Jeepers creepers, why don't their advisors tell them anything?

[Mike_The_Computer]

94. Plausible denial is a beautiful thing.

I can't wait to see where the buck stops, because common sense says it really HAS to go all the way to the top.

[librechik]

95. TurdBlossom walks the plank!

:popcorn: