Rove-Novak Call Was Concern To Leak Investigators

[Veronica.Franco]

CIA LEAK INVESTIGATION

By Murray Waas, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Thursday, May 25, 2006

On September 29, 2003, three days after it became known that the CIA had asked the Justice Department to investigate who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, columnist Robert Novak telephoned White House senior adviser Karl Rove to assure Rove that he would protect him from being harmed by the investigation, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the federal grand jury testimony of both men.

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0525nj1.htm

[MADem]

1. This is some juicy shit!

Rove talked about his conversations with Novak, which means either he let Novak talk, or Novak said "Screw this, I'm an old man with a bad hip, and I ain't going to jail!" No wonder Novak was so testy in his waning months at CNN:

Suspicious that Rove and Novak might have devised a cover story during that conversation to protect Rove, federal investigators briefed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft on the matter in the early stages of the investigation in fall 2003, according to officials with direct knowledge of those briefings...Sources said that Ashcroft received a special briefing on the highly sensitive issue of the September 29 conversation between Novak and Rove because of the concerns of federal investigators that a well-known journalist might have been involved in an effort to not only protect a source but also work in tandem with the president's chief political adviser to stymie the FBI.

Rove testified to the grand jury that during his telephone call with Novak, the columnist said words to the effect: "You are not going to get burned" and "I don't give up my sources," according to people familiar with his testimony. Rove had been one of the "two senior administration" officials who had been sources for the July 14, 2003, column in which Novak outed Plame as an "agency operative." Rove and Novak had talked about Plame on July 9, five days before Novak's column was published.

Rove also told the grand jury, according to sources, that in the September 29 conversation, Novak referred to a 1992 incident in which Rove had been fired from the Texas arm of President George H.W. Bush's re-election effort; Rove lost his job because the Bush campaign believed that he had been the source for a Novak column that criticized the campaign's internal workings.

They go back a long way, but hey, when you're old and tired, jail doesn't look like a suitable place. The remaining golden years are better spent in the bosom of one's loving family; and politics and power start to lose their appeal.

[grasswire]

2. so...

...conspiracy to obstruct justice, as well as suborning perjury?

That sounds like two more charges against Rover.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. Don't forget Novakula.

:D

[UpInArms]

3. No-Facts and Rove are Criminals

more from your link:

Mark Feldstein, the director of journalism programs at George Washington University, said that Novak apparently acted outside traditional journalistic standards by reaching out to Rove after he believed that a criminal investigation had commenced: "A journalist's natural instinct is to protect his source. Were there no criminal investigation, it would have been more than appropriate for a reporter to say to a source, 'Don't worry, I'm not going to out you.' But if there is a criminal investigation under way, you can't escape the inference that you are calling to coordinate your stories. You go very quickly from being a stand-up reporter to impairing a criminal investigation."

A second reason that federal investigators were suspicious, sources said, is that they believed that after the September 29 call, Novak shifted his account of his July 9, 2003, conversation with Rove to show that administration officials had a passive role in leaking Plame's identity.

On July 22, 2003 -- eight days after the publication of Novak's column on Plame -- Newsday reporters Timothy Phelps and Knut Royce quoted Novak as telling them in an interview that it was White House officials who encouraged him to write about Plame. "I didn't dig it out, it was given to me," Newsday quoted Novak as saying about Plame. "They thought it was significant. They gave me the name, and I used it."

If Novak's interview with Phelps and Royce was accurate, sources said, it suggests that Rove was actively involved in trying to expose Plame's CIA job.

[yellowcanine]

4. ruh roh COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,

COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,COVERUP, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE,
Oh yes it is......

[rodeodance]

5. this says as long as both Rove and Novak stay mum--no chance of

a conviction.

A longtime friend of Rove, who doesn't have firsthand knowledge of the CIA leak case but who knows both Rove and Novak well, doubts that Fitzgerald could get a conviction -- "as long as neither breaks, and there is no reason for them to, no matter how much evidence there is. These are two people who go way back, and they are going to look out for each other."

Richman says that a grand jury could consider circumstantial evidence in weighing whether to bring charges, so long as there is also other substantial evidence, and that the prosecutor can present that evidence at trial.

"It's possible that prosecutors would view their conversation as the beginning of a conspiracy to obstruct justice, given that they had reason to believe that an investigation would soon be under way," says Richman. "It's even more likely that this conversation would help prosecutors shed light on Rove's motivations and intent when he later spoke to investigators."

-- Previous coverage of pre-war intelligence and the CIA leak investigation from Murray Waas.

[Virginia Dare]

7. One of these self-serving asswipes will crack...I'm sure of it...n/t

[yellowcanine]

8. I think they both have been squealing like little piggies since Libby went

down. Cheney is the target now and probably was from the beginning. Fitz is conducting a classic "reel in the little fish to catch the big fish" investigation.

[jazzjunkysue]

20. Agreed. That's why the initial smoke of Rove's indictment was true: I'll b

bet that they showed Rover his indictment without filing it with a judge, but voted on by the jury. And that's why it's all in mid air right now:

It takes meetings with one's lawyers to determine the language that will be submitted: At this point, Rove's lawyer's words will all be written, and re-written by teams of lawyers, and that takes time.

I bet TO was right on the 12th but things went on a winding path, and have still not settled.

They're all blaming each other: Libby, Rove, Cheney and the Great Decider, himself.

[Supersedeas]

9. just a Neo-Thug reassuring his slimy source that his lips were sealed

[msanthrope]

6. Conspiracy Charges against Rove--

I think this lays the foundation....

[Julius Civitatus]

10. Such loyalty: ROVE PUSHED NOVAK UNDER THE BUS

Notice the story beneath this story.

Rove calls Novak telling him he has some juicy info on Plame.
Novak promises Rove cover in case of trouble for his leak.
When they get in trouble, Rove throws Novak under the bus to the authorities: "It was all his idea, Mr. Fitzgerald. I was just playing along!"

Rove: a weasel until the very end.

[lonestarnot]

11. Suck suck suck asswipes! You're going down! I hear it!

[Veronica.Franco]

12. It's only a matter of time now ....

Rove is going down ...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

13. Deserves a kick.

:kick:

[OzarkDem]

15. So who is leaking this information?

Are these sorts of details about grand jury testimony common knowledge in DC circles? I notice most of the people being interviewed are j-school professors - less likely to get fired for betraying Bushco.

[NastyRiffraff]

16. Novak folded early...

Don't pay attention to what he told Rove "you're not going down." All Novak had to hear from Fitz is "you're going to jail if you don't talk." As much as I despise Judy Miller, Novak was not about to go to jail. She didn't fold until the reality of jail hit her. She didn't like it much. Novak wasn't ABOUT to go there.

He threw Rove under the bus, without a backward glance. Protecting his sources? Novak always....ALWAYS... protects himself.

However, I have no doubt that Rove will get revenge...hence, the leak of this story. There is NO honor amongst these thieves.

[kskiska]

17. I remember Novak being very coy about who told him

He said something to the effect of, "It wasn't one of the big guns in the administration." I guess he thought that would get them off Rove's track.
Rove is one of the biggest guns of all.

[damntexdem]

18. Even with Gonzalez in office, Novak can't be charged ...

for outing Plame.

But this is different -- obstruction of justice. If Novak acted on his promise, he could be in the prosecutor's sights as a defendent.

[janx]

19. kick