Jason Leopold: Report Shows Rove May Have Lied to FBI, A Felony

[althecat]

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00227.htm

Report Shows Karl Rove May Have Lied to Federal Agents, a Federal Crime, During Oct 2003 Testimony Into CIA Agent Leak
By Jason Leopold

Looks like Karl Rove did break the law, the same federal law that got Martha Stewart sentenced to six months in prison.

....

On July 6, 2003 Wilson was interviewed for a story that appeared in the Washington Post and accused the White House of "misrepresenting the facts on an issue that was a fundamental justification for going to war." That same day he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times which said that "some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

The very next day, July 7, 2003, the White House admitted it had erred in including the references about uranium in Bush's State of the Union speech.

Two days later, two top White House officials disclosed Plame's identity to at least six Washington journalists, an administration official told The Post in an article published Sept. 28, 2003.

Those two officials were Karl Rove and Lewis Libby.

“The source elaborated on the conversations last week, saying that officials brought up Plame as part of their broader case against Wilson,” the Post reported in the Sept. 28, 2003 story.

On July 12, 2003, two days before Novak wrote his column, a Washington Post reporter was told by an administration official that the White House had not paid attention to the former ambassador's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger because it was set up as a boondoggle by his wife, an analyst with the agency working on weapons of mass destruction. Plame's name was never mentioned and the purpose of the disclosure did not appear to be to generate an article, but rather to undermine Wilson's report.

That source was Karl Rove and the unidentified reporter was Walter Pincus who covers the White House.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00227.htm

[wallwriter]

1. So Rove and Libby will be catchable quarry. Will Cheney wriggle free?

[jal]

2. From Jason Leopold

Forgive me all. I had spent a considerable amount of time on this story and I failed to include a key element that points to Lewis Libby in this matter. That's what happens when you're your own editor. I'm human. I'm sorry.

So here is the information that points to Libby

During the same week that Rove spoke to Time’s Matt Cooper about Wilson, so did Scooter Libby and Libby went on the record for Cooper’s July 17, 2003 story.

In an exclusive interview with Time on July 17, 2003, http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,465270,00.html,

Lewis Libby, the Vice President's Chief of Staff said "The Vice President heard about the possibility of Iraq trying to acquire uranium from Niger in February 2002. As part of his regular intelligence briefing, the Vice President asked a question about the implication of the report. During the course of a year, the Vice President asked many such questions and the agency responded within a day or two saying that they had reporting suggesting the possibility of such a transaction. But the agency noted that the reporting lacked detail. The agency pointed out that Iraq already had 500 tons of uranium, portions of which came from Niger, according to the International Atomic Energy Administration (IAEA). The Vice President was unaware of the trip by Ambassador Wilson and didn't know about it until this year when it became public in the last month or so. "

[seemslikeadream]

4. Condi gave it to Rove! and george new!

Moreover, evidence suggests that President Bush was aware as early as October 2003 that Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, were the sources who leaked Plame’s undercover CIA status to reporters. And after the president was briefed about the issue the president said publicly that the source of the leak will never be found.
Furthermore, a few aides to Condoleeza Rice, then head of the National Security Council, may have played a role as well by being the first officials to learn about Plame’s role as a CIA operative and giving that information to Rove, Libby and other senior administration officials.




Thanks jal

[FreedomAngel82]

6. Oh wow

So if Bush knew all a long this would be like the Watergate cover up, right (but worse of course)?

[Technowitch]

5. Welcome to DU, Mr. Leopold

And thanks for this additional piece to the puzzle. I've a feeling this particular news cycle is just beginning to get interesting.

cheers!
-Technowitch

[senseandsensibility]

8. Welcome to DU

Keep posting!

[newyawker99]

11. Hi jal!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Jane Austin]

3. This mentions the date July 12, 2003, as two days before Novak

wrote his column.

I have no idea where I read this, but I am almost positive I read somehere that Novak's column would have been in journalists' hands (maybe via a website) by July 11.

Does anyone else remember it this way?

[writes2000]

7. Great & thorough read! Recommended!

[seemslikeadream]

9. a kick for the cat

[crispini]

10. Recommended.

Very good!

[Stand and Fight]

12. Bush knew? A cover-up! Just like Watergate!

The important parts of the story are this:

Moreover, evidence suggests that President Bush was aware as early as October 2003 that Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, were the sources who leaked Plame’s undercover CIA status to reporters. And after the president was briefed about the issue the president said publicly that the source of the leak will never be found... /snip/

On July 6, 2003 Wilson was interviewed for a story that appeared in the Washington Post and accused the White House of "misrepresenting the facts on an issue that was a fundamental justification for going to war." That same day he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times which said that "some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

The very next day, July 7, 2003, the White House admitted it had erred in including the references about uranium in Bush's State of the Union speech.

Two days later, two top White House officials disclosed Plame's identity to at least six Washington journalists, an administration official told The Post in an article published Sept. 28, 2003.

Those two officials were Karl Rove and Lewis Libby... /snip/

"I mean this is a town full of people who like to leak information," Bush told reporters following a meeting with Cabinet members on Oct. 7, 2003. "And I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official. Now, this is a large administration, and there's lots of senior officials. I don't have any idea.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, responded to the president’s statement in an Oct. 10, 2003, interview with the New York Times.

“If the president says, 'I don't know if we're going to find this person,' what kind of a statement is that for the president of the United States to make?'' Lautenberg asked. “Would he say that about a bank-robbery investigation?”

During this time the White House was facing a deadline on turning over documents, emails and phone logs to Justice Department officials probing whether or not the leak came from the White House. Bush said that the White House could invoke executive privilege and withhold some “sensitive” documents related to the leak case leading many Democrats to believe that the White House had something to hide.

[schrodingers_cat]

13. here's the link for the 'Novak as source' story....

Rove Learned CIA Agent's Name From Novak
AP - Fri Jul 15, 8:09 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Chief presidential adviser Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he talked with two journalists before they divulged the identity of an undercover CIA officer but that he originally learned about the operative from the news media and not government sources......(more)


http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/media_watch