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| Prosecutor: Karl Rove Not Target of Probe | |
| 2005-07-13 | |
| Plamegate special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had told top White House advisor Karl Rove that he's not a target of his investigation into who leaked the identity of CIA analyst Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. And Fitzgerald has also asked the top Bush aide not to discuss the case in public. Speaking to National Review Online's Byron York late Tuesday, Rove attorney Robert Luskin said Fitzgerald "has told Rove he is not a 'target' of the investigation" - despite media reports suggesting otherwise. Fitzgerald has also made it clear, however, that virtually anyone whose conduct falls within the scope of the investigation, including Rove, is considered a "subject" of the probe, Luskin told York. "'Target' is something we all understand, a very alarming term," he added. For two days straight, the White House press corps has obsessed over Rove's supposed guilt, pummeling Bush spokesman Scott McClellan with dozens of questions about the top Bush aide's role in the cse. Former Reagan Justice Department official Mark Levin told York last night that Luskin's revelation made a big difference. "He is not a target, which is quite different from a subject," Levin said on his WABC radio show. "I know what a target is . . . the prosecutors are chasing you." "If he's not a target, what the hell is the media up to" by making Rove the focus of their questions, Levin asked? Luskin also told York that Rove has not spoken publicly, "because Fitzgerald specifically asked him not to."
Robert Novak: Plame Source 'No Partisan Gunslinger' The Washington press corps and their Democratic friends have been too busy this week chasing down Karl Rove to notice that columnist Robert Novak has offered a tantalizing clue about the identity of just who it was who leaked Valerie Plame's name to him back in July 2003. And judging from Novak's revelation - it wasn't Karl Rove. Apparently it's been a while since any of the big media's newshounds bothered to read Novak's follow-up column on the Plame case on Oct. 1, 2003, where he talked about the man (woman?) who spilled Plame's name and thereby, according to Dems, committed the crime of the century. "During a long conversation with a senior administration official," he wrote, "I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger." No partisan gunslinger? Even fans of Mr. Rove would be hard-presseed to deny he's a "partisan gunslinger" - just the kind of person Novak says his leaker wasn't. Could Novak have been lying to protect Mr. Rove? Perhaps. But by the time he wrote the above words, the Plame leak was already under investigation by the Justice Department, a develpoment that would have guaranteed that he'd have to repeat that falsehood under oath. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #10 I believe that General Powell would fit Novak's description. He's a non-partisan gunslinger. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-07-13 14:18 |
| #9 Well, there is a 'senior official' who's no longer in the adminsitration. You mean the former SecState? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-13 13:55 |
| #8 This is gonna kill the schmucks like Blob Buckle and Screwgy Estrogen. Buckle was peddling this crap just this morning on Fox Dayside and "demanding" Rove resign, lol! Why Fox bothers to bring on such shills, I dunno. I usually turn it off and fire up WinAmp when one of those loser "operatives" comes on. They lose me for 3 or 4 hours every time. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-13 13:40 |
| #7 What is all the fuss about? We have already probed Karl Rove. |
| Posted by: Grey Alien 2005-07-13 13:36 |
| #6 Oh, look, Judy! Joe Wilson's on your side! I believe he used to be famous once. I'll have my secretary call the Washington desk and see if that's true and, if so, why. It should be any day now. But according to what Martha told me over the weekend, it really wasn't all that bad. She preferred it over that blasted ankle bracelet. Oh, well. Stiff upper lip! Ta-ta! |
| Posted by: Pinchy 2005-07-13 12:58 |
| #5 Well, this is interesting, from The Corner: ...it appears Joe Wilson has issued a statement IN DEFENSE OF Judith Miller. Which is odd on its face, because if Wilson is so concerned about finding out who revealed the name of his wife -- who Wilson claims was somehow placed in personal jeopardy by the revelation -- shouldn't he want her to testify and reveal who told her what? Here are Wilson's words: "The sentencing of Judith Miller to jail for refusing to disclose her sources is the direct result of the culture of unaccountability that infects the Bush White House from top to bottom....Thus has Ms Miller joined my wife, Valerie, and her twenty years of service to this nation as collateral damage in the smear campaign launched when I had the temerity to challenge the President on his assertion that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium yellowcake from Africa." This makes no sense. Judy Miller's jailing is the direct result of an effort to find out who revealed his wife's name. But there is at least one way in which it might make sense -- if Wilson is himself the original source. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-07-13 12:41 |
| #4 It's pretty obvious that the media is mostly hoping/praying (if librulz are allowed to pray!) that they can use this to "get Rove," and prove that they are still the "power behind the throne" in Washington. IF they lose this, as I believe they will, even Republican Senators are going to start being a bit less impressed by the "Mainstream Media." Their focus on "getting Rove" rather than finding what really happened is obvious if one even attempts to be objective: IF Plame were "outed," and that's certainly not clearly the case; then it was the result of Novak's column, and the relevant leaker(s) was Novak's source. This whole "feeding frenzy" is over an email from Cooper describing his conversation with Rove. There is absolutely NOTHING, other than MSM fantasy, to suggest that Cooper's source is Rove's source. It's amazing that I've seen virtually no recognition of that simple "leap of faith" in all of the discussion of this topic. Of course, IF the information that Rove provided Cooper was classified material then Rove MAY have done something wrong, but it's certainly not the same as the leak to Novak that produced the alleged "public outing." |
| Posted by: Ralph Tacoma 2005-07-13 12:32 |
| #3 Maryland's next Senate race is shaping up to be two black men running for Paul Sarbanes' seat: for the Dems, Kweisi Mfume; for the GOP, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Steele is scheduled to attend a fundraising dinner this month hosted by Karl Rove. The Dems have "issued a call" for Steele to refuse Rove's support. Heh. The silly season is upon us. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-07-13 12:28 |
| #2 ok..I give up, who? Anyone besides me been hoping that this is just another Rovian plot trapping the Dems to get in a national hissy fit only to discover that the object of their scorn is one of their own? |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-07-13 12:16 |
| #1 No partisan gunslinger? Well, there is a 'senior official' who's no longer in the adminsitration. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-07-13 12:12 |