Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, spoke with Time magazine's Matthew Cooper during a critical week in July 2003 when Cooper was reporting on a public critic of the Bush administration who was also the husband of a CIA operative, his lawyer confirmed yesterday.
Rove is identified in Cooper's notes from that time period, which Time turned over Friday to special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald -- under court order. Fitzgerald is investigating whether senior administration officials leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to reporters in July 2003 as retaliation after her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to justify a war with Iraq.
Rove's lawyer said Rove never identified Plame to Cooper in those conversations. More significantly, Robert Luskin said, Fitzgerald assured him in October and again last week that Rove is not a target of his investigation.
This *may* be true, but the journalist needs throw in a layer of skepticism. I understand that there's no "other side" here, as Fitzgerald isn't talking, but it's a bit ridiculous to write a story like this without providing, somehow, a bit more balance. Just a water carrying story.
As for the Queen of All Iraq, I do think Swopa is on to something regarding her role in all this. Perhaps Cooper's notes won't say "Rove told me that Wilson's wife is a CIA operative." Instead, they'll say "Rove told me to talk to Judith Miller."