Today's big scoop came, not from the Wall Street Journal as expected, but from Bloomberg, whose breaking news story today confirms much of what was in Murray Waas' American Prospect scoop earlier this week (reported also by TalkLeft). Namely, that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, who the NYT reports were busy digging up dirt and talking points for a George Tenet rebuttal of Joe Wilson's Niger nukes op-ed, may have lied to investigators. According to Bloomberg: July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Two top White House aides have given accounts to a special prosecutor about how reporters first told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to people familiar with the case.
Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, one person said. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn't tell Libby of Plame's identity, the person said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, according a person familiar with the matter. Novak, who was first to report Plame's name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said.
These discrepancies may be important because Fitzgerald is investigating whether Libby, Rove or other administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation. The Plame case has its genesis in whether any administrationofficials violated a 1982 law making it illegal to knowingly reveal the name of a covert intelligence agent.
ThinkProgress adds more fuel today, wondering aloud whether former Scott McClellan Ari Fleisher could also be in the hot seat, since NBC News and others now confirm that he was reportedly seen perusing the State Department memo containing Valerie Plame Wilson's name and identity as a SECRET CIA operative. The plot thickens... |
