Senior White House aide Karl Rove denied to US President George W. Bush that he engaged in an effort to disclose the identity of a covert CIA operative to discredit her husband's criticism of the administration's Iraq policy, according to people familiar with Rove's statements in a criminal investigation.
Rove's brief discussion with Bush has been a mystery for two years because the White House publicly referred to it, but refuses to say anything about it.
Beginning two years ago, the White House flatly denied that Rove had been involved in unlawfully leaking the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, the wife of former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
The White House denials collapsed in July amid the disclosure of Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper's conversations in July 2003 about Wilson's wife with Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.
Bush asked Rove in the fall of 2003 to assure him he was not involved in an effort to divulge Plame's identity and punish Wilson, and the longtime confidant assured the president so, people familiar with Rove's account say.
Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff, answered similarly when press secretary Scott McClellan asked him a similar question.
Those with direct knowledge of evidence gathered in the criminal investigation spoke to reporters only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy.
Bush's discussion with Rove did not get into specifics concerning Rove's conversations in July 2003 with syndicated columnist Robert Novak and Cooper, who wrote stories identifying Plame, the people familiar with Rove's account said.
Rove's meeting with Bush occurred amid a public uproar over the Justice Department launching a criminal investigation of who in the administration leaked Plame's identity. At the time, spokesman McClellan was so adamant in his denials that he told reporters the president himself knew that Rove was not involved in the leak.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is wrapping up an investigation into whether Rove, Libby or other White House aides divulged Plame's identity in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
The probe is examining whether aides mishandled classified information, made false statements or obstructed justice. Rove is slated to testify soon to the grand jury for the fourth time. Prosecutors told him they no longer can assure that he will escape indictment.
Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, declined to comment Friday on the specifics of the discussion with Bush. But he confirmed that his client maintains -- then and now -- he did not engage in an effort to disclose Plame's identity.
"He always truthfully denied that he was ever part of any campaign to punish Joe Wilson by disclosing the identity of his wife," Luskin said.
In addition to Rove's discussions with reporters, investigators are looking into a delay in learning about Rove's contact with Cooper and an e-mail between Rove and now-national security adviser Steve Hadley that referred to the conversation.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
A Hong Kong astronaut is to join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching today, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the moon. The Tiangong space station — crewed by teams of three astronauts that are typically rotated every six months — is the crown jewel of China’s space program, boosted by billions in state investment in a bid to catch up with the US and Russia. The Shenzhou-23 mission is to blast off at 11:08pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to
UPGRADED ALERT: The risk inside DR Congo is now considered ‘very high,’ while neighboring countries face a ‘high’ threat as the outbreak continues, the WHO said Ebola is spreading faster than responders can track it in eastern Congo, where health workers managed to follow up with barely one in five identified contacts in a single day. Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) reported 83 confirmed infections, 746 suspected cases and 1,603 identified contacts as of Thursday, but health workers were able to follow up on only 342 contacts that day — about 21 percent of the total under monitoring — data released by the DR Congo Ministry of Public Health on Friday showed. The figures suggest the response is falling behind the outbreak itself,
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
RSS