Interesting Rove Twist

This article from the AP describes Karl Rove's testimony to the grand jury. The AP learned this information from a source that was briefed about Mr. Rove's testimony. Their identity will remain a secret since it is illegal to discuss testimony given to a grand jury.

I think that there are two interesting aspects to the portions of his testimony revealed in the above article. First, Rove claims that he had no inside information about Valerie Plame's identity. He testified that he learned about her true identity and covert status from people in the media. Only after hearing about it in the journalistic rumour mill did he pass it along to Matthew Cooper. Second, Rove admits that he told Time reporter Matt Cooper that Wilson's wife was a CIA operative "in an effort to discredit some of Wilson's allegations".

What happens now?

Update: This article from the New York Times has more on Rove's grand jury testimony from that same, anonymous, source. In this article, it is reported that Mr. Rove was the second source for Robert Novak's column that outed Valerie Plame. According to the source, Rove testified that Mr. Novak called him and told him about Valerie Plame and her connection with Wilson. Rove responded, "I heard that too." With Rove's confirmation, Novak had the much needed second confirmation and could source the story to a "senior administration official".

The New York Times article also reminds readers of a time when Karl Rove was fired from the Texas campaign to reelect President Bush in 1992 for leaking information about campaign fundraising weaknesses to Robert Novak. Both deny that Rove was involved with the leak.

With the identification of actual grand jury testimony, the White House is in a very difficult position. I will grant that Rove may not have used his security clearance to uncover Valerie Plame's operative status. But, given his position in the administration, his confirmation to Novak certainly added authority to the rumours about Wilson's wife. Without a second, high-level confirmation, Novak may never have been able to get that story past his editors.

There is no denying that he had something to do with the leak. Will Bush follow through on that promise?

Update 2: It appears that my conjecture was correct. An attorney for Rove has confirmed that Robert Novak used Rove as a second source for his article.

White House senior adviser Karl Rove indirectly confirmed the CIA affiliation of an administration critic's wife for Robert D. Novak the week before the columnist named her and revealed her position, a lawyer involved in the case said last night. (ref)