Rove Lawyer Tells 'Wash Post' Rove Did Nothing Wrong
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/..._id=1000972855
(Gold9472: Black is white, night is day, yes is no... By denying it, they create a "tie"...)
Published: July 02, 2005 10:00 PM ET
NEW YORK An attorney for Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, confirmed to the Washington Post on Saturday that his client did speak with Time magazine's Matthew Cooper in July 2003. But the lawyer said Rove never identified Valerie Plame as a CIA operative to Cooper in those conversations.
The attorney, Robert Luskin said that Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the Plame case, assured him in October and again last week that Rove is not a target of his investigation.
"Karl did nothing wrong. Karl didn't disclose Valerie Plame's identity to Mr. Cooper or anybody else," Luskin told the Post. Luskin said the question remains unanswered: "Who outed this woman? ... It wasn't Karl."
MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell and Newsweek's Michael Isikoff had revealed, in recent hours, that Rove's name turned up in the notes Time Inc. turned over to a federal judge on Friday.
"Cooper has said that more than one confidential source is identified in his e-mails and the notes of interviews he conducted in July 2003," the Post reported.
Rove answered questions under oath before a grand jury on Oct. 15. According to Luskin, the prosecutor said he believes Rove was candid about his contact with reporters. "I've been assured by the prosecutor they have no reason to doubt the honesty of anything he's said", Luskin said.
Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller face four months in jail as early as Wednesday for defying a federal judge's order to cooperate with Fitzgerald's investigation.