Karl Rove

Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950 in Denver, Colorado) is an American political consultant, and (as of 2005) U.S. President George W. Bush's senior advisor, chief political strategist, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff in charge of policy.

Plame affair

Main article Plame affair covers Karl Rove's role as the reported source of published information as to the identity of Valerie Plame, wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson, as a CIA NOC agent to Robert Novak after Wilson contradicted the George W. Bush administration's statements regarding the Yellowcake forgery.

Related Topics:
Plame affair - Valerie Plame - Joe Wilson - CIA - NOC - Robert Novak - Yellowcake forgery

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Origins

On 29 August 2003, retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a career diplomat who had worked under Democratic and Republican administrations, alleged that Rove leaked the identity of his wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative (timelinehttp://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/07/21/politics/20050722leak_graphic.html). The leak is a potential violation of federal law.

Related Topics:
29 August - 2003 - Joseph C. Wilson - Valerie Plame - CIA

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Rove's role as Time leaker revealed

On September 29, 2003, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, regarding any suggested involvement of Rove with the leak, that "he President knows" that it was not true.

Related Topics:
September 29 - 2003 - Scott McClellan

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:And I said it is simply not true . So, I mean, it's public knowledge. I've said that it's not true. And I have spoken with Karl Rove ... He 's aware of what I've said, that there is simply no truth to that suggestion. And I have spoken with Karl about it.http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030929-7.html

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During the 2004 Republican National Convention, Rove told CNN:

Related Topics:
2004 Republican National Convention - CNN

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:I didn't know her name and didn't leak her name. This is at the Justice Department. I'm confident that the U.S. Attorney, the prosecutor who's involved in looking at this is going to do a very thorough job of doing a very substantial and conclusive investigation.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/05/ip.01.html

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On 1 July 2005 Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, on the McLaughlin Group stated: "And I know I'm going to get pulled into the grand jury for saying this but the source of...for Matt Cooper was Karl Rove, and that will be revealed in this document dump that Time Magazines going to do with the grand jury." The document dump has since occurred.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/02/AR2005070201043.html

Related Topics:
1 July - 2005 - Lawrence O'Donnell - MSNBC - McLaughlin Group - Time Magazine

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On 2 July 2005, Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, said that his client spoke to Time reporter Matt Cooper "three or four days" before Plame's identity was first revealed in print by commentator Robert Novak. (Cooper's article in Time, citing unnamed and anonymous "government officials," confirmed Plame to be a "CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." Cooper's article appeared three days after Novak's column was published.) Rove's lawyer, however, asserted that Rove "never knowingly disclosed classified information" and that "he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA." This second statement has since been called into question by an e-mail, written three days before Novak's column, in which Cooper indicated that Rove had told him Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. If Rove were aware that this was classified information at the time then both disclaimers by his lawyer would be untrue. Furthermore, Luskin said that Rove himself had testified before the grand jury "two or three times" (three times, according to the Los Angeles Times of 3 July 2005 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rove3jul03,1,2388418.story in addition to two interviews by the FBI) and signed a waiver authorizing reporters to testify about their conversations with him. Luskin stated that Rove "has answered every question that has been put to him about his conversations with Cooper and anybody else." Rove's lawyer declined to share with Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff the nature or contents of his client's conversations with Cooper. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8445696/site/newsweek/

Related Topics:
2 July - 2005 - Robert Luskin - Robert Novak - 3 July - Michael Isikoff

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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000972841 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1079464,00.htmlhttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rove3jul03,1,2388418.story

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/02/AR2005070201043.html

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On 6 July 2005, Cooper agreed to testify, thus avoiding being held in contempt of court and sent to jail. Cooper said "I went to bed ready to accept the sanctions for not testifying," but told the judge that not long before his early afternoon appearance at court he had received "in somewhat dramatic fashion" an indication from his source freeing him from his commitment to keep his source's identity secret. For some observers this called into question the allegations against Rove, who had signed a waiver months before permitting reporters to testify about their conversations with him (see above paragraph).

Related Topics:
6 July - 2005 - Contempt of court

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050706/ap_on_re_us/reporters_contempt_62;_ylt=ArnUNjXzbMhKbNhtcoEGde1ZJ_wA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

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Cooper, however, stated in court that he did not previously accept a general waiver to journalists signed by his source (whom he did not identify by name), because he had made a personal pledge of confidentiality to his source. The 'dramatic change' which allowed Cooper to testify was later revealed to be a phone conversation between lawyers for Cooper and his source confirming that the waiver signed two years earlier included conversations with Cooper. Citing a "person who has been officially briefed on the case," The New York Times identified Rove as the individual in question,http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/07/politics/07leak.html?hp&ex=1120795200&en=211258b05dea0ba7&ei=5094&partner=homepage a fact later confirmed by Rove's own lawyer.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek/ According to one of Cooper's lawyers, Cooper has previously testified in August 2004 before the grand jury regarding conversations with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, after having received Libby's specific permission to testify.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/07/politics/07leak.html?hp&ex=1120795200&en=211258b05dea0ba7&ei=5094&partner=homepagehttp://rawstory.com/news/2005/What_Karl_Rove_and_Cheneys_chief_of_staff_told__0717.html

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On 10 July 2005, Newsweek posted a story from its forthcoming July 18 print edition which quoted one of the e-mails written by Time reporter Matt Cooper in the days following the publication of Wilson's Op-Ed piece.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek/ Writing to Time bureau chief Michael Duffy on 11 July 2003, three days before Novak's column was published, Cooper recounted a two-minute conversation with Karl Rove "on double super secret background" in which Rove said that Wilson's wife was a CIA employee: "it was, KR said, Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd issues who authorized the trip." In a Time article released 17 July 2005, Cooper says Rove ended his conversation by saying "I've already said too much." If true, this could indicate that Rove identified Wilson's wife as a CIA employee prior to Novak's column being published. Some believe that statements by Rove claiming he did not reveal her name would still be strictly accurate if he mentioned her only as 'Wilson's wife', although this distinction would likely have no bearing on the alleged illegality of the disclosure. The White House repeatedly denied that Rove had any involvement in the leaks. Whether Rove's statement to Cooper that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA in fact violated any laws has not been resolved.

Related Topics:
10 July - 2005 - Michael Duffy - 11 July - 2003 - Double super secret background - 17 July

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In addition, Rove told Cooper that CIA Director George Tenet did not authorize Wilson's trip to Niger, and that "not only the genesis of the trip is flawed an suspect but so is the report" which Wilson made upon his return from Africa. Rove "implied strongly there's still plenty to implicate Iraqi interest in acquiring uranium fro Niger," and in an apparent effort to discourage Cooper from taking the former ambassador's assertions seriously, gave Cooper a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Cooper recommended that his bureau chief assign a reporter to contact the CIA for further confirmation, and indicated that the tip should not be sourced to Rove or even to the White House. The Washington Post reported that the CIA, contradicting Rove, "maintained that Wilson was chosen for the trip by senior officials in the Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division (CPD) -- not by his wife -- largely because he had handled a similar agency inquiry in Niger in 1999"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001918.html, though she is reported to have suggested him for the 1999 triphttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek/.

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Cooper testified before a grand jury on 13 July 2005, confirming that Rove was the source who told him Wilson's wife was an employee of the CIA.http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000978699 In the 17 July 2005 Time magazine article detailing his grand jury testimony, Cooper wrote that Rove never used Plame's name nor indicated that she had covert status, although Rove did apparently convey that certain information relating to her was classified: "Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the C.I.A. and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she worked at the 'agency' on 'W.M.D.'? Yes. When he said things would be declassified soon, was that itself impermissible? I don't know. Is any of this a crime? Beats me."http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1083899,00.html Cooper also explained to the grand jury that the "double super secret background" under which Rove spoke to him was not an official White House or Time magazine security designation, but an allusion to the 1978 film Animal House, in which a college fraternity is placed under "double secret probation."http://rawstory.com/news/2005/What_Karl_Rove_and_Cheneys_chief_of_staff_told__0717.html

Related Topics:
13 July - 2005 - 17 July - Animal House

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On 13 August 2005 journalist Murray Waas reported that Justice Department and FBI officials had recommended appointing a special prosecutor to the case because they felt that Rove had not been truthful in early interviews, withholding from FBI investigators his conversation with Cooper about Plame and maintaining that he had first learned of Plame's CIA identity from a journalist whose name Rove could not recall. In addition, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, from whose prior campaigns Rove had been paid $746,000 in consulting fees, had been briefed on the contents of at least one of Rove's interviews with the FBI - raising concerns of a conflict of interest with the not-yet-recused Attorney General. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0533,waasweb1,66861,2.html

Related Topics:
13 August - 2005

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Rove email

In an email sent by Rove to top White House security official Stephen Hadley immediately after his discussion with Matt Cooper (obtained by the Associated Press and published on 15 July 2005), Rove claimed that he tried to steer the journalist away from allegations Wilson was making about faulty Iraq intelligence. "Matt Cooper called to give me a heads-up that he's got a welfare reform story coming," Rove wrote to Hadley. "When he finished his brief heads-up he immediately launched into Niger. Isn't this damaging? Hasn't the president been hurt? I didn't take the bait, but I said if I were him I wouldn't get Time far out in front on this." Rove made no mention to Hadley in the e-mail of having leaked Plame's CIA identity, nor of having revealed classified information to a reporter, nor of having told the reporter that certain sensitive information would soon be declassified.http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050716/D8BC7F500.html Although Rove wrote to Hadley (and perhaps testified) that the initial subject of his conversation with Cooper was welfare reform and that Cooper turned the conversation to Wilson and the Niger mission, many months later Cooper disputed this suggestion in his grand jury testimony and subsequent statements: "I can't find any record of talking about with him on July 11 , and I don't recall doing so," Cooper said. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1083899,00.htmlhttp://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000980363

Related Topics:
Stephen Hadley - Associated Press - 15 July - 2005

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White House/Republican reaction

From the beginning, the White House dismissed the allegation that Rove deliberately disclosed classified information as "totally ridiculous" and "simply not true."http://slate.msn.com/id/2088471/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A11208-2003Sep27¬Found=truehttp://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030916-6.html#27 The White House continued to publicly assert that no Bush administration officials were involved in the leak until after the Supreme Court decision of 2005, the subsequent release of internal Time Magazine email, and Time reporter Matt Cooper's decision to testify to the grand jury. The White House subsequently adopted "we do not comment on ongoing investigations" as their official position. Other Republicans have been more public on what they consider an unfair smearing of Karl Rove.

Related Topics:
Time Magazine - Matt Cooper

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Denials: July 2003 — July 11, 2005

On September 30, 2003, Mr. Bush said "if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." He followed that remark with "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030930-9.html

Related Topics:
September 30 - 2003

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White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan explained that "appropriate action" meant "f anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration,"http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030929-7.html#1 adding that Karl Rove had specifically assured McClellan that he was not involved, and that "the President expects his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct and the highest ethics."

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Mr. Bush, who repeatedly denied knowing the identity of the leaker, called the leak a "criminal action" for the first time on 6 October 2003, stating "f anybody has got any information inside our government or outside our government who leaked, you ought to take it to the Justice Department so we can find the leaker."http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031006-3.htmlhttp://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00612F93B580C748CDDA90994DB404482 Speaking to a crowd of journalists the following day, Bush said "I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is -- partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers."http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031007-2.html On 8 October 2003, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that "no one has more of an interest in getting to the bottom of this than the White House does, than the President does."http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031008-3.html

Related Topics:
6 October - 2003 - 8 October - Scott McClellan

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On 10 October 2003, after the Justice Department began its formal investigation into the leak, McClellan specifically said that neither Rove nor two other officials whom he had personally questioned – Elliot Abrams, a national security aide, and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff – were involved.http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031010-6.html

Related Topics:
10 October - 2003 - Elliot Abrams - I. Lewis Libby

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On 10 June 2004, eight months after the formal outside investigation was begun and five months after the appointment of an Independent Counsel, President Bush was asked by a reporter, "Given recent developments in the CIA leak case, particularly Vice President Cheney's discussions with the investigators, do you still stand by what you said several months ago, suggesting that it might be difficult to identify anybody who leak the agent's name? ... And do you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so?" The President responded, "Yes. And that's up to the U.S. Attorney to find the facts."http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040610-36.html

Related Topics:
10 June - 2004

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'If Someone Committed a Crime': July 11, 2005 onward

On 11 July 2005, White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who had since become a grand jury witness himself, refused at a press conference to answer dozens of questions, repeatedly stating that the Bush Administration had made a decision not to comment on an "ongoing criminal investigation" involving White House staff.http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050711-3.html McClellan declined to answer whether Rove had committed a crime. McClellan also declined to repeat prior categorical denials of Rove's involvement in the leak,http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/11cnd-rove.html nor would he state whether Bush would honor his prior promise to fire individuals involved in the leak.http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030929-7.htmlhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040610-36.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071101568.html Although Democratic critics called for Rove's dismissal, or at the very least immediate suspension of Rove's security clearances and access to meetings in which classified material was under discussion, Rove remained working in the White House.

Related Topics:
11 July - 2005

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Neither Rove nor the President offered immediate public comment on the unfolding scandal.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/11cnd-rove.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/opinion/10rich.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-CIA-Leak-Investigation.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.htmlhttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-rove12jul12,0,553468,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines Rove was vociferously defended by Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman and by many conservative news outlets and commentators, some of whom followed cues laid out in a "talking points" memo, circulated among Republicans on Capitol Hill, which questioned Joseph Wilson's credibility.http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Exclusive_GOP_talking_points_on_Rove_seek_to_discre_0712.html Among others, David Brooks, conservative New York Times editorialist and NPR commentator, attacked Wilson on 14 July 2005 by falsely alleging that Wilson had claimed Cheney sent him on the Niger mission, and that in speaking to Cooper, Rove was merely correcting a misconception about the Vice President's possible involvement.http://mediamatters.org/items/200507150004 In an even more extreme example of partisanship, the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal praised Rove on 13 July 2005 for leaking Plame's identity, referring to him as a "whistleblower."http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006955 Fox News's John Gibson said that even if Rove is not being truthful, he deserves a medal for leaking Plame's CIA identity because Joseph Wilson opposed the war and "Valerie Plame should have been outed by somebody."http://oliverwillis.com/vid/gibson-plame.movhttp://mediamatters.org/items/200507130004

Related Topics:
Ken Mehlman - David Brooks - NPR - 14 July - 2005 - 13 July - John Gibson

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After ignoring reporters' questions for more than a week, on 18 July 2005 Mr. Bush said "f someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/politics/19rove.htmlhttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-leak18jul18,0,4779848.story?page=2&coll=la-home-headlines

Related Topics:
18 July - 2005

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Critics of Bush consider this to be an expansion of the criteria, i.e., that Mr. Bush now reserves the right to fire only in the event of an actual conviction, which clearly requires a higher standard of proof and would in any case take much longer. Supporters believe that this is consistent with the position President Bush has taken from the very beginning.

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Others counter this view by relying on Bush's one previous mention of illegality, his September 30, 2003 remarks, to suggest that Bush has never meant anything other than that only a criminal conviction would prevent someone from working in the White House, though it seems exceedingly unlikely that any presidential administration would continue to employ someone while they were in prison.

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Reactions of members of Congress

Ninety-one members of Congress from the Democratic Party signed a letter on July 15, 2005 calling for Rove to explain his role in the Plame affair, or to resign. Thirteen members of the House Judiciary Committee, all Democrats, have called for hearings on the matter. http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/letters/rovehrgrequestltr71405.pdf

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As of 22 August 2005, none of the 306 Republican members of Congress had expressed public concern about Rove's continued role in the Bush Administration.

Related Topics:
22 August - 2005

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Opinion polls

A CNN poll dated 22 July - 24 July found that 49% of respondents say Rove should resign, 31% said he should not, and 20% had no opinion. USAToday

Related Topics:
22 July - 24 July

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A poll commissioned by Newsweek and published 8 August 2005 indicated 45% believed Rove "guilty of a serious offence", 15% "not guilty of a serious offence", who 37% who "don't know."http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/8424

Related Topics:
8 August - 2005

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Legal opinions

The unusual circumstances of this case led a number of media organizations to file a friend-of-the-court (amicus curiae) brief on behalf of the journalists who were subpoenaed (Matthew Cooper, Judith Miller, and Time Inc.). In this brief, lawyers representing 36 media organizations, including ABC News, AP, CNN, CBS News, WSJ, Fox News, USA Today, NBC News, Newsweek, and Reuters, argued to the court that "there exists ample evidence in the public record to cast serious doubt as to whether a crime has even been committed under the Intelligence Protection Act in the investigation underlying the attempts to secure testimony from Miller and Cooper." http://www.bakerlaw.com/files/tbl_s10News/FileUpload44/10159/Amici%20Brief%20032305%20(Final).PDF Victoria Toensing, the principal author of the amicus brief, also contended that Ms. Plame didn't have a cover to blow, citing a July 23, 2004 article in the Washington Times which argued that Valerie Plame's status as an undercover CIA agent may have been known to Russian and Cuban intelligence operations prior to the Novak article.

Related Topics:
Amicus curiae - Victoria Toensing - Washington Times

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Perhaps because Toensing's brief did not address issues relating to (possible) perjury and obstruction of justice charges, nor many other possible violations associated with the disclosure of classified information, many of these same news outlets continue to suggest the possibility that Rove may have violated the law. (The amicus brief predated the publication of internal Time email, as well as Cooper's own testimony and published account of Rove's role.) Although some reporters speculate that Rove's (future) legal defense might be built upon testimony that he was ignorant of Plame's protected status at the time he outed her as a CIA employee, most agree that if it could be proven that he had heard of her CIA covert status or knew material was classified when he spoke to journalists, Rove could face far more serious charges.

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Although some legal pundits felt that Rove was unlikely to have been in violation of the narrowly-worded Intelligence Identities And Protection Act — in fact, the CIA's original "crimes report" submitted to Fitzgerald apparently did not mention the Acthttp://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=1366— many others argue that by compromising Valerie Plame's position, Rove may have broken one or more federal laws. According to John W. Dean, a FindLaw columnist and former presidential counsel, Rove is likely to have violated Title 18, Section 641 of the United States Code, which prohibits the theft or conversion of government records for non-governmental use.

Related Topics:
Intelligence Identities And Protection Act - John W. Dean - FindLaw - United States Code - Theft

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http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050715.html In 2003, this law was successfully used to convict John Randel, a Drug Enforcement Agency analyst, for leaking to the London media a name of someone that he believed the DEA was not paying enough attention to in a money laundering investigation (Lord Ashcroft) . In a statement to Randel, United States District Court Judge Richard Story wrote, "Anything that would affect the security of officers and of the operations of the agency would be of tremendous concern, I think, to any law-abiding citizen in this country." Having pled guilty, Randel's sentence was reduced from 500 years in a federal prison, to a year of imprisonment and three years of probation.

Related Topics:
2003 - John Randel - Drug Enforcement Agency - London - Lord Ashcroft - District Court - Richard Story - Federal prison - Probation

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This may be seen by Bush's political opponents as setting precedent for the prosecution of similar leaks, and Karl Rove is likely to face greater consequences than Randel if indicted for violating Section 641. Whereas Randel leaked sensitive information about an individual whose name could be found in the DEA files, unlikely to affect the national security of the United States, it is argued that Rove may have leaked the identity of a CIA agent, an expert on weapons of mass destruction, at a time when the United States had gone to war based on the perceived threat from such weapons.

Related Topics:
Precedent - National security - Weapons of mass destruction

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Attorney and Watergate whistleblower John W. Dean observed that even if Rove didn't technically break the specific law barring the

Related Topics:
Watergate - John W. Dean

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exposure of a covert agent, the administration has almost certainly run afoul of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050715.html.

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Rove's White House security clearance, governed by Executive Order 12958, apparently required both a criminal background check as well as training in the protection of classified information. To receive security clearance, Rove agreed, in writing (SF-312 Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement), not to divulge or confirm classified information to individuals (including reporters) not authorized to have it. According to Rove's attorney's public statements, Rove has admitted to violating SF-312 agreement.http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20050715140232-17725.pdf

Related Topics:
Security clearance - Executive Order 12958 - Classified information - SF-312

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