Captain's Quarters Blog


« The Only Tactic They Know | Main | Catching The Chemist »

July 15, 2005
Novak Told Rove About Plame

The New York Times now has a source within the grand jury proceedings in the Robert Fitzgerald investigation into the alleged leak of Valerie Plame's status as a CIA operative. The new article for tomorrow's edition by David Johnston and Richard Stevenson reveals that Karl Rove spoke with Robert Novak before he released his column -- but that Novak told Rove about Plame, including her name, and not the other way around:

Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an article in July 2003 that identified a C.I.A. officer who was undercover, someone who has been officially briefed on the matter said.

Mr. Rove has told investigators that he learned from the columnist the name of the C.I.A. officer, who was referred to by her maiden name, Valerie Plame, and the circumstances in which her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, traveled to Africa to investigate possible uranium sales to Iraq, the person said.

After hearing Mr. Novak's account, the person who has been briefed on the matter said, Mr. Rove told the columnist: "I heard that, too."

The previously undisclosed telephone conversation, which took place on July 8, 2003, was initiated by Mr. Novak, the person who has been briefed on the matter said.

In fact, despite the characterization of Rove as a partisan attack dog looking for revenge, it turns out that Novak called Rove. Just like the earlier revelation about Rove's conversation with Cooper, Novak called Rove and started out by asking Rove about a completely different subject. He wanted a comment about the promotion of a Janet Reno aide to a key counterterrorism job at the White House, and only filled Rove in on Plame after getting Rove's reaction to his initial query.

That flies in the face of any notion that Rove set out to damage Wilson or Plame. Unless Rove wanted to set records for the laziest but most efficient character assassination in political history, waiting around for two different journalists to call him on unrelated matters and hoping that they mentioned Wilson doesn't sound like a very effective way to wreak revenge on a political opponent.

However, the ability of the New York Times to publish this story tonight demonstrates the irony of their stance on the entire Rive story. In order to get this information, the Times has to have a source either on the grand jury or in the office of the Special Prosecutor. Either way, this leak violates the law; grand jury testimony in special investigations are supposed to remain secret. Given that the Gray Lady has led the charge against Rove and his supposedly illegal leak, doesn't this seem a wee bit ... hypocritical?

BUMP TO TOP: It seems this will still be the story of the week, despite the collapse of all credibility for allegations that Rove leaked the story to Novak and Cooper for revenge. I'll let it ride near the top today.

UPDATE: John Podhoretz sums this up nicely (via Michelle Malkin):

This surely qualifies as one of the "hey, big whoop" stories of all time. And I am not saying this because I am some partisan gunslinger. Simple fairness says that an official called by a journalist who volunteers a piece of gossip and then responds, "I heard that too," is not retailing a piece of incendiary information intended to destroy lives and place CIA assets in harm's way.

And I'm going to be blunt here. Anybody who says different has an agenda that has nothing whatever to do with Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, or much of anything else besides doing damage to the Bush administration and character-assassinating Karl Rove.

I think it may even be more than that, at least on the media's part, and specific to the New York Times. They know who Judith Miller's source is, and they're trying their best to keep it quiet. One wonders why they're carrying so much water for a story they never broke. Could it have something to do with their publication of Joseph Wilson's original op-ed article that started the whole mess?

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at July 15, 2005 7:00 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Novak Told Rove About Plame:

» Rove and Novak: Pieces falling into place from Sister Toldjah
If this is true, someone else named Plame by name, not Rove. Also, if this is true, this means that Novak sought Rove, not the other way around. Remember, Cooper also called Rove, not the other way around. Joe Wilson asserted that someone from the WH... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 12:13 AM

» Potential Bombshell in Rove-Plame from Les Enfants Terrible
So who is Judith Miller protecting. Could it be Novak? Does it even matter? [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 12:50 AM

» Rove, Plame, Wilson, curiouser and curiouser from Mark in Mexico
WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity. [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 1:19 AM

» Wow! Big News On Rove! from side two blogspot.com
I'm sure the Liberals will say it's a cover up. Just watch! [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 1:21 AM

» Rope…meet dope from The Anchoress
I think I wrote about a week ago my suspicions that the Karl Rove whirlwind was yet another Bushian “rope-a-dope.” The WH was too silent, and they were doing what they ALWAYS do - allowing the press and the Democrats to get wild, shrill, ... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 1:46 AM

» Rope…meet dope from The Anchoress
I think I wrote about a week ago my suspicions that the Karl Rove whirlwind was yet another Bushian “rope-a-dope.” The WH was too silent, and they were doing what they ALWAYS do - allowing the press and the Democrats to get wild, shrill, ... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 1:48 AM

» NYTimes Clears Rove from The Strata-Sphere
I know they are desparately trying to hand Rove, but they just cleared him in their reporting. Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an article in July 2003 that identified a C.I.A. o... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 6:12 AM

» I tried to stay quiet from bRight & Early
I really did. I still think that “Everything that needs to be said about the Rove/Plame Story” is one of the best posts I’ve written. But it’s all I’m seeing and hearing everywhere - on radio, television, and online. To h... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 6:20 AM

» Guess what - Rove is Exonerated from Macmind - Conservative Commentary and Common Sense
Just a minor perusing of the story here tells me this. Rove didn't leak a thing. Novak calls Rove with a "Did you hear" and Rove says, "Yeah I heard that" Rove didn't leak squat - other journalists did, which now leads to the question: "Which jour... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 6:37 AM

» How's the Koolaid? from Generation Why?
Democrats have been chugging Joe Wilson's koolaid like it's going out of style. Now they're finally learning the koolaid was a Jonestown Special... poisoned with lies, blind hatred and mainstream media cooperation. [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 7:59 AM

» Drip Drip from baldilocks
The New York Times has its moles burrowing everywhere; even from "double super secret" grand jury proceedings. (Think about that the next time someone, anyone, tells you that anything is supposed to be confidential.) And what's it all about, Alfie? [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 8:15 AM

» Railroading Rove from Danny Carlton (aka Jack Lewis)
From the Associated Press via Yahoo! News: Rove testified that Novak originally called him the Tuesday before Plame's identity was... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 8:58 AM

» The Gray Lady Suicide Bomber from kerfuffles
Yes, she is a very unlikely suicide bomber, but this morning she lit the fuse and expoded the entire Main Steam Media right off of their lofty perches. The New York Times has revealed the leaker in the Plame-CIA affair and it is them. [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 9:10 AM

» Is the "Plame Truth" about to come out? from Macmind - Conservative Commentary and Common Sense
With the "Novak called Rove" story today, I can hear the excitement on the "Get Rove" left: It's probably going like this: [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 9:52 AM

» Fun and games. from What Attitude Problem?
The New York Times is about to get crea [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 10:23 AM

» Who Was Novak's Original Source? from The Blinne Blog
Last year, I caught second-hand speculat [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 12:31 PM

» Karl Rove and the Valerie Plame Story from Secure Liberty
I've avoided this total non-story about as long as I could. I was waiting for it to become such a complete non-story that with one short post I could put it to rest. That time has come. (H/T Captain Ed) Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spo... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 1:15 PM

» Rove-Plame: the other shoe drops from The Unalienable Right
So we’ve come back full circle. We said a couple of days ago, there would be another shoe to drop that would shed more light on the whole Plame/Wilson/Novak/Rove/ etc. saga, and last night we got two. The AP reports: Chief presidential adviser... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 1:49 PM

» Summer Fun from The Pamphleteer
Google News has over two thousand items that reference Karl Rove. Depending on the news outlet Karl Rove is in the clear or on his way to a firing squad. What is it about KR that drives his enemies nuts? Well, for one thing, his enemies are always ... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 5:36 PM

» Rip & Read #129 - 2005-07-15 from Rip & Read Blogger Podcast
Here's what I Ripped and Read in my Podcast today: Captain Ed at the Captain's Quarters had this to add: In fact, despite the characterization of Rove as a partisan attack dog looking for revenge, it turns out that Novak called Rove [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 5:37 PM

» Max Boot: Why We Fight from Between Worlds
Remind you of anything? No wonder they've been in such a frenzy to portray Rove as some sort of criminal mastermind -- with the usual lack of success. [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2005 8:45 PM

» Rove/Plame-gate is officially over from Mike's Noise
Karl Rove only answered reporter's questions and didn't "leak" anything, and Valerie Plame's identity was anything but secret. Reality hit the Plame/Rove scandal like Dorothy's bucket of water hitting the Wicked Witch. And today, the story is melting... [Read More]

Tracked on July 16, 2005 8:06 AM



Design & Skinning by:
m2 web studios





blog advertising



button1.jpg

Proud Ex-Pat Member of the Bear Flag League!