Frog March, Ho! Plame-gate Heats Up

March 8, 2004 4:14 PM

President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, told the FBI in an interview last October that he circulated and discussed damaging information regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame with others in the White House, outside political consultants, and journalists, according to a government official and an attorney familiar with the ongoing special counsel's investigation of the matter. Also: A transcript subpoenaed in the CIA leak probe reveals the White House press operation began efforts to personally discredit former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV days before a columnist blew the cover of his CIA-officer wife. From TPM
posted by y2karl (23 comments total)

Why do you hate America so much?
posted by stevis at 4:34 PM on March 8, 2004

why did karl rove hate joseph wilson so much? after all - it was his buddy dick that sent him to africa to look into the yellocake bullshit to begin with....
posted by specialk420 at 4:37 PM on March 8, 2004

Since when is the accusation of illegal, dangerous, and seditious behavior confined only to those on the liberal spectrum of politics? Rove knew the law, and Bush probably knew what Rove - of all people - was doing. They knew the consequences of their lying, and sought to prevent those consequences. Their arrogance blinded them to the possibility of getting caught.
posted by zaelic at 4:48 PM on March 8, 2004

this Wilson-Plame scandal has been hanging over Karl Rove's head so long now i can't believe it's really gonna fall. i keep expecting to hear about Scooter Libby taking the hurt. but, oh man, would it be nice to get Rove on this.

these bastards *deserve* some blowback for their political dirty tricks. this CIA operative exposure seems less offensive (to me, obviously, not to her) than all the rest, but thank goodness this one is so clearly illegal.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:23 PM on March 8, 2004

circulating the information was a legitimate means to counter what he claimed was politically motivated criticism of the Bush administration by Plame's husband

What in the hell?

Lemme get straight. Wilson does his job, the Bush administration ignores him, he tries to tell others the truth, and Rove seems to think that ruining someone's life, and endangering the lives of hundreds of others is "legitimate"?

"You're a poopy-head."
"Oh yeah? Well I'm going to shoot you and your friends in the face! It's legit!"
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:38 PM on March 8, 2004

That's interesting. A cursory review of whitehouse.gov doesn't show a press briefing for July 12, 2003. In fact, there aren't any documents from that day with Ari. Good ol' Ari. He was such a better pimp for the media whores than this McClellan guy.

So did they used to have the transcript up? Or is it some sort of legal thing, where you can't publish documents that are subpoenaed? Or was this an off-the-record briefing, as Ari was famous for? In that case, why would there be a transcript?

In any case, Link B does not prove Link A is lying. Karl Rove might have, as he claims, just started repeating what Novak said after Novak published it. If, as the Newsday article reads, Ari was just concentrating on sliming Joe on July 12--and not Joe's wife--then that pre-July 14 WH operation wasn't breaking a law, just being sleazy.
posted by jbrjake at 6:09 PM on March 8, 2004

If the information was classified, this is a slamdunk and Rove should be on his way to prison. You're not allowed to divulge classified info just because someone else has done so. Anyone who's ever held a security clearance knows this.

Rove has admitted that he circulated the information after reading about it in the newspaper. He also signed a document when he got his clearance saying he understood what happens if he divulges information. What's left now is to find out the level of classification of the information so the length of his prison sentence and the size of his fine can be determined.

That said, I imagine that the info won't actually be classified. Rove isn't stupid enough to set himself up like that.
posted by joaquim at 6:20 PM on March 8, 2004

whawhahwhahwhawhat should we do then karl?
posted by clavdivs at 6:29 PM on March 8, 2004

jbrjake:

Press Gaggle with Ari Fleischer
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:41 PM on March 8, 2004

whawhahwhahwhawhat should we do then karl?

Why not try making sense? Write in Standard English, for starts.
Reading comprehension is eased with comprehensible writing.
Why waste people's time with self-centered passive-aggressive gibberish?
posted by y2karl at 7:15 PM on March 8, 2004

hey y2karl: shut up. I personally felt that clavdivs comment added something to the conversation.

But oh wait, y2karl is the only person reading metafilter so it's obvious that anything he doesn't like must be a waste of time.
posted by Stynxno at 7:26 PM on March 8, 2004

The ad hominem attacks get old...FAST. Grow up.
posted by gen at 7:52 PM on March 8, 2004

Sorry. That was pot-kettle-black. Apologies.

It is newsfilter-ish, but I am personally very interested in this news. Please, please, let's try to keep this on topic. Rove, Plame, Wilson, CIA, White House, etc.
posted by gen at 7:55 PM on March 8, 2004

Stynxno - clavdivs knows how to type well enough. I've had enough thoughtful interchanges with him to know that. But I'm not sure of what that last comment meant, except that I know that it was a purely intentional typo-stutter.

So - what did that comment add? Go on, spill your heart. It's only words.
posted by troutfishing at 7:58 PM on March 8, 2004

But - on topic - isn't Rove acknowledging, in saying that he's clueless about the origin of the Valerie Plame leak, that he's lost absolute control over the White House staff's whisperings ?

And is that good for national security ? Such state secrets as these - Plame's identity - seem rather loosely held within this Bush White House.

Who is minding the store ? Not George W. Bush and not Karl Rove, it would seem. Well then, who ?
posted by troutfishing at 8:13 PM on March 8, 2004

troutfishing, there's never been an administration that could maintain total control over all its members. Every administration has had people who leaked without permission.
posted by peeping_Thomist at 9:19 PM on March 8, 2004

Or with explicit instructions.
posted by ook at 9:40 PM on March 8, 2004

Who is minding the store ? Not George W. Bush and not Karl Rove, it would seem. Well then, who ?

could it be...SATAN?!
posted by mcsweetie at 9:43 PM on March 8, 2004

Well, we know Satan crashed John Barrie's computer, so he probably could've dashed off an e-mail to Novak... shit, maybe he was the sysadmin in Orrin Hatch's office too! OMG ITS T3CHNO$ATAN

In other news, I'm really, really, really hopeful that this is going to blow up the way it should in the national media, although obnoxiously enough, it doesn't seem to be doing so yet. What Karl Rove has admitted to is just as illegal and immoral as the things that ripped Nixon's staff apart, and the criminal charges need to start flying now, before Rove and his co-conspirators get the opportunity to try more of this nonsense before the election.
posted by logovisual at 10:39 PM on March 8, 2004

John Barrie? Whoop, John Debney. Sorry. Dunno where I got Barrie from.
posted by logovisual at 10:41 PM on March 8, 2004

This is what we call "restoring honor and dignity and integrity" to the WhiteWash House.

Get in line citizens and STFU. Dear Leader can do no wrong. Hell, he can't even spell wrong.
posted by nofundy at 4:46 AM on March 9, 2004

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed White House records on administration contacts with more than two dozen journalists and news media outlets in a special investigation into the improper leak of a covert CIA official's identity to columnist Robert Novak last July. They include:

Robert Novak, "Crossfire," "Capital Gang" and the Chicago Sun-Times

Knut Royce and Timothy M. Phelps, Newsday

Walter Pincus, Richard Leiby, Mike Allen, Dana Priest and Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post

Matthew Cooper, John Dickerson, Massimo Calabresi, Michael Duffy and James Carney, Time magazine

Evan Thomas, Newsweek

Andrea Mitchell, "Meet the Press," NBC

Chris Matthews, "Hardball,"

MSNBC

Tim Russert, Campbell Brown, NBC

Nicholas D. Kristof, David E. Sanger and Judith Miller, The New York Times

Greg Hitt and Paul Gigot, The Wall Street Journal

John Solomon, The Associated Press

Jeff Gannon, Talon News

Envoy had been a target - Before his CIA wife’s cover was blown, White House directed efforts to discredit Joseph C. Wilson IV
posted by y2karl at 8:27 AM on March 9, 2004

It's still a dodge. Even if Novak reported this little bit o'nastiness before Karl Rove started running his mouth, how does reinforcing a criminal act relieve Mr. Rove of responsibility? Sure was convenient that, while the White House was working to discredit Wilson, "somebody" leaked Plame's name to Novak. Now, the White House can openly use that info without blame?

"Yeah, I know we're endangering this guy's wife because he said something we didn't like, but at least I didn't say it first! And now that it's out in the open, it's OK to make sure it gets published everywhere!"
posted by FormlessOne at 8:56 AM on March 10, 2004