NYT on Viveca Novak: Lawyer Knew That Rove Was a Source, Reporter Says

[Bumblebee]

Lawyer Knew That Rove Was a Source, Reporter Says


By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: December 11, 2005

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 - A lawyer for Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, learned in the first half of 2004 that Mr. Rove had probably been a source for the magazine's July 2003 article that mentioned the C.I.A. officer who has come to be at the heart of the C.I.A. leak case, a Time reporter wrote today.

The Time reporter, Viveca Novak, wrote in a first-person article published on the magazine's Web site that she met with Robert D. Luskin, a lawyer for Mr. Rove, on three occasions in early 2004. She said it was probably during one of these meetings that she raised the possibility that Mr. Rove had discussed the C.I.A. officer with a Time colleague, Matthew Cooper.

Ms. Novak's conversation with Mr. Luskin has been under scrutiny by the special counsel in the leak case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald. In her article, Ms. Novak wrote that the prosecutor sought to question her about the matter after Mr. Luskin told Mr. Fitzgerald of their conversation about Mr. Rove in the belief that the information would help Mr. Rove.

Ms. Novak's testimony appeared to bring Mr. Fitzgerald near to an endpoint in his deliberations about whether to charge Mr. Rove. Mr. Fitzgerald met for the first time with a new grand jury last week, although it is not known what evidence, if any, he presented to the panel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/politics/11cnd-leak.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=2d72fb4f9f9c0fe5&hp&ex=1134363600&partner=homepage

[McCamy Taylor]

1. Dont see how this helps Rove. Look at the dates.

Latest date is early May (and it could have been earlier). Rove didnt come clean to Fitz until mid July, right when Cooper's bosses at Time decided for him that he was going to tell all.

What this really shows is that Karl Rove kept information from his lawyer, and then when the lawyer heard about it, he did not immediately act upon this new information, choosing instead to sit and wait to see what Cooper would do.

If I were Fitz, I would think that Luskin and Rove had played me in order to keep Rove from being indicted before the November elections.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000979758

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1083899,00.html

V. Novak should have run to her boss immediately to say "I spilled the beans to Luskin---AND ROVE IS KEEPING SECRETS FROM HIS DEFENSE ATTORNEY!!!!!" This last was big news considering how little news was being leaked in the case.


The fact that she didnt, makes me wonder if she is leaving out something---like maybe she is in the habit supplying info to either Luskin or Rove. She never expected them to turn on her and throw her to the wolves in order to buy Rove a little time, so now she is protecting herself---and throwing Rove to the wolves.