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Article Archives (07-24-2005)
Plaming Turd Blossom¹, What's It All About?
On July 14, 2003, Robert Novak penned the following in a Chicago Sun-Times article: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." Link. Those 20 words have resulted in a federal grand jury investigation for which both the President and Vice President of the United States were interviewed and a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter (Judith Miller of the NYT) jailed. Mrs. Plame-Wilson, the wife of former Ambassador Joe Wilson, was an undercover CIA agent and it is a federal crime to disclose the identity of same. Novak reported his source for information concerning Mrs. Plame-Wilson as "two senior administration officials". It is widely speculated that Novak's two administration sources where Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Scotter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. FN2.
Two separate issues arise from this incident: (a) whether a crime has been committed and (b) whether White House officials intentionally leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent (thereby compromising national security) in order to inflict a political vendetta against Joe Wilson (the agent's husband) for criticizing the administration in an op ed piece in the New York Times. The Bush Administration is clearly guilty of point (b). It's heinous. Rove intentionally destroyed the career of Joe Wilson's wife in order to intimidate him for publicly challenging the administration on its grounds for going to war in Iraq. But was a crime committed in the process? This case has more twists than a pretzel so I thought it worthwhile to deconstruct a few of the twists. Here is a link to my timeline of the pertinent facts: timeline.
Why isn't Novak the center of the prosecutor's wrath?
Through it all, the casus belli of the storm, Mr. Novak, has remained distant, calm, seemingly unconnected to the furry he unleashed. What's up with that? Why isn't the prosecutor breathing down Novak's throat? First, it is almost certain Novak has voluntarily testified before the grand jury. Second, we must look to the legal requirements of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, 50 USC §421:
Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. (Emphasis added.)
Novak doesn't appear to be vulnerable under this statute due its requirement that the leaker have "authorized access to classified information". As Novak doesn't have a security clearance, his receipt of classified information (i.e., the identity of Mrs. Plame-Wilson as a CIA operative) would not be "authorized" as required under the statute for prosecution. The only way I can conceive of Novak himself getting nailed is if (a) he lied to the grand jury (meaning he could be prosecuted for perjury) or (b) the Department of Justice Special Prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, brought a conspiracy claim naming Novak as a co-conspirator. Although this would be speculation on my part, the potential exists that Fitzgerald will attempt to indict Rove, Libby and Novak as co-conspirators in a scheme to violate the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Wouldn't that be beautiful?!?!
How does the special prosecutor nail Turd Blossom?
Karl Rove, President Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff, does have a security clearance so the Novak defense (i.e., receipt of classified information not "authorized") wouldn't apply to Rove. Rove's receipt of classified information would be authorized. What are Rove's defenses? The best defense his lawyer and defenders in the Republican hierarchy have offered up is the following: Rove never knew that Valerie Plame was a covert agent nor that the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her status (as required by the Intelligence Identities Protection). It's pretty clear that Karl Rove told several reporters that Joe Wilson's wife works for the CIA in the area of WMD. But did Rove know she was a covert agent whose identity the CIA was actively trying to conceal? Rove, for his part, has testified that he learned that the wife of Joe Wilson worked for the CIA from Robert Novak (Link) or some other journalist (Link). FN3. Thus, Rove is claiming that he learned Valerie Plame-Wilson worked for the CIA from a public as opposed to a government source. I'm not sure this is a defense or just another worthless rabbit trail the Rove apologists keep pointing us to. The core issue is whether Rove knew Valerie Plame was a covert CIA agent prior to outing her to Robert Novak.
Proving Rove's knowledge of Plame's covert status appears, to me, a high hurdle for the prosecutor to clear but, amazingly, a damning piece of evidence is out there that just may very well make the prosecution's case on this very issue ... if it can be tied to Rove. This evidence is a classified June 10, 2003 State Department memorandum drafted for Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman which named Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA operative in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret. Link. The clear implication of (a) calling Mrs. Wilson a CIA "operative" and (b) marking the paragraph "secret" within a memo that is already itself classified (meaning the paragraph has a security sensitive higher than "classified") is that the US government was taking steps to conceal Mrs. Wilson's identity. This memo, IMHO, is a bombshell if it can be landed on Rove's lap.
Can the Classified June 10, 2003 State Department Memo Be Linked to Rove?
Here is what we know. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell carried this document onto Air Force One for a trip with President Bush on July 7, 2003 (i.e., three days before Novak published his now infamous Plame article). Link. The document was passed around the plane and several administration officials read it. Then Presidential Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was on Air Force One that day. It has been reported that an administration official has testified that he saw Ari Fleischer reading the classified June 10 memo that day on Air Force One. Link.
Karl Rove apparently was not on Air Force One that day; however, the Special Prosecutor has subpoenaed the phone log from Air Force One for the trip. Did Ari Fleischer call Karl Rove from Air Force One that day? Did he fax him the document? Will somebody who works in the White House, a secretary, anybody, step forward and testify that they saw the Rove with the document? We just don't know. IMHO, the entire case against Karl Rove turns upon this narrow factual issue. If it can be proved that Karl Rove had the June 10, 2003 State Department memo in his possession prior to discussing Valerie Plame-Wilson with Robert Novak, then the Special Prosector can meet all the elements of his case. If not, although I give Mr. Fitzgerald props for a gallant effort, I think he falls short in the case against Karl Rove. Also, IMHO, Ari Fleischer is the link between Rove and the June 10 State Department Memo. If I were Fitzgerald I would be leaning on Ari Fleischer like a ton of bricks threatening him with a perjury charge. Apparently Fleischer, in his grand jury testimony, denied he saw the June 10 State Department memo on Air Force One. I'm really praying for divine intervention on this, that Fitzgerald pulls a case against Rove out of the fire.
JJR
7-24-2005
Comments (0)
Update 1: Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald called Karl Rove's former executive assistant, Susan Ralston, to testify before the grand jury on Friday, July 29, 2005. Prosecutor Fitz is leaving no stone unturned. I wonder what Ms. Ralston had to say? Might she tie the classified June 10, 2003 State Department memo to Rove? One can only hope. 8-2-05.
Footnote 1: For the uninitiated, "Turd Blossom" is reported to be President Bush's pet name for Karl Rove.
Footnote 2: Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper wrote a story on Valerie Plame-Wilson a few days after Robert Novak. Cooper testified before the grand jury and, by his own admission, named Rove and Libby as his sources for the story. Regarding Rove, Cooper summarized his testimony as follows: "So did Rove leak Plame's name to me, or tell me she was covert? No. Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she worked at the 'agency' on 'WMD'? Yes." Link.
Footnote 3: Neither Novak or Rove have themselves revealed the contents of their grand jury testimony so these news reports are based upon leaks (which, amazingly, appear to have come from the lawyers for these men). The fact that the reports on Rove's testimony differ slightly can be explained if this were the train of events: (a) Rove testifies in a deposition before Fitzgerald that he learned Joe Wilson's wife worked at the CIA from Novak, (b) Novak thereafter testifies that Rove already knew Wilson's wife worked for the CIA when he talked to Rove prior to writing the story outing Valerie Plame, and (c) Rove thereafter testifies before the grand jury altering his story slightly from the deposition but upon an important point--i.e., new story: he learned that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA from a journalist and he now can't specifically remember who that journalist was. Trying to make sense of the various reports, this is my gut feeling of how the facts played out.
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