Did Fitz have the Hadley email early in the investigation?
When did Rove testifiy about the Hadley email?
When did Rove testifiy about telling Cooper about Plame?
I think Rove testified in 10/04 that he had a conversation with Cooper before the Novak column. I think this is when he turned over and testified about the Hadley email, but he may not have mentioned the interesting part of the conversation, that he told Cooper about Plame.
It's possible Luskin thought Fitz had some sort of documentary evidence (that would be the Hadley email) that Rove had talked with Cooper. This explains why Luskin was searching through Roves's email account in the first place and probably ties into the fact that it looks like Rove was asked about Cooper in February 2004.
more..
I've expanded on a couple of comments I wrote on an Emptywheel thread and a Mediafreeze diary. Great work and comments on both of these posts.
I have been floating the idea that Fitz may have had the email early on. The Waas article leaves no doubt that investigators had something on Rove.
Justice Department officials made the crucial decision in late 2003 to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame in large part because investigators had begun to specifically question the veracity of accounts provided to them by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to senior law enforcement officials.
Several of the federal investigators were also deeply concerned that then attorney general John Ashcroft was personally briefed regarding the details of at least one FBI interview with Rove, despite Ashcroft's own longstanding personal and political ties to Rove, the Voice has also learned. The same sources said Ashcroft was also told that investigators firmly believed that Rove had withheld important information from them during that FBI interview.
Waas 8/13/05
Investigators searched Rove's email account early on and I'm thinking they may have found the email then. I think it's possible that Vandehei is making an assumption about investigators not finding the email.
The e-mail was written from Rove's government account, which investigators searched early in the inquiry. It is unclear why the e-mail was not discovered at that time.
12/03/05 WAPO
So investigators may known Rove talked to Cooper before the Novak column, but
the known text in the email doesn't implicate Rove regarding Plame.
Vandehei has in his 12/03/05 WAPO article that Rove was asked if he talked to Cooper in his 1st GJ visit. If they had the email they would have asked, and acccording the Vandehei article they did:
"Rove testified that he did not recall talking to Cooper about Plame"
12/03/05 WAPO.
So if Fitz and investigators had the email and the WH switchboard phone log, they know Rove talked to Cooper. The combination of Rove failing to turn over the email and the phone log as well as Rove saying he didn't recall talking to Cooper would have Fitz doubting Rove. At this point Fitz has got to be wondering if Rove is trying to conceal this conversation.
Your argument [EW], why would Fitz narrow the scope of Cooper's testimony to Libby if he had the email has slowed me down, here goes.
The original subpoena was for everything regarding Cooper's 7/17/03 story and Cooper reached an agreement that he would testify only about his contacts with Libby.
I think there are a couple of reasons Fitz allowed the limited testimony.
1. Libby had given an explict waiver, Rove had not.
2. He could always subpoena Cooper again if needed, which he did.
3. Fitz really did think that Libby was Cooper's primary source.
In the bits and pieces we can see in the Libby indictment, it's unclear who first mentions Plame in the Cooper/Libby conversation. I have to think that Libby said that he told Cooper and Fitz believed him.
Cooper's side had to be the one to leak that Fitz was surprised by his testimony that Libby was a confirming source, I don't think that was Luskin spin.
Rove's testimony dates;
1st Roves first testified in February 2004 according to the 12/03/05 WAPO article.
before Rove's first appearance before the grand jury in February 2004. In that appearance, Rove testified that he did not recall talking to Cooper about Plame.
12/03/05 WAPO
2nd or 3rd Rove testified on 10/15/04. In that testimony he testifies about his conversation with Cooper and probably about the Hadley email.
It was not until October 2004 that Rove told the grand jury he recalled the Cooper chat.
12/03/05 WAPO
4th Rove testifies on 10/14/05, after Miller's second appearance.
Waas had this on The Rove GJ appearances.
Rove's previous grand jury appearances had occurred prior to Cooper's own testimony to the grand jury.
Waas 10/6/05
Just before Rove's last GJ appearance in October 2005 Luskin put out that Rove had offered to testify again in July 2005.
Rove offered in July to return to the grand jury for additional testimony and Fitzgerald accepted that offer Friday after taking grand jury testimony from the formerly jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
Before accepting the offer, Fitzgerald sent correspondence to Rove's legal team making clear that there was no guarantee he wouldn't be indicted at a later point as required by the rules.
AP 10/06/05
The missing GJ appearance
I've been trying to pin down Rove's missing GJ appearance. In doing so I've been looking to see when Luskin admits Rove discussed Plame. I have more work to do on this but here is what I have on Luskin's statements:
- The Rove/Cooper angle broke when TIME lost it's case in the SC and agreed to release Cooper's notes and email. TIME announced this on 6/30/05.
- O'Donnell drops the bombshell that Rove is Cooper's source on "The McLaughlin Group" on 7/1/05.
- Newsweek confirms that Rove and Cooper talked before Novak's column on 7/2/05. Luskin is the source and is admitting that Rove talked to Cooper, but no mention of Plame yet. Note: the Newsweek article is dated as in the 7/11/05 issue, but it was released on the website on 7/2/05.
But in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article. It is unclear, however, what passed between Cooper and Rove.
Newsweek 7/2/05
4. On 7/3/05 everybody has the story and Luskin is talking to everyone. Bloomburg, WAPO, and Waas all have essentially the same story. Luskin is spinning so hard here it makes your head hurt. Luskin has still not acknowledged that Rove mentioned Plame.
Rove's lawyer said Rove never identified Plame to Cooper in those conversations. More significantly, Robert Luskin said, Fitzgerald assured him in October and again last week that Rove is not a target of his investigation.
"Karl did nothing wrong. Karl didn't disclose Valerie Plame's identity to Mr. Cooper or anybody else," Luskin said. Luskin said the question remains unanswered: "Who outed this woman? . . . It wasn't Karl."
7/3/05 WAPO
Luskin is so good he had Waas spinning for him in his 7/3/05 post.
- On July 6th, 2005 Cooper gets his waiver.
- The 7/10/05 Newsweek [July, 18 2005 issue] story breaks the contents of the email, that Rove told Cooper about Plame. Here Luskin says Rove has testified 3 times to the GJ. Luskin still isn't admitting that Rove mentioned Plame or Wilson's wife.
"Karl Rove has shared with Fitzgerald all the information he has about any potentially relevant contacts he has had with any reporters, including Matt Cooper," Luskin told NEWSWEEK.
A source close to Rove, who declined to be identified because he did not wish to run afoul of the prosecutor or government investigators, added that there was "absolutely no inconsistency" between Cooper's e-mail and what Rove has testified to during his three grand-jury appearances in the case.
7. On July 11, 2005 the WAPO has Luskin inching closer.
"Rove did not mention her name to Cooper," Luskin said.
- The July 16, 2005 AP is the article where Luskin revealed the existence of the Hadley/Rove email.
- Cooper testified on July 13th and talked about his testimony on 7/17/05 on "Meet the Press". Luskin as always just ahead of the story finally admits that Rove talked about Plame in the July 23, 2005 WAPO.
Rove has at some point testified that he passed on information about Plame to Cooper, according to two lawyers involved in the case. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, declined to say when Rove gave this testimony.
WAPO 7/23/05
I think it's possible that Rove testified in this period, but I don't think what I have so far is proof of that. As I said I've still got some work to do on this. There may be other articles that I haven't found.
Assume the FBI had the Hadley/Rove email (we know they were examining the network server that handles White House e-mail) and the record of the Cooper call from the main WH phone logs in October 2003. It's also possble that Hadley turned over the email.
Look at the published reports of Rove's testimony and the reporting on the Hadley/Rove email thinking that the FBI had the email early in the investigation.
Remember the Hadley Rove email does not mention Plame, but shows that Rove talked to Cooper on July 11, 2003 and contains the words Niger and Cooper.
Rove was interviewed twice by the FBI and testified 4 times to the GJ. There are no published accounts of the Cooper/Rove call or the Hadley/Rove email that I have found before O'Donnell drops the bombshell that Rove is Cooper's source on "The McLaughlin Group" on 7/1/05.
1st Interview with FBI
All accounts of Rove's first interview with the FBI say that Rove did not disclose that he had spoken to Cooper. Waas, Newsweek
2nd Interview with FBI
There is not much out there about the 2nd interview, I agree the statement in the Waas article, that Rove did acknowledge that he talked to Cooper "in subsequent interviews with federal investigators", seems inconsistant.
Rove may have admitted that he spoke to Cooper in his second of his two interviews with the FBI without acknowledging that his conversation mentioned Plame, the reference in the Waas article only says Rove admits to a conversation with Cooper. Perhaps he was asked if he talked to Cooper in this time frame and offered up the welfare reform story. This might explain the Waas mention that Rove did acknowledge that he talked to Cooper in subsequent interviews with federal investigators.
1st Grand Jury Appearance
The references to Rove's 1st GJ appearance are all specifically mention that Rove did not disclose that he had told Cooper about Plame. They do not however say that Rove was denying a conversation with Cooper.
Rove was pressed by prosecutors on several matters, including why he failed to mention during the first of his four grand jury appearances that he also had discussed the Plame matter with a second reporter, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine.
AP 10/05
This AP indictates that Rove didn't mention the conversation with Cooper in any capacity.
Rove testified during the first appearance about his contacts with Novak in the days before the columnist wrote about Plame. When asked generally if he had conversations with other reporters in that session, he answered no.
AP 10/20/05
2nd/3rd GJ Appearance
It is unclear if the 10/15/04 GJ appearance was Rove's 2nd or 3rd.
This is as close as Luskin comes.
Rove has at some point testified that he passed on information about Plame to Cooper, according to two lawyers involved in the case. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, declined to say when Rove gave this testimony.
WAPO 7/23/05
NYT has this, the date is Oct 15th as noted in the corrections.
On Oct. 14, 2004, Mr. Rove went before the grand jury again to alter his earlier account, by saying he had also discussed the C.I.A. officer with Mr. Cooper.
NYT 12/2/05
The White House turned the e-mail over to prosecutors, and Rove told a grand jury about it last year during testimony in which he also acknowledged discussing Plame's covert work for the CIA with Cooper and syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
7/16/05 AP
According to reports Luskin turned over the email sometime in late 2004.
4th JG Appearance
This was in October 2005, Rove according to Luskin volunteered to testfify again. This offer to testify was made in July 2005
after Cooper had received
his waiver on July 6th 2005 and it was clear Cooper was going to testify.
I think Rove had something more to disclose. Possibly relating to Cooper since his offer was right after the Cooper waiver. Maybe Rove didn't tell all in October 2004.
The Cooper/Rove conversation didn't appear in the press until July 2005 after TIME folded on June 30, 2005. This is when Luskin starts his rolling disclosures.
This AP and WaPo imply that Fitz did not know about the email. I think the is room to doubt their conclusions.
Nor is it publicly known whether Fitzgerald's investigators had the e-mail all along and simply overlooked it or whether the White House had not given it to the prosecutor.
AP 12/12/05
The e-mail was written from Rove's government account, which investigators searched early in the inquiry. It is unclear why the e-mail was not discovered at that time.
12/03/05 WAPO