An aspect of "Rovegate" has been bothering me for a little while now that I don't see anyone else talking about. Maybe its just me, but it strikes me as very odd.
Rove claims that he first heard of the Wilson-Plame-CIA story from Novak. Then he gives it to Cooper and, perhaps, to other journalists as well. He doesn't tell Cooper he's passing on a rumor from Novak, instead he passes it off as if it was authoritative government information. Is this normal behavior in the White House? Is this proper? It doesn't sound right to me. Its either plagiarism or else the press gets to write the White House press releases it reports.
But, if Rove heard Novak and then researched the story to verify the facts with the proper authorities before he talked to Cooper then he could pass it on as authentic government information. But if he did that then he should cite the primary internal source(s) he used for verification, not Novak. If he verified the rumor he heard from Novak he should also have been informed of Plame's official status in the CIA by the same source along with whether or not he was at liberty to discuss it with the press. This isn't adding up for me.
What am I not getting?