Raw Story reports on a New York Times story to be published today that the Time Magazine reporter who testified on Rove's behalf in Sept-Oct 2005 took buyout after 'dispute' over role in leak case. In other words, the woman, Viveca Novak (or the Lesser Novak) was politely shown the door shortly after she testified in Rove's defense
Truthout is claiming that Rove has already received a target letter
http://www.truthout.org/...
They also note:
"In December. . . . [Rove's lawyer] Luskin revealed to Fitzgerald that Viveca Novak - a reporter working for Time magazine who wrote several stories about the Plame Wilson case - inadvertently tipped him off in early 2004 that her colleague at the magazine, Matt Cooper, would be forced to testify that Rove was his source who told him about Plame Wilson's CIA status.
"Novak. . .met Luskin in Washington, DC, in the summer of 2004, and over drinks, the two discussed Fitzgerald's investigation into the Plame Wilson leak. Luskin assured Novak that Rove learned Plame Wilson's name and CIA status after it was published in news accounts and that only then did he phone other journalists to draw their attention to it. But Novak told Luskin that everyone in the Time newsroom knew Rove was Cooper's source and that he would testify to that in an upcoming grand jury appearance, these sources said.
"According to Luskin's account, after he met with Viveca Novak he contacted Rove and told him about his conversation with her. The two of them then began an exhaustive search through White House phone logs and emails for any evidence that proved that Rove had spoken with Cooper. Luskin said that during this search an email was found that Rove sent to Hadley immediately and it was subsequently turned over to Fitzgerald."
This e-mail's contents reported an innocent communication between Rove and Cooper, a communication that does not square with Cooper's own account.
A single conversation between Novak and Luskin shouldn't be enough to get someone canned, I would think. Maybe there was more to her involvement.
And as for The Rovester, this is a typical response. If you get boxed in a corner, just brazen it out with lies.
It's worked so many times before.