Jason Leopold and Larisa Alexandrovna report that John Hannah, former Deputy National Security Adviser for Dick Cheney, is cooperating with Fitzgerald and has fingered Rove and "others" in Plamegate outing.
In Fitzgerald Not swayed by last minute testimony, lawyers say
Short of a last minute intervention by Rove's attorney, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is expected to ask a grand jury investigating the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson to indict Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove for making false statements to the FBI and Justice Department investigators in October 2003, lawyers close to the case say.
According to those familiar with the case and earlier reporting by RAW STORY, Fitzgerald had already obtained the cooperation of a key witness, former Deputy National Security Adviser for Vice President Dick Cheney, John Hannah. Hannah agreed to cooperate with Fitzgerald when the special prosecutor uncovered evidence tying Hannah to the leak and threatened to indict him, the sources said.
Breaking Update 12:30 am 12/14/05 Fitzgerald To Brief GJ this morning! See First Comment
Hannah gave Fitzgerald the names of some White House officials who knew about Plame Wilson and disseminated her CIA status to reporters and other White House officials, the laywers said. One of the officials Hannah appears to have implicated was Rove, they added. Cheney promoted Hannah to be his assistant national security adviser following Libby's indictment.
In one piece of good news for Karl Rove, ABC
reports the Inspector General for the Public Broadcasting System found no influence of Rove in The Hiring of Public Broadcasting Chief. But out of the frying pan into the fire.
As has been reported here last week, a second grand jury has already been briefed for more than three hours by Fitzgerald, who seems to be ready to indict Rove and one other White House official.
Rove failed to tell investigators at the time that he had spoken about Plame to Time Magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and conservative columnist Robert Novak, both of whom later cooperated in the case. Novak outed Plame in a July 14, 2003 column.
The Chicago prosecutor briefed the second grand jury investigating the outing last week for more than three hours. During that time, he brought them up to speed on the latest developments involving Rove and at least one other White House official, the sources said. The attorneys refused to identify the second person.
As of Monday, neither Rove nor his attorney Robert Luskin has explained Rove's misstatements to Fitzgerald's satisfaction, those familiar with the case said. Eleventh-hour testimony from Time Magazine reporter Viveca Novak--who Rove's attorney Robert Luskin fingered as a crucial witness in keeping his client out of court--does not appear to have been helpful in dodging an indictment, they added.
A woman who answered the phone at Patton Boggs, the law firm where Luskin is a partner, said Luskin would not answer specific questions about the probe.
Rove is also under scrutiny for allegedly telling his assistant not to log a phone call from Cooper, the sources said. Rove's assistant, Susan Ralston, provided Fitzgerald with information last month in which she alleged that Rove told her not to log a call from Cooper that was transferred to Rove's office from the White House switchboard, sources close to the case said. The lawyers added that Luskin and Rove have an explanation for that as well, but declined to elaborate.
Arianna Huffington asks in Plamegate and the Press: When Will Someone Get Fired?
"So now we can add Viveca Novak to the growing list of journalistic sinners granted absolution by their employers. Allowed to take a leave of absence, she will, according to her editor, await a "fuller discussion. What is there to discuss?",
Luskin's and Rove's hopes that Viceca Novak's last minute testimony might get Rove off the hook have fizzled. And as Arianna points out it's time to start to roll up some of the media co-conspirators, and others outside of the White House who have been complicit in this scandal.
In a bid to keep Rove out of Fitzgerald's crosshairs, Luskin recently told Fitzgerald that he had a conversation with Time Magazine reporter Viveca Novak in February 2004 where she inadvertently revealed that Rove had been a source for her colleague Matt Cooper. Luskin said this prompted an exhaustive search for the Hadley email which was promptly turned over to Fitzgerald and led Rove to change his testimony.
Luskin testified Dec. 2 that the Novak meeting took place in late January or early February 2004, the very month in which Fitzgerald had sought the authority to prosecute officials if they were found to have hindered his investigation into the leak.
Novak, however, testified that she met Luskin in either March or May 2004, those close to the case said. This discrepancy is at the crux of what Fitzgerald is investigating. Rove didn't reveal to the grand jury that he had spoken with Cooper until Oct. 15, 2004.
Luskin has said that Rove did not intentionally withhold information from Fitzgerald or the grand jury about his conversation with Cooper. Rather, he says Rove had simply forgotten about it, and Luskin's meeting with Novak had jogged his memory.
Before Novak testified in a sworn deposition last week, Rove faced the prospect of being indicted on numerous counts, including obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements for failing to disclose conversations he had with reporters about Plame Wilson, sources close to the case said. Several reporters close to Novak said they believe Luskin's decision to draw her into the case was made to keep Rove's indictment from being handed up on the day Libby was charged.
Rove could be indicted on those counts if Fitzgerald determines that Novak's testimony did not go far enough in clearing up questions about why Rove did not tell investigators about his conversations with other reporters. Her testimony may, however, shield Rove from more serious charges, attorneys close to the case said..
In a first-person account Novak posted on Time magazine's website Sunday about her role in the case, she said she had met with Luskin, Rove's attorney, for drinks in October 2003. Luskin asked Novak what she was working on for Time and Novak said the Plame Wilson leak.
"Well you're sitting next to Karl Rove's attorney," Luskin said to her, according to Novak's account.
The two began spending more time together and during the course of several meetings during the first half of 2004, either in March or May, Novak wrote, Luskin had told her that Rove had not been a source for Matt Cooper, Novak's Time colleague, who had been the second reporter to write about Plame Wilson on July 17, 2003.
Novak said she inadvertently tipped Luskin off to the fact that Cooper's source was Rove. She said she sensed she was being spun by Luskin and her knee-jerk response led to her divulging information that could be used to help Rove escape serious charges.
Following his meeting with Novak, Luskin told Rove that Novak said he was Cooper's source. Luskin and Rove then did an exhaustive search through White House phone logs and emails to find any evidence that Rove spoke with Cooper.
An email Rove sent to then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley just minutes after his conversation with Cooper in July 2003 turned up, and Luskin said he immediately turned it over to Fitzgerald.
Still, it's unclear why that email wasn't found when White House counsel Alberto Gonzales ordered all White House staff in October 2003 to turn over emails and other documentary evidence that showed officials spoke with journalists. Moreover, it's not known why Rove did not change his grand jury testimony to reflect that he had been Cooper's source until October 2004, some six or eight months after Novak's meeting with Luskin.
Still unclear why Rove's email to Stephen Hadley didn't turn up until six to eight months later? Right! I wonder who the second un-named yet-to-be-indicted co-conspirator could be? (And what about these rumors about Coco Chanel wearing co-conspirators?) (LOL This is a private joke)
Stay tuned.