UPDATE: WAPO: Viveca/Luskin talk before Rove's 1st testmony in early 2004
Sat Dec 03, 2005 at 11:30:25 AM PDT
New WAPO that states that the Viveca/Luskin conversation occured in
early 2004.
This article goes on to say that Rove's first Grand Jury testimony was after the Viveca/Luskin conversation and Rove did not disclose the fact that he spoke with Cooper during that testimony.
One person familiar with the case said the Novak-Luskin conversation is not what prompted Rove to change his testimony in the case. In fact, this person said, Novak told Luskin about the Rove-Cooper connection 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.
WAPO 12/03/05
More..
There is also a detailed explaination reagrding the search for the Hadley/Rove email. Luskin goes on and on here, but never reveals the date that the email was turned over.
New details emerged yesterday of Rove's version of how and when he came to remember the Cooper conversation. Shortly before his client's second appearance before the grand jury in October, Luskin personally conducted a review of thousands of e-mails Rove had sent during the crucial weeks in 2003, including those from accounts reserved for personal and political correspondence, a source familiar with the situation said.
Amid the e-mails, Luskin found one sent from Rove to Stephen J. Hadley, then deputy national security adviser, in which Rove mentioned his conversation with Cooper. 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.
Once found by Luskin, the e-mail was shared with Rove and then quickly turned over to Fitzgerald, the source said. Rove then testified that the e-mail "established that he had in fact had a conversation with Cooper," the source said.
UPDATE:
Some analysis:
I think the new information on the timing of the Viveca/Luskin conversation is coming from Viveca Novak's side.
It seems to me that this new information about the timing of the Viveca/Luskin conversation is damaging to Rove and to Luskin. If Luskin knew from Viveca that Rove had told Cooper about Plame in January or February 2004 and still let Rove testify that
"he did not recall talking to Cooper about Plame" in February 2004, then Rove has a big problem.
The timing of the Viveca/Luskin conversation had been previously reported to be in May 2004, then late summer or early fall 2004. I think it's possible that Viveca put this out there to screw Luskin for leaking all kinds of disinformation.
I want to add:
Here is why I think this WAPo story from VandeHei is damaging for Rove.
First:
The article closes in on the date of the Viveca Novak/Luskin conversation. Since the article states that the conversation occured before Rove's 1st Grand Jury testimony in Feb 2004, the conversation must have occured in Jan or Feb 2004.
Second:
The article states that "
In that appearance, Rove testified that he did not recall talking to Cooper about Plame."
This is important for 2 reasons, it implies that Rove was asked about talking to Cooper in his 1st GJ appearance and second we know that Rove's lawyer already knew about Cooper.
Third:
The email comes up again. The article says that
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.
Maybe it was discovered by investigators early in the investigation, maybe not.
I have thought it possible that Investigators might haver known about Rove's conversation with Cooper.
Waas had this:
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,
The same sources said Ashcroft was also told that investigators firmly believed that Rove had withheld important information from them during that FBI interview.
UPDATED:
Via Jane Hamsher at
Firedoglake,
David Corn has a detailed explaination of the Viveca Novack/Luskin conversation.
Now, according to completely trustworthy sources close to Viveca Novak, this is what happened. Novak wasn't trying to tip off Luskin or to help him. During a conversation, Luskin said to Viveca Novak that Rove had never spoken to Cooper about Valerie Wilson. Novak instinctively pushed back, in the way many a reporter would challenge a source whom he or she believes is spinning or lying. "She assumed that Luskin was giving her BS," one close-to-Novak source says. "And she replied with something along the lines of, 'This is not what I hear.' She assumed that Luskin did know about the Rove-Cooper conversation and that she was not telling him anything he did not already know."
