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Rove-a-Palooza

You may recall in a previous post I noted a Washington Post article that reported that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald was widening his net of interviewees into the Plame leak:

The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case. Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials...

Now Time Magazine reports that administration officials such as Rove and Libby most likely learned of Plame's identity from within the administration and not from journalists as Rove continues to assert through his lawyer:

As the investigation tightens into the leak of the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, sources tell TIME some White House officials may have learned she was married to former ambassador Joseph Wilson weeks before his July 6, 2003, Op-Ed piece criticizing the Administration. That prospect increases the chances that White House official Karl Rove and others learned about Plame from within the Administration rather than from media contacts. Rove has told investigators he believes he learned of her directly or indirectly from reporters, according to his lawyer. The previously undisclosed fact gathering began in the first week of June 2003 at the CIA, when its public-affairs office received an inquiry about Wilson's trip to Africa from veteran Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus. That office then contacted Plame's unit, which had sent Wilson to Niger, but stopped short of drafting an internal report. The same week, Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman asked for and received a memo on the Wilson trip from Carl Ford, head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Sources familiar with the memo, which disclosed Plame's relationship to Wilson, say Secretary of State Colin Powell read it in mid-June. [...] When Pincus' article ran on June 12, the circle of senior officials who knew about the identity of Wilson's wife expanded. "After Pincus," a former intelligence officer says, "there was general discussion with the National Security Council and the White House and State Department and others" about Wilson's trip and its origins. A source familiar with the memo says neither Powell nor Armitage spoke to the White House about it until after July 6. John McLaughlin, then deputy head of the CIA, confirms that the White House asked about the Wilson trip, but can't remember exactly when. One thing he's sure of, says McLaughlin, who has been interviewed by prosecutors, is that "we looked into it and found the facts of it, and passed it on."

Think Progress reminds us of Rove's reporter trojan horse:

Recall that for weeks, Rove, Libby, and company have been hiding behind reporters. It has been suggested to the special prosecutor that Rove first learned the identity of Plame from journalists. A source says presidential confidant Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a C-I-A operative originally from a journalist. He then informally discussed the information with a Time magazine reporter days before the story broke. And remember Rove’s own attorney said: “[Rove has] told [investigators] that he believes he may have heard it from a journalist.” Asked who it was, the lawyer said, “I don’t think he’s able to identify that, or to identify precisely when he may have heard it.”

And then sums it up with this:

If these revelations are true, the least of Rove and Libby’s concerns is perjury. Today’s disclosure adds further evidence that the White Hose consciously dug out Plame’s identity, used it, and then engaged in a massive cover-up by pinning blame elsewhere. Moreover, it appears far more players were involved in this orchestrated, administration-wide effort than previously believed. The key question, if these revelations are true, is why did these administration officials lie so overtly to the special prosecutor? Knowing hard evidence would come out sooner or later against them (through leaks, emails, etc), the White House officials still chose to lie. What could they possibly be trying to hide?

Good question. Let's hope the press gaggle keeps pressing poor, lonely Scottie McC this next week.