Rove Reportedly Held Phone Talk on C.I.A Officer

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON, July 14 - Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an article in July 2003 that identified a C.I.A. officer who was undercover, someone who has been officially briefed on the matter said Thursday.

Mr. Rove has told investigators that he learned from the columnist the name of the C.I.A. officer, who was referred to by her maiden name, Valerie Plame, and the circumstances in which her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, traveled to Africa to investigate possible uranium sales to Iraq, the person said.

After hearing Mr. Novak's account, the person who has been briefed on the matter said, Mr. Rove told the columnist: "I heard that, too."

The previously undisclosed telephone conversation, which took place on July 8, 2003, was initiated by Mr. Novak, the person who has been briefed on the matter said.

Six days later, Mr. Novak's syndicated column reported that two senior administration officials had told him that Mr. Wilson's "wife had suggested sending him" to Africa. That column was the first instance in which Ms. Wilson was publicly identified as a C.I.A. operative. The column provoked angry demands for an investigation into who disclosed Ms. Wilson's name to Mr. Novak.

Well, the story is out. Karl Rove lied. He spoke with Time Magazine's Matt Cooper and columnist Robert Novak. He was one of two "senior administration officials" who leaked Plame's name to the press after Joe Wilson wrote his New York Times editorial criticizing the Bush administration's claims of Iraq's nuclear buildup. Karl Rove lied to the press and American people. What's more, Rove broke the law in revealing Valerie Plame's name to Novak, and that he identified her working for the C.I.A. The Times article raises and even more pertinent question:

The disclosure of Mr. Rove's conversation with Mr. Novak raises a question the White House has never addressed: whether Mr. Rove ever discussed that conversation, or his exchange with Mr. Cooper, with the president. Mr. Bush has said several times that he wants all members of the White House staff to cooperate fully with [Special Prosecutor] Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation.

What did the President know and when did he know it? Rove is President Bush's most trusted advisor--the "Architect" of Bush's re-election campaign, and the White House political guru. Did Rove tell the president of his involvement in leaking Plame's name to Novak before the president's June 2004 press conference, at Sea Island, Ga., where Bush said he would fire any White House official who was involved in the leaks? Because if he did, that means that the Bush White House has been exposed again to lying to the American people again, only this time regarding a serious federal crime.

Robert Novak said he got Valerie Plame's name from two sources--Karl Rove is certainly one source. The Times said the second source "provided the outlines of the story and was described by Mr. Novak as 'no partisan gunslinger.'" This un-named source introduced Novak to the story. Novak then called Rove for the confirmation to the story. So the question I have is who is this first source? What was his reasons or motives for providing this story? Who does he work for? Why did he give this story to Novak? How many other reporters did this source give the story to before Novak? What does "no partisan gunslinger" mean?

This scandal is not over...Not by a long shot.