Rove’s Growing Web of Confusion

‘Tis the season for anonymous sources in Washington, it seems.

An Associated Press article released this morning states that “a source” has leaked some of Karl Rove’s grand jury testimony to the public.

According to this source, Rove has revealed that he did know former covert operative Valerie Plame’s name, but that he learned the name from commentator Robert Novak.

Novak, as you will recall, is the reporter who revealed Plame’s name in his weekly column, thus violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (1982).

Although Novak violated the act, Time’s Matthew Cooper and The New York Times’ Judith Miller were the ones to receive subpoenas to reveal who told them Plame’s name (see my previous entries for background information). As speculation stands now, it is more than likely that Novak struck up some sort of deal with prosecutors and pointed the finger at Miller and Cooper in exchange for personal immunity. However, this has yet to be proven.

If this confidential source is correct, and if Rove is telling the truth, where did Novak get his information?

If he did name Cooper and Miller as his own sources, this could get the two in further legal trouble (although Miller is already serving a prison sentence for refusing to reveal her source).

Also, if Novak named Cooper has his source, and Cooper named Rove as his own source, and Rove has named Novak as his source, this will prove to be one of the most complicated political scandals in recent history.

Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, is now calling this entire matter a government scandal.