What Cooper Told Grand Jury

Time. Virtually all the questions centered on the week of July 6, 2003.

Shortly after Wilson's piece appeared, the White House said that the African uranium claim, while probably still true, should not have been in the President's State of the Union address because it hadn't been proved well enough.

I told the grand jurors that I was curious about Wilson when I called Karl Rove on Friday, July 11.

I recall saying something like, "I'm writing about Wilson," before he interjected. "Don't get too far out on Wilson," he told me.

Rove went on to say that Wilson had not been sent to Niger by the director of the CIA and, I believe from my subsequent e-mails--although it's not in my notes--that Rove added that Dick Cheney didn't send him either. Indeed, the next day the Vice President's chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, told me Cheney had not been responsible for Wilson's mission.

Rove told me material was going to be declassified in the coming days that would cast doubt on Wilson's mission and his findings.

As for Wilson's wife, I told the grand jury I was certain that Rove never used her name and that, indeed, I did not learn her name until the following week, when I either saw it in Robert Novak's column or Googled her, I can't recall which.

Rove did, however, clearly indicate that she worked at the "agency"--

This was the first time I had heard anything about Wilson's wife.

Rove never once indicated to me that she had any kind of covert status.

Rove ending the call by saying, "I've already said too much."

In August 2004, on the record, Scooter Libby denied to me that Cheney knew about or played any role in the Wilson trip to Niger. On background, I asked Libby if he had heard anything about Wilson's wife sending her husband to Niger. Libby replied, "Yeah, I've heard that too," or words to that effect. Like Rove, Libby never used Valerie Plame's name or indicated that her status was covert.

So did Rove leak Plame's name to me, or tell me she was covert? No. Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she worked at the "agency" on "WMD"? Yes. When he said things would be declassified soon, was that itself impermissible? I don't know. Is any of this a crime?Beats me.
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Curious that Scooter Libby gave Cooper a specific confidentiality waiver in Aug 2004, but Cooper didn't go public with what Cooper told the Grand Jury back then, or since. -- LynZee