The Plame Game -- Rove Gets Outed

Newsweek got it's hands on a TIME magazine e-mail that Matt Cooper sent in the Valerie Plame case. She's the CIA agent outed -- apparently by someone in the White House. The e-mail points to President Bush's top political advisor, Karl Rove:

"Subject: Rove/P&C, [personal and confidential] Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation.... please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]"

That e-mail came from Matt Cooper, a TIME reporter spared from jail time when the magazine turned over notes on the case to a grand jury and Mr Cooper's source freed him to talk to prosecutors.

In the meantime, Mr Rove and his attorney have admitted that Mr Rove was the source that Mr Cooper relied on when he wrote that e-mail. But Newsweek reports that Mr Rove says he did not name Ms Plame by name:

"Rove has never publicly acknowledged talking to any reporter about former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife. But last week, his lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed to NEWSWEEK that Rove did--and that Rove was the secret source who, at the request of both Cooper's lawyer and the prosecutor, gave Cooper permission to testify."

That may not be enough to protect Mr Rove from prosecution. It is illegal to identify a CIA agent -- as Valerie Plame was. That may not require that he actually used her name, but laid out other information -- who she was married to, where she lived, what she worked on -- that identified her. (Newsweek via MSNBC)