Rove's Phone Call with Novak

Karl Rove testified to the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame leak that he did indeed talk to columnist Robert Novak about Ms Plame. Mr Novak used the information from that conversation in identifying Ms Plame as a CIA agent in a subsequent column.

The New York Times gets their information from an anonymous source "in the legal profession."

The phone conversation took place on July 8, 2003. The source says Mr Novak brought up Valerie Plame's name and the fact that she was a CIA operative. The source tells the Times that Mr Rove replied, "I heard that, too."

Mr Novak's column cited two senior administration officials as his sources for the column. The Times source says Mr Rove would have been the second source -- or the one confirming Mr Novak's information. (NYT)