News Release

Rove Scandal

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Newsweek is reporting on a leaked email from Time magazine stating that Karl Rove, the president’s senior advisor and chief political strategist, revealed the name of Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife, who was an undercover CIA agent.

The following are available for interviews:

ROSA BROOKS
Professor of law at the University of Virginia, Brooks is a columnist with the Los Angeles Times. She said today: “Without access to the other information held by the prosecutor, it’s impossible to say whether a jury would be likely to actually convict Rove of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. But assuming the substantive accuracy of the leaked email, Special Counsel Fitzgerald appears to have a strong prima facia case for seeking an indictment against Rove. … The fact that Rove claims neither to have known nor used Valerie Plame’s name is irrelevant, as is the fact that Rove claims never to have asked Cooper to publish the information.”
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MICHAEL PARADIES SHOOB
Shoob, co-director (with Joseph Mealey) of the documentary film about Karl Rove titled “Bush’s Brain,” commented today: “This is vintage Karl Rove. Karl has used lies, dirty tricks, and acts of vengeance like this since his days in the College Republicans more than 30 years ago. The administration — in typical Rove fashion — lied about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction over and over again until the lies became accepted wisdom. When Ambassador Joseph Wilson was sent to determine whether Iraq had acquired uranium from Niger and shared with the public that he had found no evidence of a transaction, Rove’s reaction was to ‘kill the messenger.’ He orchestrated an attack on Wilson, including revealing that Wilson’s wife was an undercover CIA agent. This threatened her safety and the safety of many who were associated with her. It also, importantly, sends a signal to everyone else: ‘Don’t mess with the White House or we’ll come after you hammer and tong.'”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167