Reactions to Larisa's article about Karl

Reactions to Larisa's article about Karl et al.

* clemons "has confirmed the essential points (or Larisa's story) through a source close to Rove... Rove giving Patrick Fitzgerald a path into 250 pages of deleted and/or previously unprovided electronic communications from and within the Vice President's office must give serious heartburn to Scooter Libby's defense team, being paid for in part by this cabal of supporters."

* steve soto: "Is Karl assisting Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation by pointing out where to find the emails that previously had been missing? That’s what Raw Story is uncovering, and it appears that Rove is deflecting heat away from him and towards Scooter and Shooter."

* supreme irony: "It sounds to me the Fitzgerald has something on Rove, and Rove has turned states evidence to help with punishment. If that is the case, how much of Rove's actions are with Bush's blessing?'

* holden: "Turdblossom vs. Big Time . Oh my, this could get ugly."

* jeralyn:

"Luskin and Rove obviously would prefer Rove to come off as Mr. Truth, Justice and the American Way -- a helpful White House official who told the truth and let the chips fall where they may -- rather than as a rat who sold out his confederates in order to avoid jail -- but no matter how they try to whitewash it, it's a rollover. And Rove can't keep it a secret forever.

I think Fitz has Rove dead to rights if, as reported, he failed to disclose his conversation with Cooper in his first interview with the FBI in October 2003 or in his first appearance before the grand jury in February 2004
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I think Rove has been singing his heart all along, hoping to avoid an Indictment entirely. Every time it looked impossible, he remembered a little more information to tell Fitzgerald. He'll keep telling until he gets what he wants from him.
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If there was intentional deletion of e-mails in the Vice-President's office, someone is going to get charged as a result of it.
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Back to the question of the deleted e-mails. Who in Cheney's office will this reach, and how high? Does Fitz have corrorborating testimony from others who have flipped in the case? Is Cheney out of the woods? While I doubt Cheney physically deleted e-mails, I wouldn't be suprised if some of the emails deleted by people in his office contained details of conversations with Cheney about Plame or instructions he gave on how to respond to the investigation."

* clemons in the comments:

"What I confirmed through a source close to Rove is that he was cooperating enthusiastically with Fitzgerald -- and my source says that Rove did help unravel the previoiusly undisclosed email communication in the VP's office. I don't have any information, however, that those emails further indict Libby. That's speculation on my part -- and as I noted, I suggested that the provision of many more communications, partly at the hand of Rove, must be causing the Libby defense team grief.

But the key issue I was interested in was whether Rove was connected at all to these previous emails that had not been provided earlier. I don't have any evidence that Libby or anyone on the VP's team tried to destroy evidence -- but as has already been reported -- some of the recovered emails were deleted. They could have been deleted, however, as part of routine operations, though I have always been under the impression that "nothing" is deleted any longer in the EOP. But who knows."

*DSM's Michael Smith:

" There are intriguing signs of George Bush trying to distance himself from Dick Cheney as the investigation into who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame homes in on members of the vice-president’s close circle. Leaking the name of a covert CIA officer is illegal under US law and an investigation has been going on for some time under Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into who was responsible. Karl Rove, the president’s special adviser, reportedly “tipped off” Fitzgerald on the location of 250 emails that had mysteriously gone missing from the vice-president’s office.

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Now the US internet newspaper Raw Story is reporting that it was Rove who told Fitzgerald where to find the emails Cheney’s office didn’t want the special investigator to see."

jane hamsher: "

I've put in a number of calls to try and confirm it. Everyone I've talked to -- people who are quite well informed and have been very good sources of information on Plame in the past -- are extremely skeptical it is true.

I don't know who the sources are for the story so I can't say for sure, for all I know it is absolutely valid. But until I can get somebody to give me a bit more insight into this story, it doesn't fit with what I know and I don't think we'll be getting into it."

* atrios: "Both Raw Story and Steve Clemons say that Rove has been helping out Fitz."

* mcjoan: "Pretty interesting stuff, though, seeing the President's closest advisor potentially ratting out the Vice President's former closest advisor. Extrapolate that to their bosses, and you really do have to wonder how long Cheney is going to be around."


(i'll update this post throughout the day)