EW,

The question that I think Fitzgerald is after is where Rove originally heard about Valerie Wilson and her CIA status. The Viveca Novak article you have is only one of many stories on Rove/Luskin that V. Novak reported on. Do a search on Time’s website and you will find a few more articles written by other TIME reporters which mention Viveca Novak at the bottom of the article as one of the people who reported on the story. At least one, if not two, of the articles (sorry I lost the links when my browser crashed) mention that Luskin claimed Rove heard about Valerie Wilson either from a reporter or through an administration official who heard it from a reporter. I suspect this may be part of what Fitzgerald is interested in getting more details on.

Not sure if this info will be useful at some point (I mentioned it briefly on firedoglake too), but I want to make sure it’s out there, because it’s a pretty strong hunch I have. Here’s why I think Dick Cheney is one of Tom DeFrank’s main sources. I watched DeFrank and Mitchell being interviewed at the same time about a month or two ago (maybe it was â€Hardballâ€). DeFrank had recently written an article about the mood in the West Wing. Andrea Mitchell, speaking about DeFrank’s credibility, said he’s a veteran reporter with White House ties that go back to when Dick Cheney was Ford’s chief of staff. She was clearly baiting DeFrank (she didn’t have to mention Cheney, plus her tone was more passive aggressive than usual). So either Cheney was his source or she was warning him: don’t mess with your old friends. But then DeFrank was asked if his source thought Cheney had been overly involved in intelligence (part of the article was about Cheney having been very involved in intelligence). DeFrank said he couldn’t say without revealing too much about his source. Which made me think of course Cheney thinks he was very involved but not overly involved. But then you have to remember he’s the same guy who picked himself to run for Vice President.

Satlin and p luk

Great hunches on both counts.

The VNovak/Woodward connection is particularly interesting. You could argue her article was designed to make Woodward’s source look good–so when it eventually came out (like, next week), it would reflect well on the source, as if he came forward of his own accord. So if you were really tight with VNovak, then you might point her to Woodward, or suggest her to him.

Luskin was leaking about Rove’s conversation with Cooper before they â€found†Rove’s email about Cooper–that is, at the time when Rove was claiming he didn’t speak to any reporters except for Novak.

Well, what was he leaking? If he was saying in May that his client had no relevant conversation with Cooper, that hardly helps Fitzgerald make a case against Rove.

FWIW, and I am going from memory here, the second subpoena to Cooper was on a no-name basis – Fitzgerald did not seem to know who Cooper’s source was (with the subpoena on Libby, Fitzgerald agreed to limit the subpoena to one named official, Libby).

Anyway, I am not sure I get the kathyp theory – she thinks that when Cooper was subpoenaed on a no-name basis, Luskin said to Viveca, in effect, â€Oh, Fitzgerald wants to talk to Cooper about a chat with Rove that we have been concealing?â€

What if Viveca asked Luskin whether Cooper and Rove had talked? I suppose his answer might be interesting. But why isn’t it covered by source confidentiality?

Does anyone know, or care, why TIME is not arguing any source confidentiality issues?

Their story is silent on that point – are they just an arm of the Fitzgerald investigation now? Will that be true of TIME on all government cases going forward?

It amazes me that Luskin would talk so freely to the press and hand out as much information as he does.

I understand you want to manage public relations, but every time you speak, there is the potential of inconsitent testimony or trapping yourself into what subsequently turns out to be the wrong line of testimony.

Well, it looks like Phase 2 of Fitzkrieg has begun, and now Fitz is targeting not only the principals, but their attorneys as well. Just as Libby dragged his attorney Tate into the middle of this muck, it looks like Rover has done the same to Luskin.