-snip-
Whether they committed a crime by revealing Plame's iden y is something I don't know. It is in part a technical, legal issue that I'm not qualified to judge. None of these men were charged with a crime for revealing her iden y. But I do know that what they did was wrong and harmful to national security, regardless of whether her disclosure was detrimental to any sources or methods. Plame was a covert CIA officer at the time, and they shouldn't have been discussing this with reporters, whether it is an indictable offense or not.
The vice president's office sought to find out why Wilson was sent to Niger. When his wife's name was mentioned, it started to circulate within the State Department and White House creating a permissive environment for her iden y to be disclosed. As revealed in court filings, Libby sought to enlist Ari Fleischer's help in making it known to reporters. After Novak contacted Rove, Rove went to Libby and let him know that Novak was writing about her role. Rove also disclosed her iden y to Matt Cooper of Time magazine.
As for what Rove and Libby told me when I was asked to publicly exonerate them, I can only conclude that they knowingly misled me. The facts have been recounted in this book. But set aside what I have written and consider another important fact. All objective observers, based on the facts that have become public, agree that what I said on their behalf was false; they were in fact involved in anonymously disclosing her iden y-or leaking it-to some reporters. And I stated publicly at the time that my comments were based on assurances given to me by Karl and Scooter. I said they had "assured me they were not involved" in the leaking of classified information. I would never had made that statement had I known the facts above.
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