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CIA leak points to Bush aide
03/07/2005 16:38 - (SA)
Washington - E-mails surrendered by Time magazine to a grand jury probing the leak of a CIA agent's identity show that top White House aide Karl Rove was one of the sources, Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday, citing two lawyers involved in the case.
Rove, who is President George W Bush's deputy chief of staff, was named as a source by two lawyers who asked not to be identified.
However, an attorney for Rove, Robert Luskin, told Newsweek that his client "never knowingly disclosed classified information" and that "he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA".
Reluctantly agreed
Time on Thursday reluctantly agreed to hand over the internal e-mails, which were largely correspondence between their editors and reporter Matt Cooper, along with his notes on reporting related to the case.
Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller have been ordered to testify before the grand jury or face prison.
Both have indicated they would rather go to jail than reveal their sources to the grand jury investigating how CIA agent Valerie Plame's name was leaked to the media.
It is a federal crime to deliberately reveal the identity of an undercover CIA official. A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the leak and began subpoenaing reporters to find the source.
In a case argued before the Supreme Court, attorneys for Miller and Cooper had argued that the US Constitution shields them from having to testify before grand jury, but the US high court on Monday refused to hear the case.
- AFP
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