Tangled Webs (30 page)
Authors: James B. Stewart
Tags: #History, #United States, #General, #Law, #Ethics & Professional Responsibility
Obviously Eckenrode had to talk to Novak. Although subpoenaing journalists was only a last resort, he saw no reason not to call him. Eckenrode left a message, and Novak’s lawyer James Hamilton returned his call. Hamilton was famously discreet with such high-profile clients as Vince Foster, who had committed suicide during the Clinton administration amid a welter of rumors about the Whitewater land deal and his relationship to Hillary Clinton. This didn’t bode well in Eckenrode’s experience, but to Eckenrode’s surprise, Hamilton said Novak would meet with him at the firm’s offices. Hamilton said Novak wouldn’t reveal his sources, nor would he disclose any notes or other documents. He’d cooperate with the investigation, but the FBI would have to ask questions; he wasn’t going to volunteer anything.
Eckenrode didn’t have such good luck with Chris Matthews. He called Matthews directly, using his cell phone, but Matthews ended up asking all the questions: “How did you get my number? Why do you want to talk to me?” Eckenrode got nowhere before Matthews referred him to NBC’s lawyers.
Eckenrode and two other agents met with Novak and his lawyers on October 7. Eckenrode mentioned that he’d sometimes seen Novak attending mass at St. Patrick’s Church, which did little to dispel the sense that Novak was deeply uncomfortable about being interviewed by law enforcement agents.
Novak stated at the outset that he wouldn’t disclose his sources; he hadn’t even told his lawyers their identity. Eckenrode said nothing about his interview with Armitage. But Novak seemed happy to discuss the genesis of his columns. He described his observations of Wilson in the greenroom of
Meet the Press
, his reactions to Wilson’s column, the encounter where he’d indiscreetly called Wilson an “asshole” and then his subsequent phone conversation with Wilson, where Wilson apologized for his friend having accosted him, and Novak apologized for having used such a vulgar phrase to describe Wilson. Novak pointed out that the choice of Wilson for the mission to Africa was the kind of political mystery that had long intrigued him and had formed the basis for many columns. The fact that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA explained why a former Clinton appointee and someone obviously hostile to the Bush administration had been entrusted with such a sensitive task. No one had told him Plame was a covert agent or might be endangered if he named her. If anyone had, he wouldn’t have used her name. Nor did he think anyone was trying to retaliate against Wilson. He felt the whole affair had been seized upon by the left wing and turned into a cause célèbre to undermine the Bush administration.
Meet the Press
, his reactions to Wilson’s column, the encounter where he’d indiscreetly called Wilson an “asshole” and then his subsequent phone conversation with Wilson, where Wilson apologized for his friend having accosted him, and Novak apologized for having used such a vulgar phrase to describe Wilson. Novak pointed out that the choice of Wilson for the mission to Africa was the kind of political mystery that had long intrigued him and had formed the basis for many columns. The fact that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA explained why a former Clinton appointee and someone obviously hostile to the Bush administration had been entrusted with such a sensitive task. No one had told him Plame was a covert agent or might be endangered if he named her. If anyone had, he wouldn’t have used her name. Nor did he think anyone was trying to retaliate against Wilson. He felt the whole affair had been seized upon by the left wing and turned into a cause célèbre to undermine the Bush administration.
The interview lasted about two hours. As they were preparing to leave, Eckenrode said, “You know, you could have written this column without using her name. Why was that so important?”
Novak looked sheepish, almost as though he were willing to admit it had been a mistake. Then he shrugged. “She was his wife, her name was in
Who’s Who
. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with this.” But Eckenrode got the impression that, if he were to do it over again, Novak would have left out her name.
Who’s Who
. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with this.” But Eckenrode got the impression that, if he were to do it over again, Novak would have left out her name.
Armed with a copy of Karl Rove’s telephone log showing several calls to and from Novak, Eckenrode and his team arrived for their first interview with a White House official. They met Rove on October 10, at his small office in the West Wing of the White House. At the suggestion of a friend, Rove had hired Robert Luskin, a partner at Patton Boggs and a veteran white-collar defense lawyer and former Justice Department official and Rhodes scholar. Rove wasn’t put off by Luskin’s shaved head and earring; he liked his “calming,” “clear, persuasive demeanor,” and came to admire Luskin’s attachment to his cat. Luskin had urged Rove to delay the interview to give them more time to prepare and review all his e-mails and phone logs, but Rove was eager to get it over with and, he assumed, dispel speculation that he was the source for the Novak column.
When the agents arrived, Rove seemed friendly and relaxed. He said he was eager “to help in any way I can.” Eckenrode was still following his tactic of offering an open-ended question, and began with, “It sounds like there’s stuff you want to tell us.”
Rove said his memory was a little “fuzzy,” but acknowledged he had played what he considered a “small part” in Novak’s column. Rove said Novak had called on July 7, the day after Wilson’s op-ed piece and appearance on
Meet the Press
, and left a message saying he wanted to discuss Fran Townsend. Rove asked an assistant to prepare some “talking points” in defense of Townsend, and Rove returned the call late the following day. Rove said they did discuss Townsend–he felt he made no headway in rebutting Novak’s criticisms–and then Novak had brought up Wilson’s column and television appearance, commenting on how pompous and self-centered Wilson was, with Novak specifically using the word “asshole” to describe Wilson. Rove had agreed with Novak’s assessment. Rove had then told Novak “off-the-record” that the CIA statement being prepared taking responsibility for the sixteen words was likely to assert that part of Wilson’s report–the finding that an Iraq delegation had tried to establish commercial relations in Niger–actually supported the president’s claim, since the only commercial activity of any significance in Niger was uranium exports.
Meet the Press
, and left a message saying he wanted to discuss Fran Townsend. Rove asked an assistant to prepare some “talking points” in defense of Townsend, and Rove returned the call late the following day. Rove said they did discuss Townsend–he felt he made no headway in rebutting Novak’s criticisms–and then Novak had brought up Wilson’s column and television appearance, commenting on how pompous and self-centered Wilson was, with Novak specifically using the word “asshole” to describe Wilson. Rove had agreed with Novak’s assessment. Rove had then told Novak “off-the-record” that the CIA statement being prepared taking responsibility for the sixteen words was likely to assert that part of Wilson’s report–the finding that an Iraq delegation had tried to establish commercial relations in Niger–actually supported the president’s claim, since the only commercial activity of any significance in Niger was uranium exports.
Novak had agreed with Rove that Wilson’s failure to mention this showed a clear bias against the Bush administration. Novak then mentioned that Valerie Plame worked at the CIA in counterproliferation, although Rove said the name didn’t mean anything to him. Novak went on, saying Plame, not the vice president, had sent her husband to Niger. Rove realized then that Plame must be the name of Wilson’s wife. “Oh, I’ve heard that too,” Rove said he’d replied. Novak gave Rove the impression he’d already spoken with someone at the CIA, who’d confirmed Plame’s role and job at the agency. The conversation wound down, and Rove didn’t recall any further discussion of Wilson or his wife.
Eckenrode asked how Rove had heard about Wilson’s wife, and Rove said he couldn’t remember. He wasn’t sure if he’d heard it from someone in the White House, at a social event, or in a phone call from another journalist. In any event, he didn’t know what she did at the CIA, and certainly didn’t know or suspect she was a covert agent.
Eckenrode took Rove through each of the Novak entries in his phone log, dwelling especially on a call at 3:00 p.m. on September 29, just a day after news of the Justice Department investigation broke. Rove said Novak had called to assure him he was not the source for his column and that “I protect my sources.” Rove didn’t think he was the source, or even a source, since Novak clearly knew all about Plame by the time they spoke.
Eckenrode asked him why he thought Wilson was so insistent that Rove was the one who had outed his wife as a CIA agent. Rove replied that he didn’t know, but assumed it had something to do with Chris Matthews. Rove said he’d run into Matthews at the Bohemian Grove, the northern California site of the annual gathering of members of the all-male Bohemian Club and their guests, which have included a long list of prominent politicians, businessmen, journalists, musicians, writers, and artists. Matthews had brought up the subject of Wilson and the Novak column. Rove had tried to press the administration’s view, but realized Matthews knew “squat” about the subject and they turned to other subjects. The following Monday, Rove had called Matthews about something else, and Matthews again brought up Wilson and his wife. This was the call that had prompted Matthews’s call to Wilson saying that Wilson’s wife was “fair game.”
Eckenrode asked Rove about the comment; Rove insisted it wasn’t a phrase he’d use.
“Are you saying you never used those words?” Eckenrode asked.
Rove said it was Matthews who had used those words to describe Plame. “He uses the words ‘fair game’ all the time,” Rove said. “He used them just last week. Search his newscasts and you’ll find he says it all the time.” Rove said that if he had used the phrase, it was only because he was repeating what Matthews had said, and that he had never suggested Plame was “fair game.” (A search revealed that Matthews had used the phrase once, on July 16.)
Eckenrode turned to the Mike Allen story in the
Washington Post
. Had Rove spoken to any other journalist about Wilson’s wife before Novak’s column?
Washington Post
. Had Rove spoken to any other journalist about Wilson’s wife before Novak’s column?
No, he insisted. The subject had only come up with Novak.
Had he discussed Wilson’s wife with anyone else in the administration? Rove said his memory was hazy, but he thought he had discussed it with Scooter Libby. He and Libby were discussing CIA director Tenet’s statement the Friday before Novak’s column, and Rove had mentioned that Novak had called and was working on a column about Wilson. Rove said he might have talked about Wilson’s wife with Libby.
What about the president? Eckenrode asked.
Rove said that at the height of speculation in the media and at press conferences that he was Novak’s source, Bush had called him and asked, “Are you the one behind this Novak column?”
Rove had said he wasn’t. Rove later described the phone call in his memoir: “He called me from the Oval Office, where he was meeting with Card and Gonzales, and I explained to Bush that I’d talked to Novak and said ‘I’ve heard that too’ when the reporter told me about Wilson’s wife, whose name and role I didn’t know. Bush sounded a little annoyed but took my word.”
Now the president himself was a potential witness. Would he corroborate Rove’s version?
Did Rove know anything about the basis for the assertion that two White House officials had called six journalists about Wilson’s wife? Rove didn’t, but he told the FBI agents that he strongly suspected that Allen’s source for the story was Adam Levine, a member of the communications team in the White House who acted as a liaison with the television networks. Levine was a former producer for Chris Matthews and was friendly with many journalists, including Mike Allen at the
Post.
Moreover, Rove thought Levine was disgruntled because he’d been passed over for the number two job as deputy press secretary after Ari Fleischer left. Rove gave the impression he was trying to shift the spotlight to Levine, someone he clearly distrusted. (Though he was friendly with Mike Allen, Levine denied he was the source, who he thought was at the CIA.)
Post.
Moreover, Rove thought Levine was disgruntled because he’d been passed over for the number two job as deputy press secretary after Ari Fleischer left. Rove gave the impression he was trying to shift the spotlight to Levine, someone he clearly distrusted. (Though he was friendly with Mike Allen, Levine denied he was the source, who he thought was at the CIA.)
“Would you be willing to take a lie detector test?” Eckenrode asked.
“Of course,” Rove replied.
Luskin volunteered that Rove would sign a waiver releasing journalists like Novak from any promise of confidentiality they might have given him. Eckenrode thanked Rove for his time, and the three agents left. Eckenrode prepared a waiver with the help of Justice Department lawyers and sent one to Rove, which Rove signed. It was a waiver form he used in all his subsequent interviews with White House officials.
When they met to discuss Rove’s statements, the agents felt pretty confident Rove was Novak’s second source. Rove said Novak had assured him he wasn’t “the” source, leaving open the possibility he might be “a” source. Why else would Novak need to protect him? Rove had only said he’d “heard” about Wilson’s wife when Novak brought up the subject, but he conceded speaking to Novak and mentioning the wife. Eckenrode suspected Rove’s involvement might be much deeper than he’d acknowledged. The Chris Matthews encounter suggested Rove was actively pushing the Plame story, and he might well have been a source for other reporters besides Novak. His annoyance with Adam Levine and the
Post
’s column suggesting other leaks pointed in that direction.
Post
’s column suggesting other leaks pointed in that direction.
Rove himself couldn’t tell how it had gone. He found himself obsessing about the Wilson affair and his role in it, however peripheral he may have been. He later said he was sure in his own mind he hadn’t committed any crime, but as speculation continued to focus on him as a potential leak, he felt drawn into something beyond his control. He was determined to be tough, to show no reaction, to act as though nothing was bothering him–the unspoken code of the Bush White House. Yet, he later confided, “the whole thing was scaring the hell out of me.”
A
lthough Wilson had pointed the finger directly at Rove, speculation continued to swirl that Scooter Libby was the second source referred to in Novak’s column, as evidenced by the persistent questions at Scott McClellan’s press briefings. McClellan’s belated denial that Libby was involved had done little to stop the speculation. So Libby was already someone the FBI agents were planning to interview, even before Rove’s account of their conversation made him an important witness. Eckenrode scheduled an interview with Libby for October 14, just four days after Rove. In the interim he and other agents interviewed Cathie Martin, the communications director for the vice president.
lthough Wilson had pointed the finger directly at Rove, speculation continued to swirl that Scooter Libby was the second source referred to in Novak’s column, as evidenced by the persistent questions at Scott McClellan’s press briefings. McClellan’s belated denial that Libby was involved had done little to stop the speculation. So Libby was already someone the FBI agents were planning to interview, even before Rove’s account of their conversation made him an important witness. Eckenrode scheduled an interview with Libby for October 14, just four days after Rove. In the interim he and other agents interviewed Cathie Martin, the communications director for the vice president.
Martin had readily agreed to the interview and didn’t bring a lawyer. She seemed frustrated by the investigation and the leaks that had triggered it, in part, she made clear, because the vice president and Libby had decided to bypass her in her role as communications director and wage their own public relations campaign. She noted that she’d been explicitly excluded from the Air Force Two meeting where Cheney and Libby had formulated their talking points to rebut Wilson. She didn’t understand the intensity with which Libby and the vice president were pursuing the story or why it was such a priority. She felt marginalized by Libby on important aspects of the story and felt relegated to mundane tasks like getting phone numbers and setting up interviews. She had spoken to reporters, mostly to schedule calls or to point out articles or facts that contradicted Wilson. She didn’t say so, but she seemed worried that Libby might have gone too far in his efforts to discredit Wilson. Eckenrode was impressed by her candor. Inadvertently or not, she had also focused their attention on Libby, who by her account was the administration official most preoccupied by Wilson’s allegations and the need to rebut them.
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