Rove To Cooper To V. Novak To Luskin To Rove To Fitzpatrick

firedoglake

This post regards the ongoing Plamegate-Fitzmas scandal. I'm going to assume that you know what's up, and say that recently Viveca Novak was called to testify about conversations she had with Luskin.

So this is the deal. Rove can't be charged with perjury if he recants his testimony upon recalling the actual story. So Rove tells Cooper (the "I've already said too much" interview). Cooper lets it slip in a conversation with Viveca that Rove's his source. Viveca tells her buddy Luskin, Rove's lawyer. Luskin heads to Rove, who searches his records and then recants his previous testimony to Fitzgerald.

Here's my question, and I hope Fitzgerald asks it: who initiated the conversation about Cooper's source - Viveca or Cooper? I doubt Cooper just brought it up. But if Viveca (an admitted friend of Luskin) was the one who grilled Cooper, maybe, just maybe, she did it because Luskin asked her to.

Was this an ingenious way of flanking a perjury charge? This way, Rove can commit perjury and lie about what he said. As Bush said in his news conference, the reporters have a way of protecting the sources, so who knows if we'll ever find out who the senior administration official was? If the reporters dig in and things cool down, life goes on. But Fitzgerald keeps pushing, and it becomes clear that he's getting the reporters to cooperate. Rove feels that draft around his backside. So he gets his lawyer to get his friend, Cooper's co-worker, to initiate "Operation Memory Jog."

Is there a way to prove this? Probably not. It's just speculation on my part. But it's definitely plausible.