There have been rumors for quite some time about [tag]Joseph Wilson[/tag] and [tag]Valerie Plame[/tag] filing a [tag]civil suit[/tag] against Karl Rove and others in the White House for the now-infamous leak, and today’s statement from Wilson’s lawyers suggests they haven’t forgotten.
“We have become aware of the communication between Mr. [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag] and Mr. [tag]Luskin[/tag] concerning [tag]Karl Rove[/tag]’s status in the criminal investigation. We have no first-hand knowledge of the reason for the communication or what further developments in the criminal investigation it may signal. While it appears that Mr. Rove will not be called to answer in criminal court for his participation in the wrongful disclosure of Valerie Wilson’s classified employment status at the CIA in retaliation against Joe Wilson for questioning the rationale for war in Iraq, that obviously does not end the matter. The day still may come when Mr. Rove and others are called to account in a court of law for their attacks on the Wilsons.”
And one other thought on this: in one important way, the ongoing investigation became a convenient excuse for the White House not to answer questions about the scandal. If no one (else) on the president’s staff is going to face charges, Tony Snow and others will have one less excuse to blow off legitimate inquiries that the Bush gang has ignored. For example:
With the news that White House senior adviser Karl Rove apparently will not be indicted in the CIA leak investigation, Media Matters for America urges the media to ask the following question: What about his [tag]security clearance[/tag]?
As Media Matters has previously explained, both Rove’s apparent confirmation of CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity to syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak and his alleged disclosure of her identity to Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper should trigger the loss of his security clearance under the Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement.
In November 2005, Knight Ridder reported that “sixteen former CIA and military intelligence officials … urged President Bush to suspend top political adviser Karl Rove’s security clearance following revelations that he played a role in outing CIA officer Valerie [tag]Plame[/tag].”
The Bush gang will probably find an excuse to blow this off again, but the old excuse no longer seems applicable.