Given the context of the Libby indictment, it was probably pretty clear to most who the unnamed “Official A” was, but just in case, it’s been confirmed Fitzgerald was referring to Karl Rove.
It has been known that columnist Robert Novak spoke to Rove on July 9, 2003, saying he planned to report over the weekend that Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, had worked for the CIA. Rove told the columnist he had heard similar information.
Friday’s indictment says “Official A” is a “senior official in the White House who advised Libby on July 10 or 11 of 2003” about a chat with Novak about his upcoming column in which Plame would be identified as a CIA employee.
Late Friday, three people close to the investigation, each asking to remain unidentified because of grand jury secrecy, identified Rove as Official A.
The New York Daily News, as it is prone to do, was more dramatic about it, but Thomas DeFrank learned the same thing.
What does this mean, in the context of the scandal? That Rove helped leak Valerie Plame’s name and was one of Robert Novak’s original sources.
Maybe this a good time to point out that Scott McClellan said, on Sept. 29, 2003, “If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration.” And a day later, the president said, “If somebody did leak classified information, I’d like to know it, and we’ll take the appropriate action.”