We learned yesterday that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald called two top Karl Rove aides to testify before the Plame grand jury last week, making it painfully clear that the investigation continues to focus heavily on the deputy White House chief of staff. The New York Times added some interesting details to the story this morning.
First, the emphasis continues to be on Rove’s conversation with Time’s Matt Cooper.
Two aides to Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, testified last Friday before a federal grand jury investigating whether government officials illegally disclosed the identity of an undercover C.I.A. operative, according to a person who has been officially briefed on the case.
The aides, Susan B. Ralston and Israel Hernandez, were asked about grand jury testimony given on July 13 by Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine, the person who was briefed said. Mr. Cooper has said that he testified about a July 11, 2003, conversation with Mr. Rove in which the C.I.A. officer was discussed.
No big surprise there. This is the first official word we’ve heard that Fitzgerald is following up aggressively on the Cooper-Rove discussion, but given what we know, that’s to be expected — whether Fitzgerald is pursuing a criminal leak charge or perjury.
But then there was this little tidbit.
At one point, the aides were asked why Mr. Cooper’s call to Mr. Rove was not entered in Mr. Rove’s office telephone logs. There was no record of the call, the person who has been briefed said, because Mr. Cooper did not call Mr. Rove directly, but was transferred to his office from a White House switchboard.
This could be a harmless administrative oversight, or it could be a blockbuster revelation.
As some of you know, way back when, I was a White House intern during Clinton’s first term. Though I didn’t spend much time in the West Wing, as I understand it, every call was logged, whether it goes through the switchboard or not. That was 10 years ago, though, and the Bush White House very well may operate differently.
The fact that Cooper’s call was missing from Rove’s log raises legitimate questions. If there’s a system in place that only logs direct calls that bypass the switchboard, fine. If not, who removed it from Rove’s log? Are we looking at another angle to the cover-up?
There’s also some question as to whether Cooper actually went to the switchboard at all.
In an article in Time last month about his grand jury appearance, Mr. Cooper wrote that he had telephoned the White House and been transferred to Mr. Rove’s office.
“I believe a woman answered the phone and said words to the effect that Rove wasn’t there,” Mr. Cooper wrote, “or was busy before going on vacation. But then I recall she said something like ‘hang on,’ and I was transferred to him.”
Switchboard operators don’t know where Karl Rove is or when he’s going on vacation. In fact, these operators aren’t even in the West Wing. It sounds more like Cooper spoke with someone who actually worked with or near Rove.
I’m just speculating here, but Rove may have assumed that his double-super-secret-background conversation with Cooper would remain confidential forever. Rove, therefore, could have altered his logs to erase the call, assuming that no one would know. It’s the kind of act that has “obstruction of justice” written all over it.
Again, just to be abundantly clear, I have no idea how the Bush White House logs its calls and there hasn’t been any evidence pointing to edited phone logs. But as baseless speculation goes, it raises an interesting question.