Rove, White House Can Breathe Easier

Plante: Without Indictment Threat, Rove Can Focus On Political Strategy

(CBS)  This story was written by CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

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Karl Rove, the President's political mastermind, never acted like someone who feared he was about to be indicted. But it seems clear that he came dangerously close. If this White House weren't so straightlaced, there would be dancing on the South Lawn now that Rove is in the clear.

This lifts a huge burden — not only from Rove, but also from the President and the entire White House political operation. Rove is Mr. Bush's closest political adviser — and the architect not only of his campaigns but also of the GOP's drive to keep Republicans in control of the House and Senate at a time when things haven't been going all that well for the President.

Rove has been waiting for nine months to learn whether he would be charged. He testified five times before the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's identity.

In July, 2003, during the run-up to the war in Iraq, Wilson's husband publicly challenged the administration claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium ore in Africa. Joseph Wilson had been on a fact-finding mission to the African nation of Niger that he said was instigated by the Vice President's office.

Vice President Cheney was upset by Wilson's article, which undercut one of the administration's reasons for attacking Iraq. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald now charges that there was an attempt by the Vice President's office to discredit Wilson. In the process, his wife's CIA identity was leaked to reporters.

Fitzgerald has already indicted the Vice President's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for lying to the grand jury about his role in the CIA leak case.

The prosecutor also wanted to know why Rove had neglected to mention a phone call he had with Time reporter Matt Cooper about Valerie Wilson — telling Fitzgerald about it only a year later, after the prosecutor had started calling reporters, including Cooper, before the grand jury.

Rove may have been saved by the persuasive powers of his attorney, Robert Luskin, who himself testified before the grand jury. People close to the case say Rove and Luskin made the case that Rove did not deliberately fail to report his conversation with Cooper — and in fact reported it as soon as a reference to it appeared in an e-mail.

His spokesman says Rove is "elated." That's probably an understatement. Rove can now concentrate on politics, which is what he was doing when he first got the word. The President's "architect" was in New Hampshire, giving Republicans there some arguments to run on in November. He charged that Democrats who criticize the administration's policy in Iraq are advocates of "cutting and running."