Karl Rove Dodges A Bullet

Top Bush Aide Won't Face Charges In CIA Leak Probe

(CBS/AP) 
Fitzgerald was investigating whether Rove lied or obstructed justice in failing to initially disclose the conversation. The presidential aide blamed a faulty memory and sought to testify before the grand jury after finding the e-mail to correct his testimony.

"I've never seen, frankly, someone involved in an investigation of this kind given so many chances to continually correct and amend prior testimony. There are many prosecutors who would have indicted Rove on his first statement," George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley told CBS Radio station WBZ. "He was given a great deal of deference and quite frankly, assistance, by the prosecutor."

The threat of indictment had hung over Rove, even as Rove was focusing on the arduous task of halting Mr. Bush's popularity spiral and keeping Democrats from capturing the House or Senate in November elections.

Fitzgerald's investigation has been under way since the start of the 2004 election, and the decision not to indict Rove is certain to buoy Republicans, who also got good news in the last week with the military's killing of most-wanted Iraq terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"The fact is this, I thought it was wrong when you had people like Howard Dean and (Sen.) Harry Reid presuming that he was guilty," Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman told Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" show Tuesday morning.

Democrats, on the other hand, had no reason to cheer.

"He doesn't belong in the White House. If the president valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago," said Dean, the Democratic Party chairman, speaking Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show. "So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but it's not very good news for America."

But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says he accepts a special prosecutor's decision not to seek an indictment against one of President Bush's top aides.

After his client testified five times before a federal grand jury, Karl Rove's lawyer says he's been told he won't face charges.

Schumer is calling on the special prosecutor to find out who did leak the name of a CIA operative to reporters. Schumer says the decision not to charge Rove "was made by an independent and fair-minded prosecutor."

Rove has been at Mr. Bush's side since his days as Texas governor and was the architect of Mr. Bush's two presidential election victories. Rove assumed new policy responsibilities inside the White House in 2005 as deputy chief of staff.

However, as part of the shake-up brought by new White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, Rove shed those policymaking duties earlier this year to return to full time politics.

Fitzgerald's case against Libby is moving toward trial, as the two sides work through pretrial issues such as access to classified documents.

Libby, 55, was charged last October with lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury about how he learned and when he subsequently told three reporters about Plame. He faces five counts of perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice.

With Rove's fate now decided, other unfinished business in Fitzgerald's probe focuses on the source who provided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward information about Plame.

Woodward says his source, who he has not publicly identified, provided the information about Wilson's wife, several weeks before Novak learned of Plame's identity. The Post reporter, who never wrote a story, was interviewed by Fitzgerald late last year.