Reply #274: NYT 6/14: No Rove Charges Over Testimony on C.I.A. Leak

[Patsy Stone]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/washington/14leak.html?hp&ex=1150257600&en=99280a6365028303&ei=5094&partner=homepage

By DAVID JOHNSTON and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: June 14, 2006

WASHINGTON, June 13 — The decision by a special prosecutor not to bring charges against Karl Rove in the C.I.A. leak case followed months of intense behind-the-scenes maneuvering between the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, and Mr. Rove's lawyer, lawyers in the case said.

The move, made public early Tuesday by Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, brought a surprise ending to the investigation of Mr. Rove, President Bush's senior adviser. At one point last fall, Mr. Rove seemed close to facing perjury charges over lapses in his early testimony about a conversation with a Time magazine reporter.

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Associates said Mr. Rove seemed to loosen up in recent weeks, apparently as he and his lawyer had grown more confident that no indictment would come, and even as liberal bloggers and other commentators had predicted an imminent indictment, most recently in May, based on a report on Truthout.org.

Truthout has stood by that report, which said Mr. Rove was under a secret indictment. In a posting Tuesday it suggested that Mr. Rove was cooperating with the prosecution, which, it noted, had not commented publicly on Mr. Rove's legal status.

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