Novak Accuses Plame Source Of Distortion
Armitage Minimizes Role In Leak; Columnist Differs
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post
Columnist Robert D. Novak, who first revealed Valerie Plame's employment by the CIA and touched off a lengthy federal leak investigation, is accusing his primary source of misrepresenting their conversation to make the source's role in the disclosure seem more casual than it was.
In an unusual column that appears today, Novak says his initial source, former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, was more sure of Plame's ties to the CIA than the source has indicated. Novak adds that Armitage linked her directly to her husband's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger and suggested the disclosure would be a good item for Novak's column.
This differs from Armitage's assertions last week that his disclosure was made in an offhand manner and that he did not know why Plame's husband was sent to Niger.
Armitage, in an interview yesterday, said he stood by his account and disputed Novak's.
The disagreement between Novak and Armitage now covers even the length of their conversation in Armitage's office at the State Department on July 8, 2003. The fallout from that meeting eventually became a consuming political topic in Washington and led to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's indictment last October of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of lying to investigators.
(The rest is here.)
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post
Columnist Robert D. Novak, who first revealed Valerie Plame's employment by the CIA and touched off a lengthy federal leak investigation, is accusing his primary source of misrepresenting their conversation to make the source's role in the disclosure seem more casual than it was.
In an unusual column that appears today, Novak says his initial source, former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, was more sure of Plame's ties to the CIA than the source has indicated. Novak adds that Armitage linked her directly to her husband's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger and suggested the disclosure would be a good item for Novak's column.
This differs from Armitage's assertions last week that his disclosure was made in an offhand manner and that he did not know why Plame's husband was sent to Niger.
Armitage, in an interview yesterday, said he stood by his account and disputed Novak's.
The disagreement between Novak and Armitage now covers even the length of their conversation in Armitage's office at the State Department on July 8, 2003. The fallout from that meeting eventually became a consuming political topic in Washington and led to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's indictment last October of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of lying to investigators.
(The rest is here.)
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