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Reactions to Newsweek's Latest on Karl Rove

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) reacts to today's Newseek column confirming that Karl Rove was one of Matthew Cooper's sources.

David Corn's thoughts are here. Josh Marshall's here. Here's Hunter at Daily Kos.

The most important statements of the Bush officials may be those they made to investigators before they appeared at the grand jury. Don't forget, many were interviewed with and without lawyers in their offices, even in bars. Making a false statement to a federal official is a five year offense under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001. From the International Herald Tribune, April 3, 2004:

Fitzgerald is said by lawyers involved in the case and government officials to be examining possible discrepancies between documents he has gathered in the case and statements made by current or former White House officials during a three-month preliminary investigation conducted last fall by the FBI and the Justice Department. Some officials spoke to FBI agents with their lawyers present; others met informally with agents in their offices and even at bars near the White House.

...The suspicion that someone may have lied to investigators is based on contradictions between statements made by various witnesses in FBI interviews, the lawyers and officials said. The conflicts are said to be buttressed by documents, including memos, e-mail messages and phone records turned over by the White House.

At the same time, Fitzgerald is said to be investigating whether the disclosure of Plame's identity came after someone discovered her name among classified documents circulating at the upper echelons of the White House.

(Available on Lexis.com) and included in earlier TalkLeft posts.

If Bush officials lied to the grand jury, it's more likely to be perjury. The perjury law is here. But the Government wouldn't charge perjury wit