Lawyer denies Rove leaked Plame's name

NEW YORK, July 2 (UPI) -- A lawyer for Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove denied Saturday that Rove leaked the name of former CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press.

Political pundit Lawrence O'Donnell said at a Friday taping of the syndicated show "The McLaughlin Group" that Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser, would be revealed as the leaker in documents Time Inc. has agreed to turn over to a grand jury.

The panel is investigating the leak of Plame's name to various news outlets in 2003. It is a federal crime for a government employee to reveal the name of an undercover operative.

Newsweek reported on its Web site Saturday that e-mails surrendered by Time Inc. show Rove was one of Cooper's sources. Newsweek based its report on information from lawyers for witnesses "sympathetic to the White House."

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, told Newsweek Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for a July 2003 article in which Cooper identified Plame. It was unclear, Newsweek said, what Rove told Cooper.

Luskin told the Washington Post Saturday that Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the Plame case, has assured him Rove is not a target of his investigation, Editor & Publisher reported.

"Karl did nothing wrong. Karl didn't disclose Valerie Plame's identity to Mr. Cooper or anybody else," Luskin told the Post.