WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Top White House aide Karl Rove assured President Bush two years ago he did not leak the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the National Journal reported.
The newspaper reported Friday the president's deputy chief of staff personally assured Bush he had not disclosed Plame's status as a CIA employee to anyone in the press. The report cited "legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the accounts that both Rove and Bush independently provided to federal prosecutors."
Rove's conversation with Bush came after the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the disclosure that Plame was a covert CIA operative. The National Journal also reported that Rove assured Bush he had not leaked any information to the media in an effort to discredit Plame's husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson -- who had recently written an op-ed in the New York Times challenging the White House claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger to make nuclear weapons.
Rove will testify for a fourth time before a grand jury investigating the matter. Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor leading the investigation, has summoned Rove to appear before the grand jury next week.
Lawyers in the case said Thursday the development could mean charges will be filed in the case, the New York Times reported.
