Kurtz Media Notes Monday: Rove “Scoop” Remains Exclusive
Robert Luskin, Karl Rove’s lawyer, says he spent most of the day on May 12 taking his cat to the veterinarian and having a technician fix his computer at home.
He was stunned, therefore, when journalists started calling to ask about an online report that he had spent half the day at his law office, negotiating with Patrick Fitzgerald — and that the special prosecutor had secretly obtained an indictment of Rove.
The cat’s medical tests, Luskin says, found that “the stools were free of harmful parasites, which is more than I can say for this case.” ETC…
UPDATE – Dan Froomkin on the same story:
Hey folks: Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.
Howard Kurtz writes in The Washington Post: “The claim that President Bush’s top political strategist had been indicted in the CIA leak investigation was written by a journalist who has battled drug addiction and mental illness and been convicted of grand larceny. That didn’t stop more than 35 reporters — from all the major newspapers, networks and newsmagazines — from calling [Rove lawyer Robert] Luskin or Rove’s spokesman, Mark Corallo, to check it out.”
More on the non-story from Tim Grieve at Salon, Talkleft blogger Jeralyn Merritt, Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Byron York of the National Review.
Kenneth R. Bazinet and James Gordon Meek write in the New York Daily News: “Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has emerged as a key witness in the CIA leak probe, the Daily News has learned…“Armitage’s testimony could hurt Vice President Cheney’s indicted former chief aide Lewis (Scooter) Libby, or President Bush’s political guru, Karl Rove.
“Two sources familiar with the case said Armitage, Rove and Libby all had contacts with the press about Plame. Unlike Rove and Libby, Armitage appears to have tried to dissuade reporters from writing about her.”
UPDATED AND MOVED UP –
Now Truthout has backed off, at least partially, from the story by reporter Jason Leopold, who has had some credibility problems in the past (as he acknowledges in a new book) but has also worked for such news outlets as the L.A. Times and Dow Jones.