Cooper Details Conversation with Rove

Jan. 31, 2007 — -- Former Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper testified Wednesday in the trial of former Cheney adviser Lewis "Scooter" Libby that he first learned the identify of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson from White House adviser Karl Rove and then confirmed Plame's identity with Libby.

Cooper told the jury that in July 2003 he was working on a story addresssing the controversy surrounding claims made in the president's State of the Union that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium in Niger.

In a New York Times Op-Ed, Wilson's husband, Iraq war-critic Ambassador Joseph Wilson, asserted that the Bush administration had ignored prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Cooper said Rove told him: "Don't get too far out on Wilson...a number of things are going to be coming out that would cast him differently."

Cooper also told the jury that Rove said Wilson's wife "worked on [Weapons of Mass Destruction] at the Agency."

Cooper recounted a July 12, 2003 conversation he had with Libby where Libby allegedly confirmed Rove's assertions about Valerie Wilson by saying, "I heard that too."

Matthew Cooper is the second journalist to testify in the perjury and obstruction trial against Libby. Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller was the first.

Miller's testimony over Tuesday and Wednesday pertained to conversations she had with Libby about CIA operative Valerie Wilson, conversations whose details were sharply questioned by the defense because they allegedly occurred before Libby says he learned Plame's identity.

Judge Walton ruled this morning that Libby's defense attorneys had to limit their questions during cross-examination about Miller's sources strictly to Joseph and Valerie Wilson.

One of Libby's defense lawyers, William Jeffress, tried to argue that the way Miller learned about Valerie Wilson established Miller's lack of credibility.

"The real issue is her credibility....she can't name a single person she spoke to about Joe Wilson," Jeffress told Judge Walton.

Jeffress also pointed to the comments made by Miller in her October 2005 grand jury testimony. "In the grand jury, she can't be certain who she spoke to." Jeffress said.