1 Boring Old Man

Novak Says He Named 3 Sources in Leak Case
By Howard Kurtz, Washington Post

Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak acknowledged for the first time yesterday that he identified three confidential administration sources during testimony in the CIA leak investigation, saying he did so because they had granted him legal waivers to testify and because Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald already knew of their role.

In a column to be published today, Novak said he told Fitzgerald in early 2004 that White House senior adviser Karl Rove and then-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow had confirmed for him, at his request, information about CIA operative Valerie Plame. Novak said he also told Fitzgerald about another senior administration official who originally provided him with the information about Plame, and whose identity he says he cannot reveal even now.

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"The primary source was not a political operative," he said, and he mentioned Plame’s role in the middle of a conversation about other subjects. "I don’t believe it was part of a plan to discredit anybody."

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Update 07/12/2006: from the horse’s mouth…