Bloomberg News raised eyebrows today with this vague mention of former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer:

People familiar with the inquiry say Fitzgerald also is reviewing testimony by former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, though it is not clear whether the prosecutor is focusing on him or seeking information about higher-ups. Fleischer last night refused to comment.

This actually isn’t the first time Fleischer has been mentioned in connection to Plamegate — a Los Angeles Times report from last October noted that Fleischer has denied he was one of the leakers.

But we know he has been interviewed by the FBI in relation to the leak. And it’s worth noting that Fleischer was among the very first Bush officials to go on the record criticizing Wilson. From March ’04 :

In the subpoenaed July 12 [2003] transcript of a briefing in Nigeria, then-press secretary Ari Fleischer called Wilson a “lower-level official” and said Wilson had made flawed and incomplete statements. Fleischer did not return calls Friday.

So what about Fleischer piqued the Special Prosecutor’s interest? Details are still uncertain, but news reports suggest one theory for what might have occurred. In the days after Wilson’s NYT column was published but before Novak’s article appeared, Ari Fleischer was among the White House officials aboard Air Force One on a presidential trip to Africa, where he might have had access to the classified State Department document brought aboard by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell that likely tipped administration officials off to Plame’s true identity.

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Luskin tried to embarrass Time reporter Matt Cooper in the New York Times by claiming Cooper never got an “express person release”:

[Cooper] told Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the Federal District Court in Washington that he had received “an express personal release from my source.” That statement surprised Mr. Luskin, Mr. Rove’s lawyer. Mr. Luskin said he had only reaffirmed the blanket waiver, in response to a request from Mr. Fitzgerald.

He essentially got a whole story on the front page of the New York Times based on that claim. In fact, Cooper did get an “express personal release.” And it was in written form. Cooper’s lawyer read it to the press corps this afternoon:

Consistent with his written waiver of confidentiality he previously executed, Mr. Rove affirms his waiver of any claim of confidentiality he may have concerning any conversation he may have had with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine during the month of July 2003.

Isn’t it time to stop smearing people and start telling the truth.

Bush finally took some questions about Karl Rove. He refused to answer, saying “it’s important not to prejudge an investigation.”

Of course, that’s exactly what Bush did through his Press Secretary Scott McClellan:

Q All right. Let me just follow up. You said this morning, “The President knows” that Karl Rove wasn’t involved. How does he know that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I’ve made it very clear that it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place. I saw some comments this morning from the person who made that suggestion, backing away from that. And I said it is simply not true. So, I mean, it’s public knowledge. I’ve said that it’s not true. And I have spoken with Karl Rove —

Here’s the full text of Bush’s answer to two questions regarding Plamegate.

Q: Thank you sir? Can I ask you if you have spoken with your deputy chief of staff Karl Rove about the Valerie Plame matter and do you think he acted improperly in talking about it with reporters?

Bush: Mark, I have instructed every member of my staff to fully cooperate in this investigation. I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports. We’re in the midst of an ongoing investigation. And I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed. Elaine.

Q: Mr. President, on that front, has Mr. Rove come to you and discussed — when did he discuss the fact that he had conversations with reporters about Valerie Plame? And based on that, do you feel as though it was appropriate for your spokesman to say definitively that Karl Rove had nothing to do with the Valerie Plame matter?

Bush: Elaine, we’re in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and this is a serious investigation. And it is very important for people not to prejudge the investigation based on media reports. And again, I will be more than happy to comment on this matter once it is complete.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had these kind words to share last night on Hannity & Colmes:

If you can prove a case against Karl Rove, let the legal system do it, otherwise just shut up, because you’re ruining a guy’s reputation before anything has happened.

This is how far we’ve come. Rove’s defenders are arguing that, as long as Rove hasn’t been convicted of a crime, he shouldn’t be subject to any criticism. Rove lied to the public when he said he had no involvement or knowledge of the leak. His critics aren’t ruining Rove’s reputation. Rove took care of that himself.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Karl Rove, then-Bush campaign strategist, appeared on Fox News to try to undermine Vice President Al Gore’s credibility and truthfulness by questioning his involvement in a 1996 campaign fundraiser at a Buddhist temple. Here’s what Rove said:

The vice president has some trouble telling the truth. And he now says he made mistakes. Those weren’t mistakes. These involved violations of the law. People are going to jail over this… This is more than just a little teensy-weensy mistake… These are very substantive questions about the ethical conduct about the vice president and his ability to tell the truth. [Fox News Sunday, 3/12/00]

Does this remind you of a present-day scandal? So what was Rove calling for at the time? Full disclosure.

We now know there are photographs that exist of the meeting. Let’s release all the photographs. The vice president has the authority to do this. Let’s release all the photographs of the meeting and see how attentive the vice president was. [Fox News Sunday, 3/12/00]

Applying Rove’s standards to Plamegate, he should release his emails regarding the leak scandal from July 2003 to clear his name. Or, as the New York Times suggests in an editorial this morning, “Mr. Rove could clear all this up quickly. All he has to do is call a press conference and tell everyone what conversations he had and with whom.”