Rove spokesman: There was no deal

Mark Corallo says that Rove's pass isn't conditioned on his continuing cooperation in the Plame case.

Published June 13, 2006 6:53PM (EDT)

Robert Luskin says that Patrick Fitzgerald has told him that he "does not anticipate" bringing criminal charges against Karl Rove. Luskin also says that Rove has done "everything he can to cooperate" with Fitzgerald's investigation.

Is it fair to read some connection into those things? That is, it fair to assume that Rove has struck a deal with Fitzgerald under which he gets a pass from prosecution in exchange for his continuing cooperation in the Plame investigation?

Rove spokesman Mark Corallo says no. In an e-mail message, Corallo tells us: "There is no deal. Period."

In a follow-up interview, we asked Corallo if he could provide us a copy of the letter -- and he says there was a letter -- that Luskin says he received from Fitzgerald. He declined to do so, saying it has been the Rove team's long-standing policy not to release written communication from the special prosecutor. He insisted, however, that the letter says nothing at all about Rove's continuing cooperation with Fitzgerald's investigation. "There is nothing, there are no conditions, there were no discussions of any conditions or deals or anything of the sort," Corallo said. He said that Fitzgerald's decision was based solely on "Mr. Fitzgerald's coming to the proper conclusion" about Rove's legal culpability, or lack thereof.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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