AP: White House lied about Rove's role in Plamegate to avoid pre-election 2004 fallout

Rove is going around telling people he was not involved in the conspiracy to get back at Joseph Wilson by outing his CIA agent wife. But as an AP report showed, that is not what he was telling the FBI before the 2004 election when the White House claimed Rove was not involved.

Here's the first part of the AP story by Pete Yost, a veteran reporter:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The decision not to charge Karl Rove shows there often are no consequences for misleading the public.
In 2003, while Rove allowed the White House to tell the news media that he had no role in leaking Valerie Plame's CIA identity, the presidential aide was secretly telling the FBI the truth.
It's now known that Rove had discussed Plame's CIA employment with conservative columnist Robert Novak, who exposed her identity less than a week later, citing two unidentified senior administration officials.
Rove's truth-telling to the FBI saved him from indictment.
And by misleading reporters, the White House saved itself from a political liability during the 2004 presidential campaign.

For the entire story, go here.