Newsweek: The CIA leaker 'you've never heard of' sent Novak's 'outing' column to Rove before it was published

RAW STORYPublished: Sunday February 18, 2007

Newsweek takes a look at the CIA leaker "you've never heard of." Testifying on the stand as a defense witness at former White House aide I. Lewis Libby's hearing, columnist Robert Novak said that he was not only told by his friend, conservative lobbyist Richard F. Hohlt, that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, but that he also allowed him to "vet" his notorious July of 2003 column.

Newsweek reports that Hohlt even 'leaked' Novak's "outing" column directly to President Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, before it had been published.

When asked by Libby's attorney who Hohlt was, Novak replied on the stand that Hohlt was "a very good source" of his that he speaks to "every day."

"Indeed, Hohlt is such a good source that after Novak finished his column naming Plame, he testified, he did something most journalists rarely do: he gave the lobbyist an advance copy of his column," Michael Isikoff reports for Newsweek. "What Novak didn't tell the jury is what the lobbyist then did with it: Hohlt confirmed to NEWSWEEK that he faxed the forthcoming column to their mutual friend Karl Rove (one of Novak's sources for the Plame leak), thereby giving the White House a heads up on the bombshell to come."

FULL NEWSWEEK ARTICLE CAN BE READ AT THIS LINK