MICHAEL ISIKOFF

Some of the best stories that I've gotten, that others have written about this administration, about the previous administration, you have to rely on anonymous sources.

We also quoted Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, acknowledging that Rove did speak to Cooper late on the week prior to the article coming out, which would have been July 10 or 11.

He wasn't sure exactly which day, but what's noteworthy about that is that is also before Valerie Plame is first identified in the Robert Novak piece that ran on Monday, July 14.

If - you know, it seems to me that if we see Matt Cooper being carted off to jail today, a lot of people may find that, you know, a very upsetting thing.

Potentially significant, by the way, because we don't know exactly what's in Matt Cooper's notes, and we don't know - and we don't still know the answer to the crucial question of whether it was Rove or somebody else that revealed Valerie Plame's name to him.

Bashar Assad clearly doesn't want to hear anything that impugns his government.

You know, this is - one can imagine how life would be different if one body of Congress was controlled by the other party, there would be subpoena power and there would be all - mechanisms to get to the bottom of all sorts of issues of controversy.

There is simply no plausible construction of the known evidence that leaves out Novak either providing a proffer through his lawyer of what he would say if he testified or having testified directly.

No, I did not offer to resign for a second.

Well, it is true that they did - the Pentagon did impose rules for governing the handling of the Koran in January of 2003, after there had been complaints about the handling of the Koran from detainees, from the International Red Cross.

You know, this is - one can imagine how life would be different if one body of Congress was controlled by the other party, there would be subpoena power and there would be all - mechanisms to get to the bottom of all sorts of issues of controversy.

There is simply no plausible construction of the known evidence that leaves out Novak either providing a proffer through his lawyer of what he would say if he testified or having testified directly.

Some of the best stories that I've gotten, that others have written about this administration, about the previous administration, you have to rely on anonymous sources.

If - you know, it seems to me that if we see Matt Cooper being carted off to jail today, a lot of people may find that, you know, a very upsetting thing.

We also quoted Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, acknowledging that Rove did speak to Cooper late on the week prior to the article coming out, which would have been July 10 or 11.

Potentially significant, by the way, because we don't know exactly what's in Matt Cooper's notes, and we don't know - and we don't still know the answer to the crucial question of whether it was Rove or somebody else that revealed Valerie Plame's name to him.

Well, it is true that they did - the Pentagon did impose rules for governing the handling of the Koran in January of 2003, after there had been complaints about the handling of the Koran from detainees, from the International Red Cross.

He wasn't sure exactly which day, but what's noteworthy about that is that is also before Valerie Plame is first identified in the Robert Novak piece that ran on Monday, July 14.

I think the bottom line for me and for Newsweek is that there were a lot of - we did retract this specific matter about the Koran and the toilet for the reasons that you just cited.

Look, obviously that was - created quite a firestorm, but Newsweek editors have made clear that this was a situation where, you know, a solid, well-placed source provided some information.

Mr. Luskin also says that Rove did not knowingly disclose classified information and did not tell any reporters that Valerie Plame worked for the C.I.A.

No, I did not offer to resign for a second.

Every major criminal case is always built from the bottom up. You get the underlings, you get them to plead and cooperate, and that leads to the higher-ups.

Bashar Assad clearly doesn't want to hear anything that impugns his government.