Cooper's 'Time' Story Has Moments of Humor

By: E&P Staff Matt Cooper?s much-awaited Time cover story this week reveals many of the ins and outs of his long court case and ultimate decision to testify before the Plame grand jury this week. For example, he reveals that while his now famous e-mail based on his interview with Karl Rove in July 2003 was turned over to the special prosecutor, his typed notes of that conversation were not.

He also confirmed that his now-famous phrase ?double super-secret background? did indeed come from a similar reference in the movie ?Animal House? -- not surprising since Cooper freelances as a standup comic.

The article also opens on a vaguely comic note: ?It was my first interview with the President, and I expected a simple ?Hello? when I walked into the Oval Office last December. Instead, George W. Bush joked, ?Cooper! I thought you'd be in jail by now.? The leader of the free world, it seems, had been following my fight against a federal subpoena seeking my testimony in the case of the leaking of the name of a CIA officer. I thought it was funny and good-natured of the President, but the line reminded me that I was, very weirdly, in the Oval Office, out on bond from a prison sentence, awaiting appeal--in large part, for protecting the confidence of someone in the West Wing. ?What can I say, Mr. President,"? I replied, smiling. ?The wheels of justice grind slowly.??

Discussing his testimony in his Time article, which does not go much beyond what has already been reported, Cooper does offer fresh details about the grand jury itself: ?They somewhat reflected the demographics of the District of Columbia. The majority were African American and were disproportionately women. Most sat in black vinyl chairs with little desks in rows that were slightly elevated, as if it were a shabby classroom at a rundown college. A kindly African-American forewoman swore me in, and when I had to leave the room to consult with my attorneys, I asked her permission to be excused, not the prosecutor's, as is the custom. These grand jurors did not seem the types to passively indict a ham sandwich. I would say one-third of my 2 1/2 hours of testimony was spent answering their questions, not the prosecutor's, although he posed them on their behalf. I began to take notes but then was told I had to stop, so I'm reliant on memory.

?For my part, I sat at the end of an L-shaped table next to one of the prosecutor's lawyers, who handed me various documents to review while an overhead projector displayed the documents on a screen near me. Virtually all the questions centered on the week of July 6, 2003."

Cooper also reveals what he describes as a surprising line of questioning: "The prosecutor asked if I had ever called Mr. Rove about the topic of welfare reform. Just the day before my grand jury testimony Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, had told journalists that when I telephoned Rove that July, it was about welfare reform and that I suddenly switched topics to the Wilson matter.

?After my grand jury appearance, I did go back and review my e-mails from that week, and it seems as if I was, at the beginning of the week, hoping to publish an article in TIME on lessons of the 1996 welfare-reform law, but the article got put aside, as often happens when news overtakes story plans. My welfare-reform story ran as a short item two months later, and I was asked about it extensively. To me this suggested that Rove may have testified that we had talked about welfare reform, and indeed earlier in the week, I may have left a message with his office asking if I could talk to him about welfare reform.

"But I can't find any record of talking about it with him on July 11, and I don't recall doing so.?