A second Time magazine reporter asked to testify in CIA leak case

WASHINGTON -- A second Time magazine reporter has agreed to cooperate in the CIA leak case and will testify about her discussions with Karl Rove's attorney, a sign that prosecutors are still exploring charges against the White House aide.

Viveca Novak, a reporter in Time's Washington bureau, is cooperating with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity in 2003, the magazine reported in its Dec. 5 issue.

Novak specifically has been asked to testify under oath about conversations she had with Rove attorney Robert Luskin starting in May 2004, the magazine reported.

Novak, part of a team tracking the CIA case for Time, has written or contributed to articles in which Luskin characterized the nature of what was said between Rove and Matthew Cooper, the first Time reporter who testified in the case.

Cooper appeared before the grand jury in July after Time surrendered his notes and e-mail detailing a conversation with Rove. Cooper agreed to talk and avoid jail after disclosing that his source -- now confirmed to be Rove -- released him from his confidentiality agreement.

A grand jury indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, on perjury and obstruction charges on Oct. 28. Fitzgerald said in court papers earlier this month that he will present additional evidence to another grand jury.

Rove has remained under investigation for his involvement in leaking the identity of Plame, whose husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, is a critic of the Bush administration.

Plame's CIA status was exposed by conservative columnist Robert Novak in July 2003, eight days after her husband accused the U.S. government of manipulating prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. Time's Novak is not related to Robert Novak.

Rove spoke to Robert Novak and Cooper about Wilson's wife and her CIA status before each of the two journalists disclosed Plame's identity.

Since Libby's indictment, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward disclosed that he had learned the CIA operative's identity from a top Bush administration official before another journalist had published Plame's name. Woodward has said Libby was not his source, and a spokesman for Rove has said Rove did not discuss Plame with Woodward.