Rove Testifies That Time Columnist Told Him Identity of Cia Agent

President George Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, testified to a grand jury that he informally discussed the identity of an undercover CIA agent with a Time reporter days before the magazine wrote a story revealing her identity.

Several news organisations yesterday quoted legal sources with knowledge of the case who said that Mr Rove told investigators he specifically remembered the Time columnist Robert Novak telling him the name of the CIA operative, Valerie Plame.

The grand jury is looking at whether administration officials disclosed the identity of Ms Plame in an apparent attempt to discredit her husband, the former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who a few days earlier had written a newspaper opinion piece questioning one of the claims made by Mr Bush as a justification for going to war in Iraq.

According to the New York Times, Mr Rove said: "I heard that, too," after Novak told him Mr Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. The CIA had earlier sent the former ambassador to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq had been trying to buy uranium there. The administration was accused of naming Ms Plame to imply that the trip was a junket because Mr Wilson had been given the assignment by his wife and therefore his conclusions could not be relied upon.

An anonymous legal source told the Associated Press that Mr Rove testified to the grand jury that, by the time Mr Novak called him, he believes he had similar information about the role of Mr Wilson's wife from another reporter, but could not remember which reporter had told him about it first.

Mr Rove has faced calls for his resignation since evidence emerged implicating him in the leak. Mr Bush has pledged to take action against anyone found responsible. Knowingly revealing the identity of an undercover agent is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Judith Miller, a New York Times journalist, was jailed last week for up to 120 days after she refused to cooperate with the inquiry. Another Time reporter, Matt Cooper, testified before the grand jury on Thursday. In an email to his editors published by Newsweek last week, Mr Cooper said Mr Rove had told him on "double super secret background" that Mr Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.