A reporter says White House political aide Karl Rove told him that the wife of a prominent Bush administration critic worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
In an article published Sunday, Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper says he does not know whether Mr. Rove committed a crime by identifying the critic's wife as a CIA employee.
A grand jury is investigating whether any government officials broke the law when the name of the operative, Valerie Plame, was leaked to the media in July 2003.
Mr. Cooper said Mr. Rove tried to cast doubt on the credibility of the critic, former diplomat Joe Wilson, by bringing up the CIA link. Mr. Wilson had written that during a CIA-sponsored trip, he had found information contrary to the administration's case for war against Iraq.
The Time reporter said Mr. Rove told him Mr. Wilson's wife had authorized the trip.
