Fitzgerald agreed to the conditions, she said, and advised her lawyer that he wanted to "remove the chicken bone without disturbing the body." 

During the meeting, Fitzgerald asked if Luskin had ever talked to Viveca about whether Rove was Cooper's source on the topic of Wilson's wife.  

"That was the "chicken bone" Fitzgerald had referred to," Viveca wrote.

Here is what happened according to her first-person account of her visits with Luskin as to what was discussed about Rove and Cooper: 

"Toward the end of one of our meetings," she said, "I remember Luskin looking at me and saying something to the effect of "Karl doesn't have a Cooper problem. He was not a source for Matt." 

"I responded instinctively," Viveca wrote, "thinking he was trying to spin me, and said something like, "Are you sure about that? That's not what I hear around TIME." 

"He looked surprised and very serious," she said. "There's nothing in the phone logs," Luskin told Viveca. 

"In the course of the investigation, the logs of all Rove's calls around the July 2003 time period," Viveca wrote, "had been combed, and Luskin was telling me there were no references to Matt."

Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, its apparent that Rove realized the importance of covering his tracks while he was leaking to reporters in the summer of 2003.  Here lies the missing link to this puzzle.

In a November 28, 2005, article in Raw Story, Jason Leopold and Larisa Alexandrovna, who have doggedly investigated this matter, reported that Rove’s former personal assistant, Susan Ralston, whose job it was to screen Rove’s phone calls at the White House, had previously testified that Cooper’s call to Rove was not logged in because Cooper had called through the White House switchboard and was transferred to Rove’s office, as opposed to calling Rove’’s office directly.

But citing “those close to the probe,” the Raw Story article noted, ““that Fitzgerald obtained documentary evidence showing that other unrelated calls transferred to Rove’s office by the switchboard were logged.” 

In addition, in a July 25, 2005, Time Magazine article titled, "What I Told The Grand Jury," Cooper recounts his recollection of what happened when he called the White House.

"I recall calling Rove from my office at TIME magazine," Cooper wrote, "through the White House switchboard and being transferred to his office."

"I believe a woman answered the phone and said words to the effect that Rove wasn't there or was busy before going on vacation," he said.

"But then, I recall," Cooper said, "she said something like, "Hang on," and I was transferred to him."

"I recall," Cooper wrote, "saying something like, "I'm writing about Wilson," before he interjected, "Don't get too far out on Wilson." 

No doubt in light of these discoveries, Fitzgerald invited Ms Ralston for a return engagement with the grand jury.

According to Raw Story, while testifying the second time, Ralston said that Rove instructed her not to log in the call from Cooper and she also provided information about other calls between Rove and reporters, including Robert Novak.

It should be noted here that Ms Ralston was hired by Rove after she came highly recommended from his good friend: Jack Abramoff, for whom Ms Ralston performed similar duties "-- that is until Abramoff realized she'd be far more useful embedded in the West Wing," according to Rolling Stone Magazine.

After his chat with Viveca, Attorney Luskin reportedly orchestrated a search for any record of a conversation between Rove and Cooper and low and behold, an e-mail from Rove to senior White House official, Stephen Hadley surfaced, that provided detail of a conversation between Rove and Cooper that took place before Valerie was outed by Robert Novak.

There has been much speculation about when the Rove-Hadley email was found and when it was turned over to Fitzgerald. In her December 19, article, Viveca claims that she did not find out until the fall of 2005, that her remark to Luskin had led to a search for evidence that Rove and Cooper had talked.

"According to Luskin," Viveca wrote in the article, "he turned the e-mail over to Fitzgerald when he found it, leading Rove to acknowledge before the grand jury in October 2004 that he had indeed spoken with Cooper."

The fact that Rove was not charged on the spot for this slick trick, shows that he got another get-out-of-jail-free card because he had been ordered to turn over all emails to the special prosecutor just like everyone else in the White House.

"On October 3, 2003," according to a memo authored by Andy Card, then White House Chief of Staff, "every employee in the Executive Office of the President received instructions from Counsel's office about obligations to search for and provide documents that may be related to the Justice Department's investigation." 

In addition, the subpoenas issued by Fitzgerald to the White House called for, among other things:
 
1) All documents from February 1, 2002 through 2003 related to Plame, Wilson's trip to Niger, or to contacts with journalists.
 
2) All documents from July 6 to July 21, 2003 from the White House Iraq Group (of which Libby, Hadley, and Rove were members).
 
3) All documents relating to conversations with Matt Cooper of Time Magazine.
 
According to reporter, Jason Leopold, neither Hadley nor Rove disclosed the communication about Valerie when they were questioned by the FBI, or testified to the grand jury.

Rove said that he found out about Valerie from reporters, and, "Hadley testified that he recalled learning about Plame Wilson when her name was published in a newspaper column," Leopold said.

As it turns out, the email to Hadley was sent within minutes after Rove spoke to Cooper on July 11, 2003, and included the comments: “Matt Cooper called to give me a heads-up that he’s got a welfare reform story coming. When he finished his brief heads-up he immediately launched into Niger. Isn’t this damaging? Hasn’t the president been hurt? I didn’t take the bait, but I said if I were him I wouldn’t get Time far out in front on this.””