[JURIST] Karl Rove [official profile], President Bush's top political advisor, will not face criminal charges in the three-year investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's name [JURIST news archive], according to a letter Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [official profile; investigation website] sent to Rove's attorney Robert Luskin on Monday. Fitzgerald investigated [JURIST report] whether Rove tried to conceal his conversation with a TIME magazine reporter a week before the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the media. The investigation originally focused on much more serious allegations, including whether Rove misrepresented his role in the case to President Bush.

Fitzgerald did not indict Rove [JURIST report] with former Dick Cheney aide I. "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive] last October, but extended the probe into Rove's involvement under a second federal grand jury [JURIST report]. Rove had testified to a grand jury on five different occasions throughout the investigation. Libby has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to obstruction of justice and perjury charges [PDF indictment; JURIST report] in connection with the investigation into the leak of Plame's identity. Luskin declined to comment further about the CIA leak case because of the pending case against Libby. David Johnston of the New York Times has more.