The Times reports:

In the accounts by the lawyer and associates, Mr. Armitage disclosed casually to Mr. Novak that Ms. Wilson worked for the C.I.A. at the end of an interview in his State Department office. Mr. Armitage knew that, the accounts continue, because he had seen a written memorandum by Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman.

Mr. Grossman had taken up the task of finding out about Ms. Wilson after an inquiry from I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Mr. Libby's inquiry was prompted by an Op-Ed article on May 6, 2003, in The New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof and an article on June 12, 2003, in The Washington Post by Walter Pincus.

Grossman's memo was prepared at the request of Scooter Libby. It was Cheney and Libby who wanted to know about Valerie Plame Wilson -- see the copy of the news article (pdf) posted by Empty Wheel with Cheney's handwritten questions.

Novak insists Armitage did not tell him Valerie Wilson was undercover. Who did? Novak says he learned her maiden name from Who's Who. But Who's Who did not say she was a CIA operative. Who told Novak she was an operative?

Fitzgerald has also investigated Novak and Rove's telephone call of July 9 that preceded the publication of Novak's July 14 column. One of the things he wanted to know was whether Novak and Rove coordinated their stories about the call in September, 2003. Murray Waas reported the details here.

Rove told the grand jury that during the September 29 call, Novak said he would make sure that nothing similar would happen to Rove in the CIA-Plame leak probe. Rove has testified that he recalled Novak saying something like, "I'm not going to let that happen to you again," according to those familiar with the testimony. Rove told the grand jury that the inference he took away from the conversation was that Novak would say that Rove was not a source of information for the column about Plame. Rove further testified that he believed he might not have been the source because when Novak mentioned to Rove that Plame worked for the CIA, Rove simply responded that he had heard the same information.

Asked during his grand jury appearance his reaction to the telephone call, Rove characterized it as a "curious conversation" and didn't know what to make of it, according to people familiar with his testimony.

My post about Novak's wiggling on his source is here.

Rove's lawyer says Rove has been cleared of criminal liability.

What might all of this mean? To me it says that Novak has another source -- one that told him Plame Wilson was an operative in the CIA. Joe Wilson said on CNN's Paula Zahn:

"Bob Novak called me before he went to print with the report and he said a CIA source had told him that my wife was an operative," Wilson said. "He was trying to get a second source. He couldn't get a second source. Could I confirm that? And I said no."

Even if you buy Novak's "Who's Who" explanation for knowing Valerie Plame Wilson's maiden name, how can you buy his self-professed casual use of the word "operative."

And then there's this.

The Washington Post quoted a "senior administration official" in a story Sunday as saying that two top White House officials disclosed the identity of Wilson's wife in calls to at least six Washington journalists. Novak was the only recipient of the information who published it, the Post reported.

Media Matters had more on Novak's wiggling. And how about this Novak statement from July, 2003, before there was a criminal investigation:

Novak, in an interview, said his sources had come to him with the information. "I didn't dig it out, it was given to me," he said. "They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it."

Another unresolved question, posed by Swopa at Needlenose:

And why did Libby tell Ari Fleischer the exact information that Novak would attribute to his primary source just one day before Novakula met with Armitage?

Fleischer will be one of Fitzgerald's key witnesses against Scooter Libby. I discuss how and why here.

It's not just that Libby allegedly told Fleischer at lunch on July 7 before Fleischer left for Africa with President Bush that Joseph Wilson's wife worked in the Counterproliferation area of the CIA and that she was involved in the decision to send Wilson to Niger. It's that Fleisher told Fitz and the grand jury that Libby told him the information was "hush-hush" and "on the qt.

For his part, Libby's lawyers have indicated they will call Armitage as a defense witness.

So, did Novak also have a CIA source? Libby's lawyers have said in pleadings:

"On or about June 11, 2003, Libby was informed by a senior CIA officer [possibly Robert Grenier or John McLaughlin] that Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA and that the idea of sending him to Niger originated with her."

From the May 12 the pleading:

The government has stated that "[t]he central issue at trial will be whether
defendant lied when he testified that he was not aware that Mr. Wilson's wife worked at the CIA prior to his purported conversation with Tim Russert about Mr. Wilson's wife on or about July 10, 2003." Gov't Resp. at 11. The government has made clear that it will rely heavily in its proof at trial on testimony from six witnesses - all current or former government officials - regarding conversations with Mr. Libby in which Ms. Wilson's CIA employment was allegedly mentioned. These witnesses and alleged conversation dates include: (1) Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman (June 11 or 12); (2) CIA official Robert Grenier (June 11); (3) CIA briefer Craig Schmall (June 14); (4) White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer (July 7); (5) Counsel to the Vice President David Addington (July 8); and (6) Cathie Martin (on or before July 8).

Bottom line: Fitz has not closed his investigation. Armitage is just a distraction from the real inquiry. I'll repeat myself: The question remains of whether there was a concerted effort to use Valerie Plame Wilson's undercover or classified employment status with the CIA in an attempt to smear Joe Wilson and his public statements that Iraq was not attempting to acquire uranium from Niger, as Bush erroneously claimed in his 2003 State of the Union Address.