WASHINGTON — A former Republican campaign operative claims that President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, asked her to find evidence that the Democratic governor of Alabama at the time was cheating on his wife, according to an upcoming broadcast of “60 Minutes.”
Jill Simpson, who has long alleged that Rove influenced the corruption prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman, makes the claim against Rove in a broadcast to be aired Sunday, according to a CBS statement.
Simpson said she is speaking out because Siegelman’s seven-year sentence on corruption charges bothers her, the release said. Siegelman was convicted last year.
She said she found no evidence of an affair.
The Justice Department has insisted that politics played no role in the case. Democrats on Capitol Hill, however, have been looking into the case as part of a broader investigation into political meddling by the White House at the Justice Department.
Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, denied the allegation.
“Mr. Rove never made such a request to her or anyone else,” Luskin said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Had ’60 Minutes’ taken the trouble to contact Mr. Rove before circulating this falsehood, he would have told them the same thing.”
