At a Republican convention press event, Karl Rove inexplicably refocused media attention on the December 2008 fatal plane crash of “Rove’s IT guru” Mike Connell—while he was a witness in a lawsuit involving Rove:

Craig Unger: I’m Craig Unger from Vanity Fair.
Rove: Yes, of course you are.
Unger: And I also have a new book coming out next week called Boss Rove.
Rove: This is where Unger’s gonna flack his book. Go ahead, Unger. Launch away. [Unger asks a question about the primary. Rove answers.]
Rove: Unger’s got an interesting book. I’m responsible for the murder of Michael Connell.
Unger: I didn’t say that.
Rove: Well it comes close. It comes very artfully close to saying it.

Boss Rove includes no such allegation, so why did Rove address it?

Of record is that in 2008, Cliff Arnebeck was warned that Connell’s life was in danger and conveyed that to the attorney general, a U.S. attorney, and the federal judge hearing a lawsuit about election theft in Ohio. In a deposition six weeks before Connell died, Arnebeck asked him about Rove:

Arnebeck: And when I say threatened…anything to cause you to believe that Mr. Rove, through communicating through someone, is telling you that if you were to expose certain aspects of the 2004 election that might implicate him or others in improper activity, criminal activity, nothing of that sort has been communicated to you?
Connell: That’s correct.

It seems as though Rove would leave it at that.

Also in this issue: Did an Election Day Lawsuit Stop Karl Rove’s Vote-Rigging Scheme in Ohio?