Perfect Stranger

(Fox News) - Karl Rove says he does not recall ever meeting the woman who is accusing him of asking her to help dig up dirt on former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and was never given a chance to respond to charges she made Sunday on "60 Minutes." Rove is the former top political adviser to President Bush and is now a FOX News contributor.

Sunday night, an Alabama lawyer named Jill Simpson said on CBS' "60 Minutes" that Rove was behind an effort to derail Democrat Siegelman's effort to win back his office in 2006 -- after losing it in 2002. Simpson said Rove asked her to get pictures of Siegelman in a compromising sexual position with an aide. But the Associated Press reports Simpson has never made that allegation before -- despite several hours of interviews with congressional lawyers, reporters and a sworn affidavit.

"60 Minutes" said in its piece, "We contacted Rove. Through his lawyer, he denied Simpson's allegations." But Rove and his attorney Robert Luskin say CBS brought up the allegations only in an off-the-record telephone interview last October. Luskin says, "After '60 Minutes' made the decision to publicize these charges, no one from '60 Minutes' approached Mister Rove or gave him an opportunity to respond on the record."