WASHINGTON – Top White House aide Karl Rove arrived at the federal courthouse yesterday for his fifth grand jury appearance in the Valerie Plame affair.

Escorted by his lawyer Robert Luskin, Mr. Rove went into the building for a closed-door session with the panel and Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is heading up the inquiry into who leaked Ms. Plame’s status as a CIA officer to the press in 2003.

Among other things the prosecutor is investigating why Mr. Rove originally failed to disclose to prosecutors that he had talked to Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper about the CIA status of Ms. Plame.

The undercover CIA officer was outed days after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons have been found in Iraq.

Earlier yesterday, Mr. Rove consulted with his private lawyers in preparation of his afternoon grand jury appearance. People familiar with the case, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, said Mr. Rove was to answer questions about evidence that has emerged since his last grand jury appearance last fall.

That new evidence includes information that Mr. Rove’s attorney had conversations with Time magazine reporter Viveca Novak during a critical time in the case.

Months before Mr. Rove acknowledged speaking to Mr. Cooper about the CIA status of Ms. Plame, Ms. Novak told Mr. Rove’s lawyer the White House aide might have disclosed Ms. Plame’s CIA work to Mr. Cooper.

Mr. Fitzgerald has told Mr. Rove’s legal team recently that he has not made any decision on whether to charge the presidential aide and Mr. Rove hasn’t received a target notification that would indicate he is likely to be indicted, the people said.

His grand jury appearance comes a week after Mr. Rove, the architect of Mr. Bush’s election victories, gave up his policy duties at the White House as part of an administration remake to return him to a fulltime focus on politics.

Yesterday’s session is believed to be only the second time Mr. Fitzgerald has met with the grand jury which is examining questions left unanswered in the Plame affair. The only other time Mr. Fitzgerald was seen going before the new panel was December 7.

An earlier grand jury expired October 28, the day it handed up an indictment against Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, on five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI. Mr. Libby is scheduled to go on trial next January.

Mr. Rove’s legal problems stem from the fact that it was not until more than a year into Mr. Fitzgerald’s criminal investigation that the White House adviser told the prosecutor about his contact with Mr. Cooper regarding Ms. Plame.

Mr. Rove says he had forgotten the Cooper conversation, which occurred several days before Ms. Plame’s identity was revealed by conservative columnist Robert Novak.

Messrs. Rove and Novak, who is not related to Viveca Novak, also had discussed the CIA status of Mr. Wilson’s wife.

Other unfinished business in the probe focuses on the source who provided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward information about Ms. Plame, whose CIA identity was leaked to Mr. Novak in July 2003.

Ms. Plame’s identity was exposed eight days after her husband alleged that the American government had manipulated prewar intelligence to exaggerate an Iraqi nuclear threat.

Mr. Woodward says his source, who he has not publicly identified, provided the information about Mr. Wilson’s wife, several weeks before Mr. Novak learned of Ms. Plame’s identity. The Post reporter, who never wrote a story, was interviewed by Mr. Fitzgerald late last year.