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OT White House Plays Dumb about Rove
Rove under fire
White House won't answer questions on new evidence in leak Richard W. Stevenson, New York Times Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Printable Version Email This Article Washington -- Nearly two years after stating that any administration official found to have been involved in leaking the name of an undercover CIA officer would be fired, and assuring that Karl Rove and other senior aides to President Bush had nothing to do with the disclosure, the White House refused on Monday to answer any questions about new evidence of Rove's role in the matter. With the White House silent, Democrats rushed in, demanding that the administration provide a full account of any involvement by Rove, one of the president's closest advisers, turning up the political heat in the long- simmering case and leaving some Republicans worried about the possible effects on Bush's second-term agenda. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic minority leader, cited Bush's past statements about firing anyone involved in the leak and said, "I trust they will follow through on this pledge." Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and a private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, called on Bush to suspend Rove's security clearances, shutting him out of classified meetings. And Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said it is "disturbing that this high-ranking Bush adviser is not only still working in the White House, but now has a significant role in setting our national security policy." In two contentious news briefings, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, would not directly address any of a barrage of questions about Rove's involvement, a day after new evidence surfaced suggesting that Rove had discussed the CIA officer with a reporter from Time magazine in July 2003 without identifying her by name. Under often hostile questioning, McClellan repeatedly declined to say whether he stood behind his previous statements that Rove had played no role in the matter, saying he could not comment while a criminal investigation was under way. He brushed aside questions about whether the president would follow through on his pledge, reiterated just over a year ago, to fire anyone in his administration found to have played a role in disclosing the officer's identity. And he declined to say when Bush learned that Rove had mentioned the CIA officer in his conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. No comment Rove made no public comment. A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House now says its position is not to comment on the case while it is under investigation by a federal special prosecutor, said Rove had gone about his business as usual Monday. The criminal investigation into how the CIA officer's name came to appear in a syndicated newspaper column two years ago continued largely out of public view. But the disclosure in recent days of evidence that Rove had discussed the CIA officer's identity, albeit in a vague way, thrust the case squarely back into the political arena, reflecting Rove's standing as among the most powerful men in Washington and his place in the innermost councils of the White House. Because of the powerful role Rove plays in shaping policy and deploying Bush's political support and machinery throughout the party, few Republicans were willing to discuss his situation on the record. Asked for comment on Monday, several Republican senators said they did not know enough or did not want to venture an opinion. Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, merely responded to the comments by his counterpart, Dean, by saying: "It's disappointing that once again, so many Democratic leaders are taking their political cues from the far left. ...The bottom line is the Democrats are engaged in blatant partisan political attacks." Rove, Bush's senior adviser, deputy chief of staff and political strategist, was plunged into the center of the matter Sunday, when Newsweek reported that an e-mail written by a Time magazine reporter had recounted a conversation with Rove in July 2003 in which Rove had discussed the CIA operative at the heart of the case without naming her. Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, has said the e-mail showed that Rove was not taking part in any organized effort to disclose the identity of the operative, Valerie Plame Wilson, the wife of Joseph Wilson. Wilson is a former diplomat who traveled to Africa on behalf of the CIA before the Iraq war to investigate reports concerning Saddam Hussein's efforts to acquire nuclear material. In July 2003, several months after Hussein was toppled, Wilson publicly disputed one of the administration's claims about the Iraqi nuclear program. He has suggested that the White House sought retribution by publicly identifying his wife, first in a syndicated column written by Robert Novak, effectively ending her career as a covert operative. Flat denial In the fall of 2003, McClellan said flatly that Rove had not been involved in disclosing Plame's name. Asked about the issue on Sept. 29, 2003, McClellan said he had spoken with Karl Rove, and that it was not true that Rove had a role in the disclosure of her identity. Two weeks earlier, he had called suggestions that Rove had been involved ridiculous. On Oct. 10, 2003, after the Justice Department opened its formal investigation, he said Rove, national security aide Elliot Abrams and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, had nothing to do with the leak. McClellan and Bush have both made clear that the White House would consider leaking Plame's identity a firing offense. Bush was asked about that position most recently a little over a year ago, when he was asked whether he stood by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked the officer's name. "Yes," he replied, June 10, 2004. Under some circumstances, it can be against the law to disclose the identity of a covert CIA operative. Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. |
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wrote in message ups.com... Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? |
#3
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"NOYB" wrote in message ink.net... wrote in message ups.com... Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...0/AR2005071001 000_pf.html "Cooper, according to an internal Time e-mail obtained by Newsweek magazine, spoke with Rove before Novak's column was published. In the conversation, Rove gave Cooper a "big warning" that Wilson's assertions might not be entirely accurate and that it was not the director of the CIA or the vice president who sent Wilson on his trip. Rove apparently told Cooper that it was "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip," according to a story in Newsweek's July 18 issue."........................................... ............... "Rove did not mention her name to Cooper," Luskin said. "This was not an effort to encourage Time to disclose her identity. What he was doing was discouraging Time from perpetuating some statements that had been made publicly and weren't true." |
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"NOYB" wrote in message
ink.net... wrote in message ups.com... Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? You're a funny guy, you know? Who do you think decides who's a target? |
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"Doug Kanter" wrote in message ... "NOYB" wrote in message ink.net... wrote in message ups.com... Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? You're a funny guy, you know? Who do you think decides who's a target? The prosecutor. Now don't ask me who pulls *his* strings, because I'm fully aware that *all* investigations in Washington are a case of the fox guarding the hen house. It's really no different from Jamie Gorelick sitting on a committee investigating 9/11 failures (and cover-ups a la Sandy Berger). She drafted the damn memo that had us handling terrorism as a domestic criminal act rather than an international act of war. |
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"NOYB" wrote in message link.net... "Doug Kanter" wrote in message ... "NOYB" wrote in message ink.net... wrote in message ups.com... Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? You're a funny guy, you know? Who do you think decides who's a target? The prosecutor. Now don't ask me who pulls *his* strings, because I'm fully aware that *all* investigations in Washington are a case of the fox guarding the hen house. It's really no different from Jamie Gorelick sitting on a committee investigating 9/11 failures (and cover-ups a la Sandy Berger). She drafted the damn memo that had us handling terrorism as a domestic criminal act rather than an international act of war. Just wanted to make sure that in your own head, you weren't living in a fairy tale (again). :-) |
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Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and
liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? How many years has it taken so far? Wanna bet the next 3 1/2 years fly by with not conclusion? You're a funny guy, you know? Who do you think decides who's a target? The prosecutor. Now don't ask me who pulls *his* strings, because I'm fully aware that *all* investigations in Washington are a case of the fox guarding the hen house. Maybe President Bush's declaration that he'd get to the bottom of this was just as feeble as his declaration that he'd get Osama Bin Laden. It's really no different from Jamie Gorelick sitting on a committee investigating 9/11 failures (and cover-ups a la Sandy Berger). She drafted the damn memo that had us handling terrorism as a domestic criminal act rather than an international act of war. Doug Kanter wrote: Just wanted to make sure that in your own head, you weren't living in a fairy tale (again). :-) Oh, he's still living in a fairy tale... notice how it's the Dems fault that Rove is possibly under suspicion in a case the Bush declared a horrible crime that he'd pursue no matter who it was? Notice how NOBBY retreated to insisting that Clinton was worse (blow job! evil!)? Reality just doesn't exit for NOBBY. DSK |
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"DSK" wrote in message
... Oh, he's still living in a fairy tale... notice how it's the Dems fault that Rove is possibly under suspicion in a case the Bush declared a horrible crime that he'd pursue no matter who it was? Notice how NOBBY retreated to insisting that Clinton was worse (blow job! evil!)? Reality just doesn't exit for NOBBY. DSK Doug, you know as well as I do that Monica could have choked to death during her generous act of kindness. Therefore, Clinton's crime was just as serious as the one committed by whomever "outed" the CIA agent, which might have resulted in similar loss of one human life. |
#9
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On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 09:35:48 -0400, HarryKrause wrote:
NOYB wrote: wrote in message ups.com... Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? Bush promised to "take appropriate action" if any member of his administration was found involved in the matter. "Involved" doesn't mean criminal activity. Why hasn't Rove been fired? "...involved in the matter..." and "... leaking the name of an undercover CIA officer..." are not the same Harry. Rove did not leak a name. -- John H. On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD |
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"John H." wrote in message ... On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 09:35:48 -0400, HarryKrause wrote: NOYB wrote: wrote in message ups.com... Luskin has said he has been told by the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, that Rove is not a target of the investigation. Rove "isn't a target of the investigation", and yet the Democrats and liberal press are jumping all over him. Would you like to bet that the critics have egg on their collective faces once this investigation unfolds completely? Bush promised to "take appropriate action" if any member of his administration was found involved in the matter. "Involved" doesn't mean criminal activity. Why hasn't Rove been fired? "...involved in the matter..." and "... leaking the name of an undercover CIA officer..." are not the same Harry. Rove did not leak a name. If was "involved" before a name was leaked, it was his patriotic duty to have the soon-to-be-guilty party busted, and fast. Notice the word "if", which indicates conjecture, just like your "Rove did not...." comment. |
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