www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030929-7.html
War authorization 12:18 PM EDT MR McCLELLAN: Good afternoon. This afternoon the President will welcome and congratulate the 2003 Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils to the White House. Later this afternoon, the President looks forward to meetin g with congregational rabbis. This is the Jewish high holy days, and it is a time for prayer and reflection in the Jewish community. Today's mee ting is part of the President's ongoing commitment to reaching out to fa ith-based leaders who make our nation stronger. And then, following that meeting, the President looks forward to signing the Do Not Call legislation, which affirms the FTC's authority to mainta in the Do Not Call Registry. This action, combined with the FCC's announ cement earlier today that they will enforce the Do Not Call rules, is a victory for the millions of Americans who have registered some 50 millio n phone numbers on the registry. Americans have the right to reduce the number of unwanted solicitations they receive. The Do Not Call Registry is a valuable way for them to stop the nuisance of annoying calls. And with that, I will be glad to jump right into questions. Q Scott, has anyone -- has the President tried to find out who outed the CIA agent? MR McCLELLAN: Well, Helen, that's assuming a lot of things. First of all , that is not the way this White House operates. The President expects e veryone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of cond uct. Secondly, there -- I 've seen the anonymous media reports, and if I could find out who "anony mous" was, it would make my life a whole lot easier. MR McCLELLAN: But we've made it very clear that anyone -- anyone -- who has information relating to this should report that information to the D epartment of Justice. MR McCLELLAN: Well, there's been no information that has been brought to our attention, beyond what we've seen in the media reports, to suggest White House involvement. Q Will the President move aggressively to see if such a transgression has occurred in the White House? Will he ask top White House officials to s ign statements saying that they did not give the information? MR McCLELLAN: Bill, if someone leaked classified information of this nat ure, the appropriate agency to look into it would be the Department of J ustice. So the Department of Justice is the one that would look in matte rs like this. Q You're saying the White House won't take a proactive role? MR McCLELLAN: Do you have any specific information to bring to my attent ion suggesting White House involvement? Q Would you not want to know whether someone had leaked information of th is kind? MR McCLELLAN: The President has been -- I spoke for him earlier today -- the President believes leaking classified information is a very serious matter. And it should be -- Q So why doesn't he want -- MR McCLELLAN: -- pursued to the fullest extent -- Q Right, so why -- MR McCLELLAN: -- by the appropriate agency. And the appropriate agency i s the Department of Justice. Q Why wouldn't he proactively do that, ask people on the staff to say tha t they had not leaked anything? MR McCLELLAN: Do you have specific information to suggest White House in volvement? I saw a media report that said "senior administration officia ls." That's an anonymous source that could include a lot of people. I've seen a lot of "senior administration officials" in media stories. Q Scott, when you say that it should be pursued by the Justice Department -- Justice has not said whether it actually is conducting an investigat ion. Does the President want the Justice Department to investigate this matter? MR McCLELLAN: If someone leaked classified information of the nature tha t has been reported, absolutely, the President would want it to be looke d into. And the Justice Department would be the appropriate agency to do so. MR McCLELLAN: That's a question you need to ask the Department of Justic e My understanding is that if something like this happened and it was r eferred to the Department of Justice, then the Department of Justice wou ld look to see whether or not there is enough information to pursue it f urther. But those are questions you need to ask the Department of Justic e Q But, Scott, something like this did happen, right? Bob Novak had inform ation he should not have had, that he was not authorized to have. So som ething -- MR McCLELLAN: Terry, all I can tell you is what I've seen in the media r eports. And I've seen different statements in the media reports from, th e CIA hasn't confirmed or denied that this was a covert agent for the CI A; I've seen media reports to suggest that it was referred to the Depart ment of Justice, and that -- and comments the Department of Justice woul d look into it. Q So the President of the United States doesn't know whether or not this classified information was divulged, and he is only getting his informat ion by reading the media? Q He does not know whether or not the classified information was divulged here, and he's only getting his information from the media? MR McCLELLAN: No, we don't know -- we don't have any information that's been brought to our attention beyond what we've seen in the media report s I've made that clear. You said this morning, "The President knows" that Karl Rove wasn't involved. MR McCLELLAN: Well, I've made it very clear that it was a ridiculous sug gestion in the first place. I saw some comments this morning from the pe rson who made that suggestion, backing away from that. And I have spoken with Karl Rove -- Q But how does -- MR McCLELLAN: I'm not going to get into conversations that the President has with advisors or staff or anything of that nature; Q But the President has a factual basis for knowing that Karl Rove -- MR McCLELLAN: I said it publicly. I said that -- Q But I'm not asking what you said, I'm asking if the President has a fac tual basis for saying -- for your statement that he knows Karl Rove -- MR McCLELLAN: He's aware of what I've said, that there is simply no trut h to that suggestion. Q Does he know whether or not the Vice President's Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby -- MR McCLELLAN: If you have any specific information to bring to my attent ion -- like I said, there has been nothing that's been brought to our at tention. You asked me earlier if we were looking into it, there is nothi ng that's been brought to our attention beyond the media reports. But if someone did something like this, it needs to be looked at by the Depart ment of Justice, they're the appropriate agency charged with looking int o matters like this -- Q Well, you do know that they are looking at it, don't you? MR McCLELLAN: -- and so they're the ones that should do that. Q But, Scott, it gets to the question if you know, if the President knows that Karl Rove was not involved, then maybe you can tell us more about what the President specifically is doing to get to the bottom of this, o r what has he ordered to be done within the White House to get to the bo ttom of this? MR McCLELLAN: The President wants anyone, anyone who has information rel ating to this to report that information to the appropriate agency, the Department of Justice. That's what the President wants, and I've been ve ry clear about that. Q Is the President convinced that there was no White House involvement in this? MR McCLELLAN: Well, if I could get "anonymous" to 'fess up, that would m ake my life a whole lot easier. MR McCLELLAN: But there has been nothing -- there has been absolutely -- Q Does the President -- MR McCLELLAN: I'm answering that. Q Scott, does he know -- is he convinced that no one in the White House w as involved with this? MR McCLELLAN: There has been absolutely nothing brought to our attention to suggest any White House involvement. The media reports cite "senior administration official, " or "senior administration officials." That's why it's a ppropriate for the Department of Justice, if something like this happene d, to look into it. Q Those media reports are wrong, as far as the White House is concerned? MR McCLELLAN: Well, we have nothing beyond those media reports to sugges t there is White House involvement. MR McCLELLAN: Ther...
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