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| 5/24 |
| 2005/10/19 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:40184 Activity:nil |
10/19 Original article on "Bush rebuked Rove about Plame affair"
http://nydailynews.com/front/story/357107p-304312c.html
I'm confused, though, how does this make sense with this timeline?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/08/national/main577086.shtml
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031010-6.html
\_ Apparently not being under oath is not a "get out of jail free"
card for lying to investigators... |
| 5/24 |
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| nydailynews.com/front/story/357107p-304312c.html An exultant President Bush appeared to whisper to his top aide Karl Rove as they headed for Indiana in July. WASHINGTON - An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Ro ve two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair, sources told the Daily News. "He made his displeasure known to Karl," a presidential counselor told Th e News. Bush has nevertheless remained doggedly loyal to Rove, who friends and ev en political adversaries acknowledge is the architect of the President's rise from baseball owner to leader of the free world. As special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald nears a decision, perhaps as ear ly as today, on whether to issue indictments in his two-year probe, Bush has already circled the wagons around Rove, whose departure would be a grievous blow to an already shell-shocked White House staff and a Presid ent in deep political trouble. Asked if he believed indictments were forthcoming, a key Bush official sa id he did not know, then added: "I'm very concerned it could go very, ve ry badly." "Karl is fighting for his life," the official added, "but anything he did was done to help George W Bush. Other sources confirmed, however, that Bush was initially furious with Ro ve in 2003 when his deputy chief of staff conceded he had talked to the press about the Plame leak. Bush has always known that Rove often talks with reporters anonymously an d he generally approved of such contacts, one source said. But the President felt Rove and other members of the White House damage-c ontrol team did a clumsy job in their campaign to discredit Plame's husb and, Joseph Wilson, the ex-diplomat who criticized Bush's claim that Sad dam Hussen tried to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger. A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattac k were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President. "Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that th ey handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way," the source said. None of these sources offered additional specifics of what Bush and Rove discussed in conversations beginning shortly after the Justice Departmen t informed the White House in September 2003 that a criminal investigati on had been launched into the leak of CIA agent Plame's identity to colu mnist Robert Novak. A White House spokesman declined to comment, citing the ongoing nature of Fitzgerald's investigation. |
| www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/08/national/main577086.shtml "This is a large administration and there's a lot of senior officials." President Bush (CBS/AP) President Bush voiced doubt Tuesday whether it will be possible to find out who leaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer as the White House faced an evening deadline for turning over any relevant info rmation to criminal investigators. In a brief question-and-answer session with reporters, the president rene wed his pledge to cooperate with the Justice Department investigation to "come to the bottom of this." "This is a town where a lot of people leak, and I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks, particularly of classified information," Mr Bush said. "I hope we can get this investigation done in a thorough way , as quickly as possible." Mr Bush turned the questions on reporters at the end of a Cabinet meetin g "You tell me: how many sources have you had that's leaked information , that you've exposed or had been exposed? "I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration offici al," Mr Bush said. But, Mr Bush said, "This is a large administration and there's a lot of senior officials." "I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is, partially becau se, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of pro tecting the leakers," Mr Bush told journalists. Adding a note of optimism, Mr Bush said, "But we'll find out." The president's comments came as officials indicated that lawyers there w ill spend up to two weeks screening responses turned in by the roughly 2 ,000 staff members who were asked what if anything they knew about the u nauthorized disclosure. The White House sought to collect the last of the documents by a self-imp osed deadline of 5 pm EDT Tuesday, but acknowledged it probably would not be able to do so. All White House staffers had until the deadline to certify either that th ey have produced relevant documents or have no such documents. The order covers materials such as electronic records, telephone logs, correspond ence, computer records, notes and calendar entries. "I expect there may be some that have some extenuating circumstances" suc h as personal or work-related travel, White House spokesman Scott McClel lan said. Nevertheless, White House chief of staff Andrew Card was sendi ng a memo to all staff, reminding them of the deadline. "We are working hard to make sure the Justice Department has the informat ion that they requested, and this is one step in that process," McClella n said. The Justice Department is investigating whether someone at the White Hous e, State Department or Pentagon leaked the name of the CIA agent to puni sh her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who criticized the ad ministration's case for war in July. Wilson had gone to Niger in 2002 to check an allegation that Iraq tried t o buy uranium there. Nonetheless, Presi dent Bush made the allegation in his January 2003 State of the Union add ress. When Wilson wrote in July about his findings in Niger, the White H ouse withdrew the allegation. Two weeks later, columnist Robert Novak named Wilson's wife as a CIA oper ative, quoting two administration officials. Those officials may have vi olated a law against identifying clandestine operatives. Last week, when the Justice Department announced its probe, White House c ounsel Alberto Gonzales told presidential aides to preserve all document s and emails relating to Wilson, his wife, Novak and other figures in th e case. McClellan said the White House counsel's office will review the documents before giving them to Justice Department investigators and said that pr ocess could take up to two weeks "I think it's standard practice that in any administration the counsel's office would be the point of contact with the Department of Justice and that they would make sure that the material turned in is responsive to t he request," McClellan said. "We'll be turning information in to the Dep artment of Justice over the next couple of weeks." He said Justice officials had set specific deadlines, but would not speci fy what they were. The Los Angeles Times reports the White House's review of the material hi nts that some claim of executive privilege which spurred controversy in the Watergate, Iran-Contra and Lewinsky cases might be made. Executive privilege is a legal doctrine under which the president and his aides claim the right to keep certain information secret, because discl osing it would hamper the ability of the executive branch to do its job. A spokeswoman would not say whether the White House intended to make such a claim. McClellan firmly ruled out any role by three administration officials in the leak: political adviser Karl Rove; Vice President Dick Cheney's chie f of staff, I Lewis "Scooter" Libby; The spokesman said he had spoken to all three offic ials about the leak. The Times reports the Wilson family is considering a civil lawsuit over t he affair. Wilson has claimed the move to identify his wife has put her in danger. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
| www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031010-6.html Baseball 12:16 PM EDT MR McCLELLAN: Let me start with one statement. We congratulate Shirin Eb adi for the Nobel Peace Prize, the first for an Iranian and the first fo r a Muslim woman. The prize is well-deserved recognition of a lifetime c hampion of the cause of human dignity and democracy. She has worked tire lessly, and suffered at the hands of the clerical regime, including impr isonment for promoting democracy and human rights in her country, and we congratulate her on this well-deserved honor. Q Vice President Cheney in his speech today said the United States would not allow a single country to prevent the United States from acting when it needed to, to defeat terrorism, or to fight terrorism. That seemed t o be taking specific target at the UN Security Council, and its struct ure of permanent member vetoes. MR McCLELLAN: Actually, we went through the United Nations Security Coun cil with Resolution 1441. Kay's recent report showed, Saddam Hussein continued to be in defiance of Security Council resolutions and in material breach of 1441. The most important responsibility the Presid ent of the United States has is the safety and security of the American people, and he will act to make sure that America is safe and secure. An d we will confront threats that gather before they reach our shores. We are in a global war on terrorism, with many nations acr oss the world that are involved in that effort, and there are many diffe rent fronts in that effort. Q But his speech seemed to take issue at the whole notion of internationa l consensus on security issues. MR McCLELLAN: No, I think -- we work through the international community on the threats that we face. We're doing that with North Korea, we're d oing that with some of the efforts being pursued in Iran. But, again , the President will not wait for threats to gather and let them reach o ur shores. We will confront threats that gather before they reach our sh ores, before it's too late. And we will act decisively to protect the Am erican people. Q So you haven't abandoned the notion of international consensus on forei gn policy? MR McCLELLAN: Well, again, I just pointed out what we have done. But the number one responsibility of this President is the safety and the secur ity of the American people, and he will do what is necessary to protect the American people and improve our security. Q The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that in the new location of the Liber ty Bell the National Parks Service is focused on racial bondage, especia lly President Washington's and other founding fathers owning slaves. The Parks Service this morning conceded that there is no mention at all of what the US census reports as 3,400 free black slave owners before 186 5 or enslaved blacks today in Sudan and Mauritania or the responsibility of black African tribes and Arabs in supplying black slaves to the worl d And my question -- a two-part -- does the President believe this is f air or historically honest? MR McCLELLAN: Les, I'm not that familiar with what the Parks Service has done, in terms of the Liberty Bell. Obviously, it's a symbol for our na tion, but I think you need to direct those questions to the Parks Servic e I have not seen this specific -- Q I did -- MR McCLELLAN: I've not seen the specific -- Q -- and I want to know, where does the President stand, and will he do a nything -- MR McCLELLAN: Les, I just said that I am not familiar with the specifics you are talking about. Q Would you look into and investigate for me, Scott -- MR McCLELLAN: Next question. Q What can you tell us about how the investigation into the CIA leak are proceeding? Are White House officials being interviewed today, for insta nce? MR McCLELLAN: On that question, specifically, I think it's important to keep in mind that this is an ongoing investigation. The Department of Ju stice, the career officials of the Department of Justice are working to get to the bottom of this. And the White House is committed -- at the di rection of the President, the White House is committed to cooperating fu lly and doing everything we can to assist the career officials get to th e bottom of this. With that in mind, I don't want to -- I want to continue to preserve the integrity of the investigation, and I think the best way for me to do th at is not to try to conduct this investigation from the podium -- I'll l eave that to the career officials of the Department of Justice, and if t hey have information they want to share with you about steps that they a re taking, I'm sure they will do that. Q There are a lot of critics, of course, who are questioning every single move in this, or the absence of moves on occasion. Is there anything yo u can tell us about anything that has transpired so far? Or are you sayi ng that you can't talk about any of this? MR McCLELLAN: Well, we -- in fact, earlier this week, after the internal self-imposed deadline that the White House passed, we began immediately to make sure that information that was responsive to the request by the Department of Justice was sent to the Department of Justice. We have continued to move very quickly on that front to get them the information that they need to get to the bot tom of this from our standpoint. Q So the first tranche of documentation went to the Justice Department We dnesday evening? MR McCLELLAN: Well, we've continued to move quickly to provide more info rmation over the last couple of days, as well. Q And as I understand it, the way you've approached this was the most rel evant documents went first, the ones that had the most references to the questions at hand? MR McCLELLAN: Well, again, Counsel's Office, like in any other administr ation, is the point of contact for the Department of Justice, and that's where the information was sent from the staff here at the White House. And we've been moving very quickly to get that information to the Depart ment of Justice, to make sure it's responsive and relevant to their requ est. Q But you can't tell us whether or not anyone is being interviewed today or whether -- MR McCLELLAN: Again, I think that's best to address to the Department of Justice, because it is an ongoing investigation. Q Can I ask one follow on that, and then a Cuba question. Without saying whether or not anyone specifically has been interviewed, is the Justice Department telling the Counsel's Office, informing the Counsel's Office when it wants to interview? Or is there a deal in place that the Counsel 's Office will know if, and when, a White House staffer is being intervi ewed? Q -- if a staffer is interviewed, is that staffer expected, have they bee n given guidance internally, to report that to the Counsel's Office, so the Counsel's Office knows? Q On Cuba, the President mentioned trying to strengthen -- MR McCLELLAN: The Counsel's Office is available to answer questions if i ndividuals here at the White House have questions. But, again, if they h ave information relevant to the investigation, they need to report that to the Department of Justice. And the Counsel's Office would be obligate d to report that information to the Department of Justice, as well. Q On Cuba, the President mentioned today that he was going to toughen enf orcement of the travel restrictions to Cuba. Many Americans who go there for purposes other than the purposes allowed either go through Canada o r go through Mexico. Is the administration planning to pressure those go vernments to be more stringent in keeping tabs on Americans who might be going to Cuba for tourism? MR McCLELLAN: Well, we think it's important to step up enforcement at al l agencies. And what our focus here, today, that he was talking about, w as focused on travel restrictions for Americans. But we obviously work a t that level, as well, to communicate our message, as well. We want to h asten the day when democracy and freedom arrive in Cuba, for the Cuban p eople. The President has stood firmly on the side of the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom and democracy, and he will continue to do so . The President said that the govern ment of Cuba encourages the illegal sex trade. Is that evidence that the admin... |