"Aaaaaaaah, Shaddap!"
Posted on 07/11/2005 5:52:32 PM PDT by Pikamax
Democrats urge Bush to fire Rove in leak scandal Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:04 PM ET
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House faced mounting Democratic calls for President Bush to sideline or fire his top political aide Karl Rove on Monday over his involvement in a CIA leak scandal.
After publicly defending Rove two years ago, the White House responded to the barrage by saying it would not comment at the request of the prosecutors investigating who leaked the identify of CIA agent Valerie Plame.
"The White House promised if anyone was involved in the Valerie Plame affair, they would no longer be in this administration. I trust they will follow through on this pledge," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said.
Other Democrats urged Bush to sideline Rove by suspending his access to classified information and said the deputy White House chief of staff should "clear the air" by answering questions from Congress. Another lawmaker said the intentional disclosure of a covert agent's identity amounted to an "act of treason."
The attacks were prompted by reports that Rove was one of the secret sources who spoke to Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper about Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. The Washington Post on Monday quoted Rove's lawyer as saying that his client did not mention Plame by name.
Plame's name was leaked, her diplomat husband said, because of his criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war. Rove's lawyer was not immediately available to comment.
"The president should immediately suspend Karl Rove's security clearances and shut him down by shutting him out of classified meetings or discussions," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat.
"It is time for the President to keep his word. Karl Rove should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law," said Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York. Several other Democrats have also called on Rove to explain his role or resign.
Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and the ranking minority member of the House Government Reform Committee, called for a congressional hearing to hear testimony from Rove, who is widely seen as the architect of Bush's election victories.
"The recent disclosures about Mr. Rove's actions have such serious implications that we can no longer responsibly ignore them. The intentional disclosure of a covert CIA agent's identity would be an act of treason," Waxman said.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote the White House asking Rove to "tell Americans what he knew, when he knew it, and who he may have told about Valerie Plame's identity in order to clear the air once and for all."
A U.S. federal judge had ordered Cooper, along with New York Times reporter Judith Miller, to testify in the case and reveal their sources. Cooper avoided a jail sentence last week by agreeing to testify. Miller refused to testify and was jailed.
INUNDATED WITH QUESTIONS
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who was inundated with questions about Rove at his daily news briefing, declined to comment when asked whether Bush continued to have confidence in Rove. "You're asking this question in the context of an ongoing investigation, and I would not read anything into it," McClellan said of his refusal to comment.
McClellan also refused to say whether Rove's job could be changed, or whether Bush stood by his pledge to fire anybody found responsible for the leak.
"I think we all want to see the prosecutors get to the bottom of this matter, the president wants to see the prosecutors get to the bottom of this matter," McClellan said.
A grand jury investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, a Justice Department prosecutor, is seeking to determine who in the Bush administration leaked Plame's name to the media in 2003 and whether any laws were violated.
McClellan would not address what critics said were contradictory statements issued in the past by the White House and now by Rove's lawyer.
"I am well aware of what was said previously. I remember well what was said previously, and at some point, I look forward to talking about it. But until the investigation is complete, I'm just not going to do that," McClellan said.
In September and October 2003, McClellan rejected as "ridiculous" any suggestion that Rove was involved in the Plame leak.
When asked at an Oct. 10, 2003, briefing whether Rove and two other White House aides had ever told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, McClellan said: "I spoke with those individuals... and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this... the leaking of classified information."
Treason? I'm surprised they haven't offered him a Congressional Medal of Honor.
rove is not negotiable.
It's a shame Plame was a deskjocky and not a covert agent.
This last ditch attempt to blame Rove is truly hilarious. When it all comes out that Wilson himself was the leaker, a lot of people on the other side are going to look really stupid(er).
From what I understand McClellan is correct.. no leaking of CLASSIFIED information happened.
Leaks, honesty, keeping promises.....can yall believe this? I hope GB tells them to go pound sand.
One of the most frustrating things about this case is that every debate on the tube turns into one person saying "She was known before" and the other saying "No she wasn't!"
I'm looking around right now but if anyone has a link to the facts of Plame's situation, I'd appreciate their posting it.
The four horses' a$$es of the apocalypse.
It will be interesting when the Grand Jury decision comes out.
Take THAT snively whiny rats!
let's make a deal. Rove will resign when "Leaky Leahy" resigns for leaking intel reports when he was on that committee.
Why then when democrats exposed CIA agents and got them killed was it not an act of treason?
The liberal double standard should be obivous to anyone, but the lapdog media whores won't ever tell anyone about the left's attempts to expose and undermine the intelligence gathering capabilities of this country.
If the Rats were not such power-hungry, treasonous slimeballs willing to sell the country down the river for their personal power grab fantasies, this whole thing would be laughable. They would love to get rid of Rove for the same reason they want to get rid of the SecDef -- he's good at what he does.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
I'm sure that they would love that.
Except that he didn't do that. He answered a question about who had authorized the Joe Wilson trip. Rove responded that it wasn't DCIA Tenet or Dick Cheney, as Wilson claimed. He simply said, "Wilson's wife works at CIA and he believed that she may have arranged the trip", which it turns out to be absolutely the case as she, indeed, recommended and pushed for her husband to take the trip.
At no point did Rove mention Valerie Plame's name. Further, there is no intention when you answer a "who arranged a trip?" question, but don't include the name. The only thing that you could say is that Rove INTENTIONALLY DID NOT mention Valerie Plames name.
If a report (Bob Novak) calls the CIA and verifies that a) Joe Wilson's wife does work at CIA, b) that her name is Valerie Plame (which was actually published by Wilson himself in at least 3 places on the Internet...of all places), and that c) he was going to publish the name, to wit CIA didn't request that her name be excluded, a request that Novak himself said he would have honored if CIA would have indicated that she was a "sensitive" source.
And, it really was a set-up from the word go. Read FREEPER Wolfstars post: Set up? Anatomy of the contrived Wilson "scandal".
The demoCREEPS, aided by their friends in the mainstream press, have seized on the now-infamous "16 words" as a way to create friction for Bush, specifically, and Rove, in general.
This really is the mother-of-all-BS-media stories.
This last ditch attempt to blame Rove is truly hilarious. When it all comes out that Wilson himself was the leaker, a lot of people on the other side are going to look really stupid(er).
If Bush still says what he means and means what he says Rove is a goner if he was involved.
Cripes! With all the corruption in the Clinton (off)White House, the Dems can only get outraged about this?!?!?!
Do FBI files, IRS persecutions and the occasional one way trip to Fort March park ring any bells?
Bush's only answer should be a flat "NO!" And maybe a few "big time" remarks "accidentally" uttered into an open mike...... ;-)
I second the Leahy remark too! Let Rove get the same punishment as Leahy!! LOL!
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