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."
BTW, isn't it interesting how the DUmmies are all of a sudden so concerned with the health and well-being of our intelligence officers? So much for the CIA lying about WMD.
anything these a$$holes say, you do and believe just the opposite.
Gee, I missed it when they asked Clinton to resign for perjury and obstruction of justice. Must've been at the mall that day.
After nearly five years I'm growing bored with the left. They keep manufacturing scandal after scandal...that goes nowhere. Where's the thrill? It's entirely too predictable. I can't even keep track of their failures anymore.
They are really quite pathetic.
Dems urge
Dems demand
Dems insist
Dems declare
I say to the dems...be quiet for two minutes so you can lear the truth. The REAL truth and it AIN'T gonna be Karl Rove.
That side looks stupid all the time; doesn't stop them from looking stupid again and again.
I laugh when this woman is called a 'covert agent.' What a joke.
But *this* is supposed to be something, well, serious.
They've failed with every other resignation demand. But this one, you see, is supposed to be the real deal.
Why? They've manufactured another idiotic bit of propaganda to get themselves in a lather. Again.
I hate to burst your bubble of fantasy, but if/when it comes out that Wilson himself was the leaker (or some other democrat mole in the executive branch) it will not make the slightest difference to the Democrats and the MSM. They will go right on spouting this story as if it had been proved to be the gospel truth, and their sheep-like followers will all nod at each other and go "Baaaaaa."
It will pass into the "recieved wisdom" of the left that Rove and Bush destroyed Plame's "undercover career" and committed "treason," or whatever, and the story will be repeated for the next 50 years, or until our side stops talking about Bill Clinton's misdeeds.
That's all this is about, by the way. They know da*n well that Clinton was a reprehensible disgrace of a president, (even theough they never publicly acknowledge that he so much as tore the "do not remove" tag off a White House matress) and it drives them nuts. Well, it is one of the many things that drives them nuts.
Well, many of them already are nuts, so its kind of academic.
(steely)
If you don't merit a call for resignation or impeachment from the Libs & MSM you aren't doing your job. :-D
South exterior wall of White House overdue for painting: Fire Rove.
White House memo misspelled clinton: Fire Rove.
Trickster gives AP bogus info that could have been verified with a simple phone call: Fire Rove.
T. Kennedy stumbles in drunken stupor: Fire Rove.
Sandra O'Connor retires: Fire Rove.
Islamists attack London: Fire Rove.
Is it just me or is a pattern developing among Democrats.
The Leftist moonbats could care less about the CIA. They've spent decades maligning it as an institution. Now, of course, since it's in their best interest to appear patriotic, well, they don't mind using the CIA for whatever purposes they have at hand.
Liberals are political opportunists. They always play political offense. They continually agitate against America, and they're perfectly willing to do anything to achieve political power.
"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."
Waxman has a lot of gall to say something like this when his party is doing its best to sell out America to the terrorists and put our soldiers in harm's way!
What "turban" Durbin did was treason, not Rove's statement.
What Clinton and his administration did to sell out the country during Chinagate was treason.
Naturally, the liberal media will dutifully report this to death when they ignored Durbin's statements. It smacks of the TANG/Swiftboat coverage all over again.
Go pound sand.
That's exactly right. They're almost out of people to demand resginations from. They tried it Delay and Ridge and Ashcroft and a whole host of others. And now they're left frothing and spewing over Rove.
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).
-----
Wrong author. I didn't write this. Check again.
Bush should announce he just gave Rove a raise for his deft handling of the Plame investigation. ...might ruin his chances for re-election though. :-)
Yes, and tiresome, too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.