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White House Denies Leaking CIA Identity
AP (Yahoo) ^ | 9/29/03 | DEB RIECHMANN

Posted on 09/29/2003 8:04:09 AM PDT by The_Victor

The naming of the intelligence officer's identity by syndicated columnist Robert Novak came shortly after her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, had undermined Bush's claim that Iraq (news - web sites) had tried to buy uranium in Africa.

Wilson has publicly blamed Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, for the leak, although Wilson did say Monday he did not know whether Rove personally was the source of Novak's information.

"He wasn't involved," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said of Rove. "The president knows he wasn't involved. ... It's simply not true."

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, has confirmed that the Justice Department has received a letter from CIA Director George Tenet to look into the matter. The department and the FBI (news - web sites) are trying to determine whether there was a violation of the law and, if so, then whether a full-blown criminal investigation is warranted, the official said.

"It's a serious matter and it should be looked into," McClellan said.

Asked whether Bush should fire any official found to have leaked the information, McClellan said: "They should be pursued to the fullest extent by the Department of Justice (news - web sites). The president expects everyone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct — and that would not be."

Schumer, D-N.Y., said matter should be investigated from someone outside the Bush administration.

"If there was ever a case that demanded a special counsel, this is it," he said. "This is a very serious national security matter where there is a clear conflict of interest for the attorney general because it could involve high-level White House officials."

The Justice Department had no immediate comment on Schumer's request.

On Sunday, Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said she was unaware of any White House involvement in the matter.

"I know nothing of any such White House effort to reveal any of this, and it certainly would not be the way that the president would expect his White House to operate," she told "Fox News Sunday."

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) also denied knowledge of the matter.

The flap began in January when Bush said in his State of the Union address that British intelligence officials had learned that Iraq had tried to purchase yellowcake uranium in Africa.

In an opinion piece published in July by The New York Times, Wilson said he told the CIA long before Bush's address that the British reports were suspect and the administration has since said the assertion should not have been in Bush's speech.

A week after Wilson went public with his criticism Novak, quoting anonymous government sources, said Wilson's wife was a CIA operative working on the issue of weapons of mass destruction.

The Washington Post on Sunday quoted an unidentified senior administration official as saying two top White House officials called at least a half-dozen journalists and revealed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. Disclosing the name of an undercover CIA agent could violate federal law.

"I know nothing about any such calls and I do know that the president of the United States would not expect his White House to behave in that way," Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Wilson said Monday he believes the White House leaked his wife's name "to intimidate others and to scare them and to keep them from coming forward and speaking."

Wilson had said in a late August speech in Seattle that he suspected senior Bush adviser Karl Rove. But on ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday, he backtracked somewhat from that assertion.

"In one speech I gave out in Seattle not too long ago, I mentioned the name Karl Rove," he said. "I think I was probably carried away by the spirit of the moment. I don't have any knowledge that Karl Rove himself was either the leaker or the authorizer of the leak. But I have great confidence that, at a minimum, he condoned it and certainly did nothing to shut it down."

The White House has denied that accusation.

Powell told ABC's "This Week" that he thought that if the CIA believed the identity of one of its covert employees have been revealed, it had an obligation to ask the Justice Department to look into the matter. But he added: "Other than that, I don't know anything about the matter."

Rice said the matter has been referred to the Justice Department and "I think that's the appropriate place. ... Let's just see what the Justice Department does."

Pressed whether anyone at the White House raised concerns that the Wilson matter posed a problem for the administration, she replied: "I don't remember any such conversation."

Wilson said Monday that if the administration actually took an intelligence asset "off the table," that would have been "a dastardly deed ... coming from an administration that came to office promising to restore dignity and honor to the White House. It was contemptible."



TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 16words; cia; denial; joewilson; josephwilson; karlrove; leak; nigerflap; powell; rice; whitehouse; wilson
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To: Ann Archy
Wilson is involved with Moveon.com??/Are you SURE?

It was posted here this morning that Wilson himself said so on C-SPAN this morning.

I wonder if C-SPAN posts transcripts of those things. I'll pop over to their web site to see if there is a transcript of that.

301 posted on 09/29/2003 12:35:35 PM PDT by alnick
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To: Miss Marple
"I remain convinced that there is some sort of a tie-in between this flap and the BBC/Kelly/Gilligan mess. They both occurred at the same time, which is just far too coincidental, in my book."

That makes two of us. That chain of events with the forged documents that came to light just in time to discredit other intelligence info was just too convenient. I would like to know what Mr. Wilson does as a member of the Corporate and Public Strategy Advisory Group. (Apparently, Mr. Wilson speaks French fluently)
302 posted on 09/29/2003 12:36:48 PM PDT by Ben Hecks
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To: Ann Archy
C-SPAN has the video of Wilson's appearance this morning, but I don't have the stomach to watch it. I'd rather read a transcript.

Anyway, if you want to check it out for yourself if he said that it's on the C-SPAN home page, right on the top and center. Several pics rotate with links to the video, including the Wilson appearance from this morning, where other Freepers have reported that Wilson admitted that he joined Moveon.org.
303 posted on 09/29/2003 12:39:11 PM PDT by alnick
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To: WRhine
Robert Novak is a journalist of the Highest Integrity.

If Novak has so much integrity, why did he publicly expose Wilson's wife as a CIA agent? Could it be because his "integrity" could automatically hide behind his refusal to reveal "sources?"

As Cliff May said in the article linked on this thread, many in Washington knew the identity of Wilson's wife, but Novak was the only one to put it in print. Was it because Novak was confident he could pin a leak on the White House?

I'd like to know where Tenet was at the times these mysterious phone calls were made, because the idea of sending someone of Wilson's background on a fact-finding mission regarding Iraq quite frankly reeks of a setup.

304 posted on 09/29/2003 12:39:38 PM PDT by browardchad
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To: PhiKapMom
Please help me out here. I know that Novak used this woman's name in his column, but what of the Wash. Post? Are they making a story about a leak now? The press is whining about a leak, is that right? If the press got the leak then they know who leaked. They are making their own story. Have I got it wrong?

Another point; the WP said someone in the administration leaked but they did not say which administration. Maybe it was someone high up in the Clinton administration.

305 posted on 09/29/2003 12:41:12 PM PDT by patj
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To: alnick
http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_luskin/truthsquad072303.asp
306 posted on 09/29/2003 12:43:40 PM PDT by petercooper
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To: ravingnutter
If two senior administration officials told Novak that Wilson's wife suggested sending Wilson to Niger, I think that would have implied that she worked for the CIA.
307 posted on 09/29/2003 12:43:54 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: steve50
I don't recall Novak naming Rove as his sources when he broke the story.
308 posted on 09/29/2003 12:44:33 PM PDT by cake_crumb (UN Resolutions = Very Expensive, Very SCRATCHY Toilet Paper)
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To: Peach
"Have you seen the comments by Wilson where he backs far off of Rove and admits he has no proof and is just guessing?"

Wilson NOW says he doesn't know who the leak was, doesn't know it was Rove and that he "got carried away by the moment" when he grandstanded for his DNC owners by calling for Rove to be taken away in handcuffs.

309 posted on 09/29/2003 12:47:58 PM PDT by cake_crumb (UN Resolutions = Very Expensive, Very SCRATCHY Toilet Paper)
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To: Ann Archy
Wilson is involved with Moveon.com??/Are you SURE?

Okay, I finally found where I heard this. It's in this thread. Start at post 31. Other people on the thread post that they heard him say it as well.

310 posted on 09/29/2003 12:50:03 PM PDT by alnick
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To: Peach
State Department is loaded with Clintonites. Probably one of the worst and why leaks that drive conservatives nuts are done about Powell!
311 posted on 09/29/2003 12:52:44 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (Alpha Omnicron Pi Mom too! -- Visit http://www.georgewbush.com!)
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To: PhiKapMom
http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2003/0808.asp
312 posted on 09/29/2003 12:56:20 PM PDT by petercooper
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To: patj
You are correct. This story has been out there for several months and now it is coming back up again? Believe they know who the leak is and you have a good point -- former Clinton Administration official? That would be hilarious!

313 posted on 09/29/2003 12:56:27 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (Alpha Omnicron Pi Mom too! -- Visit http://www.georgewbush.com!)
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To: steve50
"I mentioned Rove at the start of the thread because that's where independent reporters have pointed for months, and tried to always include the 'if true' aspect of the story."

Really. It LOOKED like you said

"If this story turns out true Rove needs a cell beside Pollard for the next 20 years."

It's OBVIOUSLY true that a CIA "operative" who's name everyone already knew had her name leaked to Novak somehow.

There is no evidence ROVE is guilty of being the leak.

314 posted on 09/29/2003 12:56:59 PM PDT by cake_crumb (UN Resolutions = Very Expensive, Very SCRATCHY Toilet Paper)
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To: cake_crumb
I don't recall Novak naming Rove as his sources when he broke the story.

Haven't seen Novak name anybody, and it would be unlikely for the point of contact to be Rove personally. These type things are only approved at that level. Time will tell if the independent reporters got it right.

Reporters claim they already know the identity of the two officials who made the actual calls, we'll just have to see if where it goes from there.

315 posted on 09/29/2003 12:57:34 PM PDT by steve50 (Power takes as ingratitude the writhing of it's victims : Tagore)
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To: petercooper
Thanks for that leak! From this source Novak never revealed she was a CIA Operative! Looks like the Wash Post has a copy of the Clinton DemocRAT Talking Point papers they are working from once again to write a story!

316 posted on 09/29/2003 12:58:27 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (Alpha Omnicron Pi Mom too! -- Visit http://www.georgewbush.com!)
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To: J_Bravo
I think that you're misunderstanding me. I agree if if this happened as has been claimed, then it is a bad thing, but my points are:

1. The assumption by the media is that it is the Bush admin who did the leaking. There is no credible reason to believe that. In fact, just the opposite.

2. Wilson has the motive and the smarmy affiliations with leftist groups to be involved himself in trying to set this administration up with these claims.

I just don't see how anyone can jump from what's known to Karl Rove is guilty of anything without jumping to a huge conclusion.

317 posted on 09/29/2003 12:58:33 PM PDT by alnick
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To: The_Victor
I'd suspect Clinton's shadow government first.
318 posted on 09/29/2003 1:00:26 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: PhiKapMom; petercooper
I meant to say thanks for the link not leak!
319 posted on 09/29/2003 1:00:49 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (Alpha Omnicron Pi Mom too! -- Visit http://www.georgewbush.com!)
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To: familyofman
But, there is going to be an investigation & the White House will cooperate. That seems to indicate that there is something there beyond a dnc plot.

No it doesn't. It indicates that maybe the White House is tired of this garbage and wants to get to the bottom of it, especially if all there is to it is a DNC plot. Typically guilty parties do not readily agree to cooperate into investigations.

320 posted on 09/29/2003 1:01:41 PM PDT by alnick
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