Snarling Schumer Demands Special Counsel on Leak of CIA Agent Identity (Today Show Alert)

The Today Show

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Even when levelling the most serious of charges for the most partisan of reasons, Senators are wont to adopt a measured, respectful, "more in sorrow than in anger" mien.

Not so NY Sen. Chuck Schumer in his just-completed interview with The Today Show's Matt Lauer.

This thread's headline refers to a "snarling" Schumer, and even that does not do justice to the vehemence and vitriol with which Schumer made his case that a Special Counsel should be appointed to investigate the leak of the name of a CIA agent.

According to Schumer, the name was leaked to punish the agent's husband, former Clinton administration Ambassador Joe Wilson, for having stated that the White House was using false grounds to justify the invasion of Iraq.

By the way, I did a Google search, and it turns out that Wilson was Clinton's ambassador to . . . the Gabonese Republic and Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. Not exactly the Court of St. James!

My Today Show threads regularly bash the show and its hosts for its liberal bias. Fairness requires me to state that Matt Lauer, who interviewed Schumer, consistently took a skeptical line on Schumer's appearance, the allegations, etc.

Q. The White House and Republican senators declined to appear, citing the fact that there is now a Justice Dept. investigation underway. Why are you talking about an ongoing investigation? Why not let Justice Dept. carry out a thorough investigation before commenting on it?

A. This is a very serious crime. There are indications this goes to high levels in White House. The Justice Dept. chain of command goes up to John Ashcroft, who is close to the President. There would be at the least an appearance of conflict. This goes to "very, very high levels" in the White House. Only a Special Counsel can do a proper investigation. We need someone of the stature of former Senators Rudman or Danforth.

A. But why jump the gun? The Special Counsel law calls for a S.C. to be appointed by the Attorney General once all the facts are in. Clearly AG Ashcroft doesn't have all facts yet.

A. The facts are clear. There was a leak at the highest levels. I don't think anybody has faith the faith Justice Dept. will do a fair investigation.

Q. Even Ambassador Wilson is now backing away from some of his allegations, stating he has no evidence that Rove either leaked the information or told someone else to do so.

A. I've been in Washington 22 years, and I've never seen anything like this. They're angry at Wilson so they "out" his wife? That is "knee-capping." We don't know who did it. I'm not pointing a finger at Rove, VP Cheney or anyone else. But we know it was a high official and we want to get to the bottom of this.

A. How do you get to the bottom if there is shield law for reporters?

Q. There were at least 6 phone calls made. We can get phone logs. Surely there are White House officials who know what happened. We don't need to interrogate reporters.

Q. How do you react to the charge that this is pure politics with the presidential campaign coming on?

A. Whatever the motivation, this is the right thing to do. If there were a murder, and someone demanded an investigation, it would be the right thing to do whether or not politics are involved.

[Just mythoughts]

Did Lauer ask about Mr. Wilson's giving $2000 to the KERRY for president campaign and money to another one of the dismal-dims campaigns.

Looks like a "vast liberal conspiracy" unfolding.

[PGalt]

The senior criminal from New York is trying to give a slug (Wilson) legs. Wilson appears to be running cover for the Democrat-UN-Iraq/Saddam-French Connection (Niger,Gabon).

[sauropod]

Always, dahling ;-).

Howrya doin?

[alloysteel]

The "leak" may be traced directly to Joseph C. Wilson IV, spouse of the CIA "operative" that was revealed to the press. At cocktail parties, he is the type that may be depended upon to brag up the fact his wife works for the CIA, and it had to be a generally known fact among the press corps in Washington. Not normally a published fact, but the mention in Robert Novak's column of a diplomat's wife working for the CIA sort of brought Valerie Plame's name to the forefront.

Questions nobody seems to have answered: Is there a compelling national security reason that she should not be publicly identified as an employee of the CIA? Is she, in fact, a covert operative, or an analyst at a desk job? If she has been compromised, has she been removed from the very sensitive position?

[Neets]

Fair to mid-land....and YOU?

[YaYa123]

Yes, Lauer did a credible job interviewing Schumer, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course it would have been better if Lauer had challenged Schumer on demanding an independent counsel now, after being so opposed to them under Clinton.

It should be obvious to even non-political junkies: Democrats are drooling at the partisan trough. Use Wilson to attack Bush on the war, piggy back that to get rid of Rove, leapfrog both into personal attacks on Ashcroft. It's a political 3fer.

[IonInsights]

This has got to be one of the cheesyist, trumped-up, manufactured charges the DemonRats have ever come-up with.

[Arrowhead1952]

Chuckles should be careful what he wishes for...

Yesterday, I heard that the husband. Mr. Wilson may have been the guilty party. This could be more detrimental to the dims than they think.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Senator Schumer needs to outline exactly what law he thinks was broken.
Otherwise, there's no need for an IC.
Curiosly enough, the CIA confirmed Ms. Plame was NOT an undercover operative, so there's no federal crime here.
Senator Schumer should be given a chance to elaborate.

And then he should explain why his fundraising PAC is run like a Money Laundering scheme.
Let's see how anxious he is to look at REAL LAWS being broken.

[Dane]

This may seem like a minor point, but at the end of the interview Matt Lauer thanked schumer for coming on the Today show and schumer was silent and didn't say "you're welcome". Just a stone cold stare.

Maybe schumer was mad that he didn't get the katie pep rally treatment.

[Toespi]

"Very, very, very high levels of the administration." "I am not pointing a finger at Rove or VP Cheney, but we know it was a high official and we want to get to the bottom of this." DUH, not Rove, not Cheney, could it be.....BUSH!

[Area51]

To bad Chuckles the Clown wasn't this interested in investigating all the questionable actions or presenting evidence of Illegal activities of the Clinton Administration during the Impeachment Trial of Slick.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Rove's name had already been out there, but my ears perked up when Schumer cited VP Cheney by name. It seemed like a deliberate attempt to fling the mud as wide as possible.

[TheOtherOne]

This is turning into semantics, but....

Novak did not say no one at the Whitehouse leaked the story, he said no one called him. He did not say he didn't get the information from the WH, just that the part about them calling him was not true.

[David Isaac]

"Whatever the motivation, this is the right thing to do. If there were a murder, and someone demanded an investigation, it would be the right thing to do whether or not politics are involved."


If! there was a murder. Methinks a couple of items eluded Mr. Schumer, during the Clinton administration, i.e. Mssrs. Foster & Brown. What a maroon!

[Clara Lou]

I enjoyed FOX and Friends this morning. At the end of the interview, Steve Ducey actually got to ask 2 tough questions: Who have you donated to? and How much did you donate? [Answers: Plural Democrat candidates, 2,000 dollars each.]

[Gritty]

Scummer's a vicious little piece of work. Everytime I see him in action, I easily visualize him interrogating somebody's grandmother with hot lights and a rubber trucheon at 3 AM.

Why the NY GOP seems hesitant to knock this guy off is beyond me.

[mewzilla]

Not just hubby, either. The Beeb had its own CIA source on the yellowcake matter. Wonder if it was the wifey?

[chatham]

Schumer is just the sleasiest Cluck in the Senate but he runs a close Second to Ted (the swimmer) Kennedy .

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I'd say that the state GOP has concluded that Schumer would be very tough to beat. He's a solid Dem incumbent in a state where Dems outnumber Repubs by 2 million, and has a huge war chest.

The GOP is saving its A-list candidate (hopefully Rudy) and its dough to take on The Beast in 2006.