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.

[punster]

Chuckie Schumerde, aka Senator Putz, is a political whore. Schumerde worked in the Clinton White House of Ill Repute, until the people evicted the First Pimp, William Judas Clinton. The First Madam, Hillary Rotten Clinton, aka Hitlery, was able to evade the eviction. Hellarewe established a new business in the Capitol Hill area of D.C., where she is known to associate with the Putz other political whores.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Reading between the lines, I'm almost tempted to infer you don't hold the Honorable Senator Schumer in the highest possible regard. ;-)

[oldironsides]

Did the good senator mention anything about Senator Leahy and Torricelli's lapse when they gave out information that was classified?

[mewzilla]

Toon wouldn't have kept Wilson if Wilson hadn't been someone Toon could turn. It's that simple.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Wilson was a career Foreign Service guy during a number of different administrations. But his political appointments came during the Clinton years. From his official bio:

Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was one of the principal architects of President Clinton’s historic trip to Africa in March 1998.

Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I give you credit for the reasonable tone of your post. However, Free Republic makes no bones about its mission as a gathering place for "independent, grassroots conservatism." I note that you just signed up today. If you don't enjoy the tone here, I'd suggest you go elsewhere, such as Democratic Underground.

[Khaibit]

Unfortunately, while Novak said that 'Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this' what he MEANT was that they leaked it after HE called THEM. He definitely did implicate two officials in the Bush administration. Later in the same article it says;

"Novak said Monday that he was working on the column when a senior administration official told him the CIA asked Wilson to go to Niger in early 2002 at the suggestion of his wife, whom the source described as 'a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction.'

Another senior administration official gave him the same information, Novak said, and the CIA confirmed her involvement in her husband's mission."


As for Wilson... there is absolutely no question that he is out to get the Bush administration and spinning like mad to do it. Unfortunately he can >claim< some degree of impartiality because he was heavily praised by George H.W. Bush for his work as acting ambassador to Iraq in the time leading up to the Gulf War.

[Republican Red]

I happened to be channel surfing when I stopped on CNN interviwing Gephardt on THE LEAK. He was calling for an independent investigator and CNN guy was surprisingly skeptical too.

CNN guy kept bringing up Novak's statement yesterday. CNN even replayed Novak on Crossfire stating NO ONE IN WHITE HOUSE WAS THE LEAKER. I was quite surprised at the stance of CNN. Maybe it's a matter of protecting one of their own in Novak.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

If Wilson's wife was not a secret agent, there was no more danger in her being "outed" than if she had been identified as a member of the Armed Forces, or for that matter, of the Social Security Administration.

And since when are liberals so solicitous of wives? Aren't women supposed to be just as tough and capable as men? Do I detect some male chauvinistic condescension, the gallant knight riding to the rescue of the helpless damsel in distress? Hmm?

[PGalt]

Thanks for joining the debate. It's not about Democrats vs. Republicans. It's about criminals vs. non-criminals. Criminals, foreign and domestic, are enemies of FREEDOM.

Having said that, I view The Democratic Crime Syndicate as a domestic enemy.

[Khaibit]

I'm telling you, the 'Novak says it was not the White House that leaked it' thing is NOT going to hold up. We don't want to base our resistance to this on something which is already proven false. Novak has said that it WAS the Bush administration several times and there are now several other reporters making that claim too. The one time Novak seemed to say otherwise it was in reference to reports that the White House was calling people up to spread this... he says that he contacted them and they mentioned it during an interview. NOT that it didn't come from them at all.

[sauropod]

Peachy keen. Some major life changes have happened and things look much better!

[smiley]

Saw that same segment on Fox 'n Friends this morning too....pretty interesting, wasn't it, when Brian asked Wilson the questions about contributing to the Democrat Party....then he asked how much....then Brian went further to suggest that Wilson contributed $1,000 to Kerry's campaign....wherein Wilson did say "actually, it was $2,000." Further evidence that the democraps are desperate and trying to play a game of "gotcha!" with this administration....shameless!

[Khaibit]

The fact that 'Plame' was NOT a covert operative is much stronger grounds to dispute this nonsense IMO. Even the CIA says that she was no longer doing any covert/foreign operative work and was just doing research now.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Again, I admire your tone. But FR is explicitly designed as a place for conservatives to interact. You might ask, "what's wrong with a civil debate of the issues?"

Nothing, of course. But there are other forums for that. This one is, by design, "our thing."

So, with respect, I'd invite you to continue to read FR, but not to become a regular poster.

[irish guard]

OK I have a serious question too. What if Chuck Shumer was a scheming Democrat and read the Novak article and came up with this plan. Knowing that Novak would never divulge his sources, Shumer decides to go out on a witch hunt where he names very high officials in the administration as the sources of Novak's article.

Here is the beauty of how evil Shumer is, ....let's assume that Shumer hates Novak ......Shumer can stand on his soapbox all day long screaming Cheney and even Bush's name, knowing that all the while he has Novak (whom he also hates) twisting in the wind, becauswe Novak will not want to identify his source.

It all sucks if that is what Chuck Shumer is doing and Novak gets skewered in the process. Is this plausible?