FLASHBACK: White House Said Rove Was “Not Involved” In Plame Leak
FLASHBACK: White House Said Rove Was “Not Involved” In Plame Leak
White House Press Briefing, 10/10/03:
Q Scott, earlier this week you told us that neither Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams nor Lewis Libby disclosed any classified information with regard to the leak. I wondered if you could tell us more specifically whether any of them told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA?
MR. McCLELLAN: Those individuals — I talked — I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that’s where it stands.
We shouldn’t lose sight of the White House’s categorical denial as new details emerge. For example, here’s the latest from Newsweek:
The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper’s sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House. Cooper and a Time spokeswoman declined to comment. But in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article.
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Can’t wait to see the spin on this one.
July 2nd, 2005 at 8:13 pmOf course, if McClellan was lied to by Rove, et. al., that counts as an effort to obstruct justice, if you recall the logic of the Clinton impeachment committee.
July 2nd, 2005 at 8:34 pmIOKIYAR — that will be the defense.
It will work, too, unless the MSM decides finally enough is enough, and they aren’t propping up this house of cards anymore by ignoring anything that offends Rove.
I notice, BTW, that nobody is talking about the DSMs now. Perhaps that is the intent.
July 2nd, 2005 at 9:02 pmIf he was the source – it’s a crime. It’s a crime to reveal classified undercover agents names, and in a time of war – it’s treason.
Let the cards fall where they may.
July 2nd, 2005 at 10:06 pmI’ll bet the bloke is squirming in his school desk.
This stuff is all going to unravel in a quick hurry.
The Bush Cabal owes the people of the US a sincere apology and two hundred billion dollars.
Don’t hold your breath to ever receive either one.
July 2nd, 2005 at 10:47 pmWhat is just as interesting is what President Bush said as the Plame scandal was breaking back in 2003:
I don’t know if we’re going to find out the senior administration official. Now, this is a large administration, and there’s a lot of senior officials.
For more, see:
“A Nod and a Wink: Bush on the Plame Scandal”
July 3rd, 2005 at 12:05 amHe’s more slippery than the a morey eel, but if your hand is n the cookie jar one too many times, sooner than later, Mom’s going to catch you in the act.
Can we say, smoking gun? Perhaps its a bit early, but I would love to get Rove off the Taxpayer payroll sooner than later and fund his livelihood through the correctional system instead. It’s a lot cheeper and he can do a lot less damage from a cell.
July 3rd, 2005 at 12:11 amThis just another example of how the administration will happily lie at every possible opportunity. If they were a person I would say they are pathological liars and need psychiatric help. Considering it’s an entire group, I think it qualifies as a group psychosis. In other words they aren’t just liars – they’re nuts!
July 3rd, 2005 at 12:14 amNO ONE has forgotten the DSMs, Allen. Rest assured.
July 3rd, 2005 at 2:32 amWhat are DSMs? I know of no DSMs and niether do you. You have never heard of any DSMs. All is well. The terrorists want to kill us. They hate our freedoms. They want to go back to sleep. So do you. Good night and a Happy 4th of July. Blow something up, but don’t burn a flag.
July 3rd, 2005 at 4:54 amto Accurate but Fake: Exactly Right–you’ve hit the nail on the head.
From here on out, new scandals will appear semi-weekly or monthly, each knocking down the one before it—like dominos—and each new scandal will steer US further & further away from the Big Daddy of all scandals: Bush & Co committed impeachable crimes…the evidence is irrefutable, but all being systematically buried under the dominos of lesser people committing lesser crimes.
July 3rd, 2005 at 6:39 amI might defer to the greater wisdom of the good folks at Think Progress on the matter, but impeachment, or any investigation and hearings on any matter against the majority party in the current Congress is not likely to happen, unless the cause of action is so egregious that enough Republicans feel their chances of re-election are threatened by failing to convene proceedings, or they lose the majority in the House in 2006. The difference with this matter under discussion is that a crime was committed, not some ethical violation that is the purview of committees, but a matter for the DOJ. This has to proceed as a violation of the federal criminal statute. It may still get a whitewash.
July 3rd, 2005 at 9:08 amIs it just me, or has it occurred to other people that Valerie Plame’s name is one of the names on ‘Bolton’s list?’ The list of agents names he asked for that the WH will not release to the Senate Foreign Relations committee…
Anybody? Ferris?
July 3rd, 2005 at 9:37 amYou know I just thought of something….
The O’Conner retirement.
Out of the blue from no ware this comes up, during a slow news summer….
At about the same time the Plame issue is gaining ground and moving forward. It could have been big and damaging to the administration.
Can you say engineered distraction??????????
A supreme court nomination battle will easily eclipse Plame in the public awareness.
July 3rd, 2005 at 9:37 amThinkprogress will not let the DSM, the Supreme Court nominee, the illegal war in Iraq , Rove treason or any other crime by the “mafia” go unoticed.
Neither will Ramsey Clark.
Give these folks some credit. These crimes will not go unpunished.
votetoimpeach.org
July 3rd, 2005 at 10:57 amDave ~ What you said, plus…could O’Connor have been forced to “retire?” I recall she challenged Bush on some issue (now a blank to me). She also was against the current “eminent domain” ruling. Her resignation conspicuously doesn’t thank Bush in any way. Yet, I think this transgression will be tacked onto the rest to make a high visibility case against Rove and BushCo. The pieces are starting to fall together and the public will locate the smelly garbage soon…
accurate but fake ~ I think impeachment is a very real possibility. The Republicans are catching heat from their constituents. Two just switched parties (don’t recall names). As more and more citizens call in voicing complaints over the war, Congress will have to consider if their support to BushCo is worth their jobs. As with Bush, money talks and everything else walks…
So who’s complaining?
- Mothers and fathers are mad as hell their sons are dying
- High school and college students telling their parents
they want no part in this illegal war — or any war
- Grandparents recalling Viet Nam with time on their hands
to research the lies of BushCo for a case against him
- Religious leaders and groups waking up to being scammed
- Homeowners discovering they don’t really own a piece of
the rock
- Irate seniors over social insecurity, medicare, eminent
domain and feeling shafted by BushCo
- Republicans not wanting to go down with the ship of fools
- The turncoat media who feel the heat from exposure by
alternate, independent media and their viewers/listeners
- Military leaders who can no longer handle or stomach the
mess they have in Iraq and soldier complaints, deaths
and the lies of BushCo
- The usual activists who haven’t stopped beating the drums
for truth and justice
- Celebrities and wealthy individuals concerned about the
growing environmental wasteland we leave as our legacy
There’s lots more, but you probably catch my drift. The dominoes are finally falling…
July 3rd, 2005 at 10:57 amBack to the war. Things are not getting better, but worse.
Just in From Iraq
Our wandering correspondent on military affairs has just checked in today (Sunday Iraq time) and offers this update:
“GEORGE:
It’s tough to get news back to you when we are this far out. A great deal of thanks goes to an unlikely source, the fine folks who rep PBS in the US. True they know my politics stand just to the right of Attila the Hun, but they help get word back to you just the same.
Just for the record, the much publicized “Raid on the Insurgents” that supposedly took place just before King George’s address to the American sheep was nothing more than a division size patrol. Nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
Second, the report you got from the White House, that although new troops are joining the insurgents, the numbers remain about the same is BS. This place is filling up with the faithful.
Wandering Texan on the ground in Iraq “
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:40 amAs I type, This Week with George Steponopolis on ABC is on and they did mention the Plame issue for all of 30 seconds and them moved on to the courts and devoted 98% of the program to the courts. This will be going on for the rest of the summer and as the battle lines are drawn and shots fired that will become 98% of the news we will see from the Main Stream Media.
This needs more time devoted to it and I applaud ThinkProgress for doing just that and bringing to light all the other discrepancies between the administrations policies and reasons for doing so and reality. That is exactly the reason I read this blog daily.
As I give it more thought, I think you are right, it is just a coincidence that O’Conner chose to retire now, she is not known for cooperating with politics, but it sure does look planned for.
My hat is off to the TP team.
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:44 amfake,
I find your lack of faith disturbing. Look around, your sky is falling.
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:53 amWait a minute!! You mean Rove might have lied???? WHAT??? A Republican politician??? LYING???
That’s just not right.
It’s got to be Clinton’s fault, right…?
July 3rd, 2005 at 3:12 pmskippy responds to al neuharth of usatoady’s crocadile teary op-ed where al blubbers that what the iraq situation needs is a “walter cronkite.”
shorter skippy: gee, al, it’s too bad you don’t know anybody who runs a national newspaper…
and while we’re at it, remember to listen to skippy the bush kangaroo’s radio interview on wrfl, the univ. of kentucky’s station, by ben carter of bluegrassroots.org.
skippy waxes befuddled on a number of subjects, including but not limited to, a mangled explanation of the downing street memos, ayn rand, putting christ back into christianity, half a masturbation joke, why blogging is important but not as important as the information itself (same goes for the main stream press), gov. ah-nold, black box voting, and the site’s co-bloggers!
help skippy reach a million visitors by his third blogiversary on july 10! click away today!
July 3rd, 2005 at 5:31 pmNewsweek’s Michael “Koran in a Commode� Isikoff?
Now who would doubt such an “unimpeachable” source as potty boy.
Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, spoke with Time magazine’s Matthew Cooper during a critical week in July 2003 when Cooper was reporting on a public critic of the Bush administration who was also the husband of a CIA operative, his lawyer confirmed yesterday.
Rove is identified in Cooper’s notes from that time period, which Time turned over Friday to special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald  under court order. Fitzgerald is investigating whether senior administration officials leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame’s name to reporters in July 2003 as retaliation after her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to justify a war with Iraq.
Rove’s lawyer said Rove never identified Plame to Cooper in those conversations. More significantly, Robert Luskin said, Fitzgerald assured him in October and again last week that Rove is not a target of his investigation.
“Karl did nothing wrong. Karl didn’t disclose Valerie Plame’s identity to Mr. Cooper or anybody else,â€? Luskin said. Luskin said the question remains unanswered: “Who outed this woman? . . . It wasn’t Karl.â€? …
Rove answered questions under oath for about two hours before a grand jury on Oct. 15 as part of the special prosecutor’s investigation. According to Luskin, the prosecutor said he believes Rove was candid and forthcoming about his contact with reporters.
“I’ve been assured by the prosecutor they have no reason to doubt the honesty of anything he’s said,� Luskin said.
July 3rd, 2005 at 5:32 pmhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/02/AR2005070201043.html
I’m impressed, a troll, knowbody ever thought of that before, like bombing the online polls and your great fake documents on cbs and fake exit polls last nov. 3rd. How many on here tried to screw up polls before? come on, you know who you are. We don’t care, that’s the funny part, you are the only ones who care. While watching my baby cry and fit when she wanted something she could not have, I realized something, we are all born liberal, only some of us mature. Now wipe your snotty noses and go play before you get another spanking.
July 3rd, 2005 at 6:07 pmI was picking my nose just the other day when something came to me. Conservatives are like those hard, useless, old crusty ones that are all dried up, and tangled in your nasal hairs . You have to go after with your fingers, pick’em out, hair and all, and flick em on the ground where they belong.
July 3rd, 2005 at 9:42 pmYeah fake, ask any infant what they think of sharing some of their candy with the poor, you will get a very Republican answer.
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:42 pmThings are so bad that all I can do is harp on the last election. I feel sorry for me.
July 4th, 2005 at 1:02 amHere’s what President Bush himself said on Octover 7, 2003 regarding the Plame outing and his White House team:
“I don’t know if we’re going to find out the senior administration official. Now, this is a large administration, and there’s a lot of senior officials.”
For more of Bush’s lack of concern over the breaking scandal, see:
“A Nod and a Wink: Bush on the Plame Scandal”
July 4th, 2005 at 11:35 amMaybe the leaker is hiding out with bin Laden. Pakistan can be quite comfortable if you have the right connections.
July 4th, 2005 at 10:51 pmHey cynical ex-hippie:
Like Kesey said: “Stay in your own movie.”
Jonah
yo-Ho Yo-HO a Sailor’s Life for Me
July 5th, 2005 at 3:27 amKesey was a crank.
July 5th, 2005 at 4:01 pmKesey was a crankster?
I thought he was a prankster?
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