Rove’s Attorney Lies About White House Briefings
Rove’s Attorney Lies About White House Briefings
CNN records the latest spin from Karl Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin:
“He’s told everyone who’s asked him, including the federal prosecutor, that he’s not part of any scheme,” Luskin said.
He said that’s the allegation the president and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan were commenting on when they received assurances from Rove that he did nothing wrong.
According to the transcripts, that’s not true. McClellan was not assured by Rove that he was “not part of any scheme.†McClellan was categorically assured by Rove that he wasn’t involved. Period. From the 9/29/03 briefing:
Q All right. Let me just follow up. You said this morning, “The President knows” that Karl Rove wasn’t involved. How does he know that?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I’ve made it very clear that it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place. I saw some comments this morning from the person who made that suggestion, backing away from that. And I said it is simply not true. So, I mean, it’s public knowledge. I’ve said that it’s not true. And I have spoken with Karl Rove –
There was more of the same at that morning’s press gaggle.
As Stephen Colbert notes, mainstream sources like CNN appear unwilling to fact check statements from people like Luskin because there is a “fear of looking too aggressive.†So it’s up to the Daily Show and blogs to sort out the spin from the truth.
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I hope luskin keeps talking. He just seems to make things worse for Rove.
October 10th, 2005 at 4:35 pm“Not involved (at all)” morphs into a “Not involved in any SCHEME.” Firing someone who “leaked a CIA agent’s identity” morphs into firing someone “who committed a crime.” At this point of escalation, eventually the Bushies will be saying, “Well, Rove didn’t crucify Jesus and then pee on his corpse, so what’s the big deal?”
This reminds me of the “reverse digestion” episode of South Park, in which Cartman proves that food can be eaten through the butt, and later mouth-pooped. These Republicans have proven this all true — we’re actually seeing diarrhea being spewed out of the mouths of these Bushies!
October 10th, 2005 at 4:46 pmAll of the key 2003 White House press briefings are available at:
The Rove/PlameGate Scandal Center.
October 10th, 2005 at 4:51 pmPresident Bush, October 7, 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. I don’t have any idea. I’d like to. I want to know the truth. That’s why I’ve instructed this staff of mine to cooperate fully with the investigators — full disclosure, everything we know the investigators will find out. I have no idea whether we’ll find out who the leaker is — partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers. But we’ll find out.”
October 10th, 2005 at 4:53 pmIs Rove’s lawyer any better than Rove? Somehow I doubt it. Once a liar, always a liar.
May they both go down in flames! :-)
October 10th, 2005 at 5:03 pmbuckfush, you’re pissing us off now dude. You better look out. Some of these folks know how to hack computers. Stop spamming. Stick to Craigslist where they don’t care.
October 10th, 2005 at 5:05 pmSomeone connected with Rove lying? I’m shocked, just SHOCKED!
Knock it off, buckfush, just move along. You know you’ve worn out your welcome when kindness is losing it.
October 10th, 2005 at 5:14 pmbuckfush -
I’d like to remind you that you are violating the Terms of Use for this site by promoting your project and selling t-shirts. You do this at kos and atrios, and pissed people off there as well. Unfortunately, this site is such that you cannot be banned from commenting.
Nevertheless, I’m emailing the site admin to let them know who you are. Maybe they’ll simply start deleting your posts.
October 10th, 2005 at 5:27 pmbuckfush,
I defended you earlier because I think that people could just ignore your posts, but at this point you’re doing it on every thread. Maybe you could tone it down to once a day as a compromise? Otherwise, the call for you to be banned is legit.
October 10th, 2005 at 5:27 pmIf I may go off topic for one comment. Does the fact that McCain, Warner and Graham wanted to pass legislation that would outlaw torture in any and all circumstances and that Bush is poised to veto that bill finally drive home the point that the Abu Ghraib and subsequent torture disasters weren’t the work of “a few bad apples”? I mean, most of us knew that the torture policy went straight to the top but isn’t this just concrete evidence?
Wow, Karen Hughes must hate hew new job.
October 10th, 2005 at 5:36 pmGITMO Rove, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Perle, Gannon, McClellan, Delay, Hastert, Harris…
October 10th, 2005 at 5:44 pmGITMO all of them.
Luskin very specifically and precisely says that Rove did not leak Valerie Plame’s name. But so what? The question CNN (surprise!) fails to ask is whether Rove leaked information about “Joe Wilson’s wife.”
October 10th, 2005 at 5:52 pmLuskin lies as good as the rest of them.
October 10th, 2005 at 5:58 pmI believe they all re-phrase what has been said on record that they forget what was actually said. They are all pathological liars — they cannot tell the plain truth.
MSM is just too cowardly, lazy and intimidated to ask the tough follow up questions.
I saw Falwell tap dance around questions about Dobson; no challenge came from Blitzer.
They are not journalists today — they are merely stenographers.
I will watch Keith Olberman and get a balance to CNN.
Have you ever wondered why the only participants in a court of law that do not swear to tell the truth, whole and nothing but, are the lawyers and the judge? Why should you be surprised to learn that Luskin is a liar? He has the degree to prove it! Can you imagine the changes to our judicial system if the lawyers were forced to tell the truth. We all know that everybody else lies if it is convienient or necessary to cover one’s backside which would all be unnecessary if the lawyers told the truth.
Judge: “Is your client guilty?”
Lawyer: “Guilty as hell, Your Honor?”
Judge: “Throw his dumb ass in jail. Next case.”
Repeat until the docket is cleared. What a savings!
October 10th, 2005 at 6:11 pmAs a card carrying political junkie I’m all over cyber space these days. I havn’t had such fun since Tricky Dicky was forced to accept the consequences of his mendacity. Kreepy Karl is transmorgifying into Icarus before our eyes as the media crescendo swells ahead of a judicial coup de grace. It’s gonna be quite a fall. Will Karl turn canary? Will Dubya be in a position to grant a presidential pardon? Bring it on, baby, because in Karl’s case here, I like to watch.
October 10th, 2005 at 6:25 pmJack, do you really think he is going down in flames like Icarus? I hope so — but the omnipotent White House and their far-reaching influence keeps me from counting on Rove’s demise.
October 10th, 2005 at 7:18 pmI emailed the admin. re Buckfush’s SPAM too. Let’s hope he/she/it shapes up.
October 10th, 2005 at 7:19 pmSee ya Karl, don’t let the cell door slap you in the ass on your way in.
October 10th, 2005 at 7:33 pmAs Stephen Colbert notes, mainstream sources like CNN appear unwilling to fact check statements from people like Luskin because there is a “fear of looking too aggressive.†So it’s up to the Daily Show and blogs sort out the spin from the truth.
The pitchforks are coming out, the torches are being lit.
October 10th, 2005 at 7:48 pm“Spinning” and “screwing” opposite ends of the same thing.
October 10th, 2005 at 8:11 pmLuskin was better off with the “no comment” schtick.
October 10th, 2005 at 8:29 pmThe whole republican party needs to be investagated and brought before the people on rico charges, organized CRIME and attempt to overthrough the United States government. God forbid other countries adopt the Bush zion neocon artist type “democracy”
October 10th, 2005 at 8:48 pmJust A Few More for Monday
Here’s the followup list to our Blogging 101 posting. Enjoy. And comments welcome.
October 10th, 2005 at 9:17 pmOff topic but a must read….We are running out of money to rebuild Iraq. Go figure.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20051010/ts_usatoday/iraqrebuildingslowsasusmoneyforprojectsdriesup
October 10th, 2005 at 9:40 pmIs anyone following up the Jeff Gannon connection to Plamegate?
October 10th, 2005 at 9:43 pmI have heard that Gannon asked Joe Wilson about a memo involving the Valerie Plame/Niger connection around 10/13/03, saying he had read about it in the WSJ. The WSJ did not refer to the memo until days after Gannon asked about it.
Did Gannon have a “heads up” from someone in the WHite House? We know he had free access via the unique granting of a daily pass.
How sad it is when the fake news does a better job of fleshing out the facts then the supposed real news. But that is where we are at.
October 10th, 2005 at 9:53 pmbuckfush, you’re really getting tiresome.
October 10th, 2005 at 10:12 pmI never heard that version buckfush. Do you know if it is available on audio?
October 10th, 2005 at 10:37 pmI may not be the one to complain but I just sent an E-mail to Buckfush’s junk web site. I was not necessarily nice. Maybe if more of us respond he will get the message.
While we are here if anyone feels I am violating the rules or spirit of proper decorum with my site please tell me and I will cease and desist.
October 10th, 2005 at 10:56 pmThis has been a war between the WH and the CIA (the other CIA, not the neocon CIA).
October 10th, 2005 at 11:06 pmI bet Fitz has been flabbergasted by everything he has seen.
buckfush is getting tiresome? He doesn’t hold a candle to Bush and Rove and Rumsfeld and Perle and Wolfowitz and the whole cadre of buffoons that surround these idiots.
That’s what is getting tiresome. They’re still there spending money that nobody has, misconducting foreign policy and bumbling and stumbling through a war that nobody wants. Talk about tiresome… and then some.
At some point there will be a critical mass. At that time, the murkan populace will abandon the Bush regime and muster all of the hatred they can for them. That time will come. Until then, it’s tiresome as heck.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:13 pmClyde your site is wonderful. Why would we object?
I would like a copy of the song on audio though. Anyone know if it exists?
October 10th, 2005 at 11:40 pmSusan,
Thanks for the compliment.
Check out the latest but beware. Cynthia is mad because she wet her pants. (Click on my name)
October 11th, 2005 at 12:39 amFirst thought: “define ’scheme’”.
Second thought: if Rove told the president he didn’t give Valerie Plame’s “name” to the press, well, we all know you can identify a person without sharing their name.
Third thought: suppose the scheme wasn’t to discredit Wilson but to make an example to others in the CIA to keep their fat yaps shut if they want to have a career and any hope of a serene family life.
October 11th, 2005 at 1:08 am“Third thought: suppose the scheme wasn’t to discredit Wilson but to make an example to others in the CIA to keep their fat yaps shut if they want to have a career and any hope of a serene family life.”
Comment by Maezeppa — October 11, 2005 @ 1:08 am
And this (Plamegate)is the careerist CIA’s response. They know that Goss is trying to muzzle them, and that the only way they will ever regain their former position is to send a message right back; mess with us and we will come after you and your little dog George. Toppling a presidency would send a pretty strong signal, eh?
October 11th, 2005 at 4:17 am#37
October 11th, 2005 at 9:32 amIt’s been done before… and in Texas too. Dallas 1962. Yea it’s all just a coincidence that Johnson was a Texan… yea that’s it, coincidence.
When Luskin says Rove was not part of “any scheme” he means he wasn’t part of any “conspiracy.” Rove was definitely part of spreading Plame’s identity around; he’s just going back to the grand jury to convince the jurors that the subject only came up in passing with reporters, that people like Novak brought it up and he said he “heard that, too.” Stuff like that, stuff that couldn’t be considered “revealing” anything or “conspiring” to reveal. There will be indictments, but I’m starting to worry that enough people on the grand jury will believe Rove so that Fitzgerald can’t get a true bill against him specifically.
October 11th, 2005 at 9:44 amHere’s another question. Who was the person who initially tipped the White House off to the fact that Plame was Wilson’s wife? I mean, surely Cheney, Rove, Card, Scooter, those people, weren’t just walking around with that knowledge in their heads. Maybe they were, but that’s kind of an arcane piece of knowledge.
October 11th, 2005 at 9:55 amFirst thought: define ’scheme’.
Yep, Rove probably has 100 definitions for his ’schemes’. This one didn’t happen fit, just yet. Tho I’m sure Fitzgerald can make it fit.
Maybe Rove, in his duties as policy advisor to Bush, is trying to advance the conspiracy law of the federal government: “schemes”‘ are misdeameanors for political operatives (only related to CIA agents) – punishable by a hand slap, “conspiracies” are felonies (for Democrats), “racketeering” will be for (Democratic) political operatives – punishable by death. Treason? Anyone to the left of Pat Buchanan.
October 11th, 2005 at 10:12 amI think trying to discredit Joe Wilson was what this bunch considered a bonus. The true target was Valerie Plame, not her husband. She was involved in tracking WMD around the world and their goal was to stop her and her front company, Brewster Jennings, dead in their tracks. WMD was their weapon of fear foisted on the American people to promote the Iraq war and the war on “Turra”. A fearful people are a compliant people.
October 11th, 2005 at 10:17 amRock on buckfush. You don’t bother me.
October 11th, 2005 at 10:23 amYeah, saying it over and over and over always works for me! Say it enough and it will be so, huh Karl.
Swine.
Speaking of, did ya’ hear the latest:
Today on EWM, a scientific shocker: Study: Euthanizing Right-wing Pundits would Solve Global Warming
October 11th, 2005 at 11:27 amAnyone wondering whether Rove and Libby will suffer any consequences, needs only to refer back to the Bush/Reagan regime for that answer.
It’s an easy matter of pardoning people BEFORE they are indicted.
The fantasy of “liberty” should, to a rational person, be considered a thing of the past, if it ever really existed at all. The pretense that “your opinion matters” is anachronistic. The conceit that “we” are the government and therefore in control is very obviously as “quaint” as the Geneva Conventions.
What do we do, kiddies?
October 11th, 2005 at 12:35 pmWhat do we do? BLOG?
Whatever.
#45 –
October 11th, 2005 at 1:32 pmPointed.
Painful.
True.
What do we do? Reread the Declaration of Independence. There are a few pointers in there.
The American people need to tar and feather the news?whores and the politicos.
October 11th, 2005 at 2:16 pmTonight on MSNBC, Keith is doing a special on the 13 times during the past few years that bad news for the Bush administration has been accompanied by terror alerts.
October 12th, 2005 at 5:33 pm“not in any scheme” is probably trying to dodge conspiracy. They are all dancing to minimize their participation. If you are going to dream, dream big! The whole WHIG!
October 12th, 2005 at 5:38 pmteen boobs
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November 20th, 2005 at 1:39 pm