Bush qualifies firing vow in CIA leak case By Patricia Wilson
1 hour, 11 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush vowed on Monday to fire anyone found by a federal probe to have acted illegally in the exposure of a CIA agent, in a shift from a broader pledge to dismiss anyone found to have leaked information in the case.
Bush, whose top political adviser Karl Rove has been caught up in the investigation, told reporters he did not know all the facts and urged them to wait until the inquiry was complete before "you jump to conclusions."
"I would like this to end as quickly as possible so we know the facts, and if someone committed a crime they will no longer work in my administration," Bush said at a news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Asked on June 10, 2004, whether he stood by an earlier White House pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked the officer's name, Bush replied: "Yes." On Monday, he added the qualifier that it would have to be demonstrated that a crime was committed.
Democrats accused Bush of lowering the "ethics bar." New York Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) said the standard for holding a high White House position "should not simply be that you didn't break the law."
Only one-quarter of Americans believe the White House is fully cooperating with the investigation, according to an ABC News poll released on Monday. And White House spokesman Scott McClellan faced a new barrage of questions about the controversy.
McClellan rejected suggestions Bush had moved the goal posts on his dismissal vow.
"No, I disagree," he told reporters. "I think that you should not read anything into it more than what the president said at this point."
Bush cited the federal probe into who revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wife of a prominent critic of his administration's Iraq policy, and refused as he did last week to comment on specifics of the case.
It is against the law for a government official to knowingly expose a covert CIA agent.
NAMED BY REPORTER
Rove has been named by a Time magazine reporter as one of the sources who identified the agent to the media, before she was named in a newspaper column in July 2003.
Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, has said his client had been "repeatedly assured" he was not a target of the special prosecutor's investigation.
The Time reporter, Matthew Cooper, said Rove was the first person to tell him that the agent worked for the CIA. Cooper said he told a grand jury last week that Rove told him the woman worked at the "agency," or CIA, on weapons of mass destruction issues, and ended the call by saying "I've already said too much."
He said Rove did not disclose the woman's name, but told him information would be declassified that would cast doubt on the credibility of her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson, who had charged the Bush administration with exaggerating the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs in making its case for war.
Cooper also said that in previous testimony to the grand jury he had discussed Wilson and his wife with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.
The White House had earlier denied that Rove or Libby were involved in the leak.
Wilson accuses the Bush administration of seeking retribution by leaking his wife's name.
Prominent Democrats have called on Bush to fire Rove, the architect of his two presidential election victories and now his deputy chief of staff, or block his access to classified information.
Some Republicans have sprung to Rove's defense, saying he did not break any laws because he did not reveal her name and may not have known she had undercover status.
"President Bush backed away from his initial pledge and lowered the ethics bar," Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said. "Bush should be prepared to keep his word, and to enforce a high standard of ethics in the White House as he promised from the beginning of his administration."
McClellan denied the White House's credibility had been hurt by his earlier statements that Rove and Libby were not involved in the leak. He said Bush had "great faith in the American people and their judgment."
"We have a serious, ongoing investigation here, and it's being played out in the press," Bush said. |
