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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve dietrich who wrote (472336)	10/7/2003 2:05:10 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

INCREDIBLE BULL FROM BUSH Bush Has Doubts Leaker Will Be Caught By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) voiced doubt Tuesday whether it will be possible to find out who leaked the identity of an undercover CIA (news - web sites) officer as the White House faced an evening deadline for turning over any relevant information to criminal investigators. In a brief question-and-answer session with reporters, the president renewed his pledge to cooperate with the Justice Department (news - web sites) investigation to "come to the bottom of this." "This is a town where a lot of people leak, and I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks, particularly of classified information," Bush said. "I hope we can get this investigation done in a thorough way, as quickly as possible." Bush turned the questions on reporters at the end of a Cabinet meeting. "You tell me: how many sources have you had that's leaked information, that you've exposed or had been exposed? Probably none." "I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official," Bush said. "I don't have any idea. I'd like to. I want to know the truth." But, Bush said, "This is a large administration and there's a lot of senior officials." "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," Bush told journalists. Adding a note of optimism, Bush said, "But we'll find out." The president's comments came as officials indicated that lawyers there will spend up to two weeks screening responses turned in by the roughly 2,000 staff members who were asked what — if anything — they knew about the unauthorized disclosure. The White House sought to collect the last of the documents by a self-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday, but acknowledged it probably would not be able to do so. "I expect there may be some that have some extenuating circumstances" such as personal or work-related travel, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. Nevertheless, White House chief of staff Andrew Card was sending a memo to all staff, reminding them of the deadline. "We are working hard to make sure the Justice Department has the information that they requested, and this is one step in that process," McClellan said. All White House staffers had until 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday to certify either that they have produced relevant documents or have no such documents. The order covers materials such as electronic records, telephone logs, correspondence, computer records, notes and calendar entries. Investigators are trying to determine who leaked to three journalists the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operations officer who has served overseas. She is married to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who publicly accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq (news - web sites). McClellan said the White House counsel's office will review the documents before giving them to Justice Department investigators and said that process could take up to two weeks "I think it's standard practice that in any administration the counsel's office would be the point of contact with the Department of Justice (news - web sites) and that they would make sure that the material turned in is responsive to the request," McClellan said. "We'll be turning information in to the Department of Justice over the next couple of weeks." He said Justice officials had set specific deadlines, but would not specify what they were. McClellan firmly ruled out any role by three administration officials in the leak: political adviser Karl Rove; Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; and National Security Council official Elliott Abrams. The spokesman said he had spoken to all three officials about the leak. "This is a very serious allegation that has been made," McClellan said. "It is a criminal matter being investigated by the Department of Justice, and no one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States."