Bush rules out Rove, Libby, and Abrams

The White House categorically denied that Rove, Libby or Abrams had anything to do with the Plame leak.

Earlier, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Rove, vice presidential chief of staff Lewis Libby, and National Security Council senior director Elliott Abrams had each told him they denied leaking the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

I think I'll wait for a real investigation before I take their claims of innocense at face value.

Had I leaked Plame's name, knowing I could face 10 years in prison, I would deny any role in the leak as well.

In any case, there is little doubt now that Rove actually tried to fan the story once Novak leaked Plame's identity. That may not be criminal, but it's further insight into Karl's Dirty Tricks Manual.

In other words, rather than investigate the outing of a CIA agent that could very well endanger our nation's security, Karl gleefully decided to further the smears.

Finally, claims by the White House that it would cooperate fully by handing over all relevant documents to the Justice Department were, um, lies.

The White House has already slipped on its first deadline -- 5 p.m. EST today. Probably because White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales was too busy being a "gatekeeper" of information. That means he gets to decide what to turn over to Justice, and what to withhold for "national security" reasons (suddenly they are all concerned about security again).

And what to shred.

Posted October 07, 2003 04:24 PM | Comments (76)