News
Intelligence Analysis
From Think
Progress
21 Administration
Officials Involved In Plame Leak
The cast of administration
characters with known connections to the outing of an undercover
CIA agent:
Karl Rove
Senior Advisor to President Bush (2001-2005);
Deputy White House Chief of Staff (2005-Present)
ADMINISTRATION, ROVE ORIGINALLY DENIED ANY INVOLVMENT
IN THE LEAK: Asked on 9/29/03 whether he had “any
knowledge” of the leak or whether he leaked the name of
the CIA agent, Rove answered “no.” That same day, White
House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, after having “spoken
to Karl,” asserted that “it is a ridiculous suggestion”
to say Rove was involved in the leak. In August 2004, Rove maintained,
“I didn’t know her name and didn’t leak her name.”
[ABC News, 9/29/03;
White House Press Briefing, 9/29/03;
RawStory;
Newsweek,
7/11/05]
ROVE SPOKE WITH TIME REPORTER MATT COOPER:
In a conversation with Time reporter Matt Cooper — a conversation
that Rove insisted be kept on “deep background” —
Rove instructed Cooper, “Don’t get too far out on Wilson.”
Rove then identified Valerie Plame as “Wilson’s wife”
who “works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction].”
According to Cooper, his conversation with Karl Rove was the
first time he had heard anything about Wilson’s wife. Additionally,
Rove told Cooper that further information discrediting Wilson
and his findings would soon be declassified and ended the phone
conversation by saying “I’ve already said too much.”
[Time, 7/25/05]
ROVE SPOKE WITH COLUMNIST ROBERT NOVAK: A
week prior to publishing his column which outed undercover CIA
agent Valerie Plame, Robert Novak spoke with Karl Rove. In the
7/8/03 conversation with Rove, Novak brought up Plame’s
role at the CIA, and Rove confirmed for the reporter that Plame
worked at the CIA: “I heard that too,” said Rove. [NYT,
7/15/05]
ROVE TESTIFIED “TWO TO THREE TIMES” BEFORE
THE GRAND JURY: In his testimony to the grand jury,
Karl Rove reportedly admitted “that he circulated and discussed
damaging information regarding [Plame] with others in the White
House, outside political consultants, and journalists” and
“is said to have named at least six other administration
officials” who were involved. From Rove’s description
of the administration’s efforts, sources characterized the
actions as “an aggressive campaign to discredit Wilson through
the leaking and disseminating of derogatory information regarding
him and his wife to the press, utilizing proxies such as conservative
interest groups and the Republican National Committee to achieve
those ends, and distributing talking points to allies of the
administration on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.” [American
Prospect, 3/8/04;
Newsweek, 7/11/05]
MEMBER OF THE WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Rove
was a regular participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush
Administration’s White House Iraq Group. The main purpose
of the group was the systematic coordination of the “marketing”
of going to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at
home. One clear example of this fact is that “the escalation
of nuclear rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including
the introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into
the debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group
included the other individual who has been confirmed as a leaker,
Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
I. Lewis “Scooter”
Libby
Chief of Staff to Vice President Cheney
(2001-Present)
CHENEY AND LIBBY PRESSURED CIA ON URANIUM:
Cheney and Libby visited the CIA headquarters to engage the CIA
analysts directly on this issue of uranium acquisition in Africa,
“creating an environment in which some analysts felt they
were being pressured to make their assessments fit with the Bush
administration’s policy objectives.” [Washington Post,
6/5/03]
LIBBY, WITH ROVE AND HADLEY, PREPARED TENET’S
RESPONSE TO NIGER CRITICISMS: Karl Rove and I. Lewis
Libby Jr., were helping to prepare what became the administration’s
primary response to criticism that a flawed phrase about the
nuclear materials in Africa had been included in Mr. Bush’s
State of the Union address six months earlier. They had exchanged
e-mail correspondence and drafts of a proposed statement by George
Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, to explain
how the disputed wording had gotten into the address. Mr. Rove,
the president’s political strategist, and Mr. Libby, the
chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, coordinated their
efforts with Stephen Hadley, then the deputy national security
adviser, who was in turn consulting with Mr. Tenet. [New York
Times, 7/22/05]
LIBBY SPOKE TO JUDITH MILLER: “Two sources
say Miller spoke with Libby, during the key period in July 2003
that is the focus of Fitzgerald’s investigation. The two
sources, one who is familiar with Libby’s version of events
and the other with Miller’s, said the previously undisclosed
conversation occurred a few days before Plame’s name appeared
in Robert D. Novak’s syndicated column on July 14, 2003.”
“According to the appellate court’s opinion, Fitzgerald
knows the identity of the person with whom Miller spoke and wants
to question her about her contact with that ’specified government
official’ on or about July 6, 2003. Miller never wrote a
story on the subject.” [Washington Post, 7/15/05
| Washington Post, 2/15/05]
LIBBY SPOKE TO WALTER PINCUS: “Pincus
answered questions about Libby as well. Both he and Cooper said
they did so with Libby’s approval, and both said that their
conversations with Libby did not touch on the identity of Wilson’s
wife.” [Washington Post, 9/15/04]
LIBBY SPOKE TO GLEN KESSLER: “Fitzgerald
took a tape-recorded deposition that will be played to the grand
jury from Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler. Kessler said
he agreed to be interviewed, at the urging of I. Lewis “Scooter”
Libby, chief of staff to Cheney, about two telephone conversations
he had with Libby. Kessler said he told the prosecutors that
in conversations last July 12 and July 18, Libby did not mention
Plame or Wilson.” [Washington Post, 6/24/04]
LIBBY SPOKE TO MATTHEW COOPER: Libby tells
Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper that Dick Cheney had not
been responsible for Wilson’s mission. Speaking on the record,
Libby denies that Cheney knew about or played any role in the
Wilson trip to Niger. Speaking on background, Cooper asks Libby
if he had heard anything about Wilson’s wife sending her
husband to Niger. Libby replies, “Yeah, I’ve heard
that too.” [Time, 7/25/05]
WHITE HOUSE DENIES LIBBY INVOLVEMENT: During
press briefing, Scott McClellan says of Libby and others that
“they assured me that they were not involved” in “leaking
classified information.” [White House, 10/10/03]
CHENEY ASKED ABOUT LIBBY BY PROSECUTORS:
“Vice President Dick Cheney was recently interviewed by
federal prosecutors who asked whether he knew of anyone at the
White House who had improperly disclosed the identity of an undercover
C.I.A. officer. Mr. Cheney was also asked about conversations
with senior aides, including his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby
. It was not clear how Mr. Cheney responded to the prosecutors’
questions.” [New York Times, 6/5/04]
LIBBY NOTES FREQUENTLY REFERRED TO BY PROSECUTORS: “One
set of documents that prosecutors repeatedly referred to in their
meetings with White House aides are extensive notes compiled
by I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of
staff and national security adviser. Prosecutors have described
the notes as ‘copious.’” [New York Times, 2/10/04]
LIBBY TESTIFIED BEFORE GRAND JURY, MAY HAVE MISLED:
Libby told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first
learned Plame’s identity from Tim Russert. Russert said
in a statement last year that he told the prosecutor that “he
did not know Ms. Plame’s name or that she was a CIA operative”
and that he did not provide such information to Libby in July
2003. [Bloomberg,
7/22/05]
MEMBER OF THE WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Libby was a regular
participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush Administration’s
White House Iraq Group. The main purpose of the group was the
systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going
to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. One
clear example of this fact is that “the escalation of nuclear
rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including the
introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into the
debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group
included the other individual who has been confirmed as a leaker,
Karl Rove. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Condoleezza Rice
National Security Advisor (2001-2005);
Secretary of State (2005-Present)
RICE WAS ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: Rice was one
of several senior administration officials on a July 2003 flight
to Africa, during which it was decided that she would appear
on the Sunday shows to “protect Cheney by explaining that
he had had nothing to do with sending Wilson to Niger, and dismiss
the yellowcake issue.” [Newsweek, 7/17/05]
RICE RECEIVED TOP SECRET BRIEFING BOOK ON AFRICA TRIP:
“To allow her to prepare on the long flight home to D.C.,
White House officials assembled a briefing book, which they faxed
to the Bush entourage in Africa. The book was primarily prepared
by her National Security Council staff. It contained classified
information — perhaps including all or part of the memo
from State. The entire binder was labeled TOP SECRET.” [Newsweek,
7/17/05]
RICE SAID SHE LEARNED OF WILSON’S TRIP FROM ABC
NEWS APPEARANCE: ” [O]n Ambassador Wilson’s
going out to Niger, I learned of that when I was sitting on whatever
TV show it was, because that mission was not known to anybody
in the White House.” [State Department, 7/11/03]
RICE CLAIMED NO KNOWLEDGE OF LEAKS: “I know nothing
of any such White House effort to reveal any of this. And it
certainly would not be the way the president would expect his
White House to operate.” [Fox News, 9/28/03]
MEMBER OF THE WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Rice
was a regular participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush
Administration’s White House Iraq Group. The main purpose
of the group was the systematic coordination of the “marketing”
of going to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at
home. One clear example of this fact is that “the escalation
of nuclear rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including
the introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into
the debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group
included the two individual who have been confirmed as leakers,
Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Stephen Hadley
Deputy National Security Advisor (2001-2005);
National Security Advisor (2005-Present)
ROVE COMMUNICATED HIS CONVERSATION WITH COOPER TO
HADLEY: After Karl Rove spoke to Time magazine reporter
Matt Cooper about Joseph Wilson (according to Cooper, this was
the first time he learned of Plame’s identity), Rove wrote
Hadley an email. The July 11, 2003 email said: “Matt Cooper
called to give me a heads-up that he’s got a welfare reform
story coming. When he finished his brief heads-up he immediately
launched into Niger. Isn’t this damaging? Hasn’t the
president been hurt? I didn’t take the bait, but I said
if I were him I wouldn’t get Time far out in front on this.”
[Associated Press, 7/15/05]
HADLEY SEEN AS “EYES AND EARS” FOR CHENEY:
In 1989, Hadley served as assistant secretary of defense for
international security policy under then-Defense Secretary Dick
Cheney. Hadley admitted Cheney was “a factor” in his
hiring as deputy national security adviser by President Bush
in 2001. The Washington Post reported that some saw Hadley as
Cheney’s “eyes and ears” at the NSC. [Washington
Post, 7/25/01]
HADLEY WAS WARNED NOT TO CITE URANIUM EVIDENCE: Hadley
briefed reporters on July 22, 2003 to explain why the bogus intelligence
should have been excluded from Bush’s State of the Union.
Hadley noted his receipt of a memorandum from the CIA, dated
October 6, 2002, that explained why references to Iraq’s
pursuit of uranium was dropped from Bush’s October 7 speech
against Iraq. According to Hadley, the memo provided “some
additional rationale for the removal of the uranium reference.”
The memo described “some weakness in the evidence, the fact
that the effort was not particularly significant to Iraq’s
nuclear ambitions because the Iraqis already had a large stock
of uranium oxide in their inventory This memorandum was received
by the Situation Room here in the White House, and it was sent
to both Dr. Rice and myself.” [Hadley/Bartlett Gaggle, 7/22/03]
HADLEY REVIEWED POWELL’S SPEECH TO U.N. WHICH
DID NOT CONTAIN URANIUM REFERENCE: Prior to Powell’s
speech, Condoleeza Rice’s deputy Stephen Hadley led “the
White House effort to sift through the intelligence with the
help of the CIA,” and tried “to determine what can
be released without damaging the agency’s ability to gather
similar information.” The uranium reference mentioned in
Bush’s 2003 State of the Union just one week prior was deleted
from Powell’s speech to the U.N. because Powell said it
did not stand “the test of time.” [Washington Post,
1/30/03]
HADLEY COORDINATED WITH TENET ON TENET’S APOLOGY:
The Washington Post reported, “Behind the scenes, the White
House responded with twin attacks: one on Wilson and the other
on the CIA, which it wanted to take the blame for allowing the
16 words to remain in Bush’s speech. As part of this effort,
then-deputy national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley spoke
with Tenet during the week about clearing up CIA responsibility
for the 16 words, even though both knew the agency did not think
Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, according to a person familiar
with the conversation.” [Washington Post, 7/27/05]
MEMBER OF THE WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Hadley was a regular
participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush Administration’s
White House Iraq Group. The main purpose of the group was the
systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going
to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. One
clear example of this fact is that “the escalation of nuclear
rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including the
introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into the
debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group
included the two individual who have been confirmed as leakers,
Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Andrew Card
White House Chief of Staff (2001-Present)
CARD GIVEN A TWELVE-HOUR HEAD START ON THE INVESTIGATION:
On September 29, 2003, the Department of Justice informed then-White
House counsel Alberto Gonzales that it was launching a criminal
investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity.
Gonzales was instructed to notify the White House staff to preserve
all documents related to the case. By his own admission, Gonzales
didn’t comply with the request immediately; he went to Chief
of Staff Andrew Card and told him that the White House staff
would be told to preserve all documents related to the leak the
following morning. As a result, Card had a 12-hour window to
tip off White House staff about the request — an amount
of time that “would give people time to shred documents
and do any number of things.” [CBS, 7/24/05;
Democracy
Now; Fox News, 12/31/03]
CARD WAS ON AIR FORCE ONE: Then-Secretary
of State Colin Powell was on Air Force One accompanying President
Bush on the July 2003 trip to Africa. A “senior State Department
official confirmed that, while on the trip, Powell had a department
intelligence report on whether Iraq had sought uranium from Niger.”
The State Department memo in question — a “key piece
of evidence in the CIA leak investigation” — stated
that “Wilson’s wife had attended a meeting at the CIA
where the decision was made to send Wilson to Niger.” The
memorandum “contained information about CIA officer Valerie
Plame in a paragraph marked ‘(S)’ for secret, a clear
indication that any Bush administration official who read it
should have been aware the information was classified…”
[Newsweek, 8/9/04;
Washington Post, 7/20/05,
7/20/05; Knight Ridder, 3/5/04]
CARD INITIATED CONVERSATION BETWEEN TENET, BUSH ABOUT
INVESTIGATION: Two days into the Justice Department
investigation, Card initiated a conversation between President
Bush and then-director of the CIA George Tenet about the leak
investigation. Though Tenet was not planning on discussing the
issue with the President at the daily intelligence briefing,
it was Card who brought up the subject. [New York Times, 10/5/03]
MEMBER OF WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Andrew
Card was the founder and a “regular participant” in
the weekly meetings of the Bush Administration’s White House
Iraq Group. The main purpose of the group was the systematic
coordination of the “marketing” of going to war with
Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. One clear example
of this fact is that “the escalation of nuclear rhetoric”
during the pre-war stage, “including the introduction of
the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into the debate, coincided
with the formation” of WHIG. The group included the two
individual who have been confirmed as leakers, Karl Rove and
Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Alberto Gonzales
Chief White House Counsel (2001-2005);
Attorney General (2005-Present)
GONZALES INTERVIEWED BY THE GRAND JURY: Gonzales
testified in front of the Grand Jury about the Plame leak on
June 18, 2004. [Washington Post, 6/19/04]
GONZALES WAITED TWELVE HOURS BEFORE INFORMING WHITE
HOUSE STAFF OF INVESTIGATION: On 9/29/03, the Department
of Justice informed White House counsel Alberto Gonzales that
it was launching a criminal investigation into the leak of Valerie
Plame’s identity. Gonzales was instructed to notify the
White House staff to preserve all documents related to the case.
Gonzales, however, waited 12 hours before informing White House
staff about the investigation. Instead, he told only Chief of
Staff Andrew Card about the inquiry, in effect giving Card a
12-hour window to tip off White House staff, including Karl Rove,
about the request. [Face the Nation, 7/24/05]
GONZALES SERVED AS ‘GATEKEEPER’ OF JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION: After the Justice Department
launched its investigation into the Plame leak, Gonzales was
the chief advisor to White House staffers on complying with the
investigation. He also acted as “gatekeeper,” invoking
“executive privilege” in order to hold back certain
sensitive White House documents from investigators. Gonzales
personally spent days screening all requested documents before
handing them over to investigators. [CBS, 10/7/03]
Mary Matalin
Senior Advisor to Vice President Dick
Cheney (2001-2002)
MATALIN WORKED CLOSELY VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY:
Mary Matalin was senior advisor in Vice President Dick
Cheney’s office at the time of the leak. While in the White
House, she worked closely with Scooter Libby — the Vice
President’s chief of staff who was one of Matt Cooper’s
sources. [Washington Post, 2/3/01]
MATALIN INTERVIEWED BY THE GRAND JURY: Matalin testified
in front of the Grand Jury about the Plame leak on January 21,
2004. [Washington Post, 2/10/04]
MEMBER OF THE WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Matlin was a regular
participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush Administration’s
White House Iraq Group. The main purpose of the group was the
systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going
to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. One
clear example of this fact is that “the escalation of nuclear
rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including the
introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into the
debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group
included the two individual who have been confirmed as leakers,
Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Ari Fleischer
White
House Press Secretary (2001-2003)
IN EARLY JULY, FLEISCHER READ MEMO ABOUT PLAME ON
AIR FORCE ONE: “On the flight to Africa, Fleischer
was seen perusing the State Department memo on Wilson and his
wife, according to a former administration official who was also
on the trip.” [Bloomberg, 7/18/05]
FLEISCHER TOLD GRAND JURY HE NEVER SAW THE MEMO:
“Mr. Fleischer told the grand jury that he never saw the
document, a person familiar with the testimony said, speaking
on the condition of anonymity because of the prosecutor’s
admonitions about not disclosing what is said to the grand jury.”
[New York Times, 7/23/05]
FLEISCHER AMONG FIRST GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO CRITICIZE
WILSON: Newsday reported, “In the subpoenaed July
12 [2003] transcript of a briefing in Nigeria, then-press secretary
Ari Fleischer called Wilson a “lower-level official”
and said Wilson had made flawed and incomplete statements.”
The transcript of the briefing was pulled from the White House
site but has since been restored. [Newsday, 3/6/04;
White House, 7/12/03]
FLEISCHER TALKED TO NOVAK ONE DAY AFTER HIS COLUMN WAS PUBLISHED:
Fleischer’s “telephone log showed a call on the day
after Mr. Wilson’s article appeared from Mr. Novak, the
columnist who, on July 14, 2003, was the first to report Ms.
Wilson’s identity.” [New York Times, 7/23/05]
FLEISCHER INTERVIEWED BY FBI ABOUT LEAK: [Washington
Post, 2/10/04]
FLEISCHER A FOCUS OF FITZGERALD INVESTIGATION:
“‘Ari’s name keeps popping up,’ said one
source familiar with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s
probe. Another source close to the probe added there is renewed
interest in Fleischer, ‘based on Fitzgerald’s questions.’”
[New York Daily News, 7/15/05]
Susan Ralston
Personal assistant to Karl Rove (2001-Present)
RALSTON IS ROVE’S RIGHT-HAND: ABC News
reported on August 2, 2005 that Susan Ralston, Karl Rove’s
long-time right-hand, testified before the grand jury. The National
Journal reported, “If Karl Rove is Bush’s main man,
then it’s Ralston who makes this White House go — because
she’s indispensable to Rove.” According to Newsweek,
Ralston was suggested to Rove by ethically-troubled lobbyist
Jack Abramoff, for whom she previously served as a top aide.
[ABC The Note, 8/2/05;
Newsweek,
4/20/05; National Journal, 6/18/05]
Israel Hernandez
Personal
assistant to President Bush (2001-2005)
ROVE AIDE HERNANDEZ TESTIFIED: ABC News reported
on August 2, 2005 that Israel Hernandez, a Rove aide in July
2003 during the leak of Valerie Plame, testified before the grand
jury. Hernandez was tapped as assistant secretary of commerce.
[ABC The Note, 8/2/05;
NY Daily News, 6/24/05]
John Hannah
Aide to Vice President Cheney
HANNAH A “MAJOR PLAYER” IN FITZGERALD PROBE:
According to the UPI, “The investigation, which is continuing,
could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.
According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney’s chief
of staff Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby were the two Cheney
employees. ‘We believe that Hannah was the major player
in this,’ one federal law enforcement officer said. Calls
to the vice president’s office were not returned. Hannah
and Libby did not return calls. [UPI, 2/4/04]
FITZGERALD PRESSURED HANNAH TO NAME SUPERIORS:
The strategy of the FBI is to make clear to Hannah ‘that
he faces a real possibility of doing jail time,’ as a way
to pressure him to name superiors, one federal law enforcement
official said.’” [UPI, 2/4/04]
Scott McClellan
Deputy
White House Press Secretary (2001-2003); White House Press Secretary
(2003-Present)
MCCLELLAN WAS NOT ON AFRICA TRIP: “Fleischer
and Bartlett were with Bush on a July 7-12 trip to Africa just
prior to publication of Novak’s column, and McClellan, then
Fleischer’s deputy, was on vacation.” [Associated Press,
2/11/04]
MCCLELLAN SAID THE PRESIDENT “KNOWS” KARL
WASN’T INVOLVED: “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…” [White House, 9/29/03]
MCCLELLAN SAID THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE ANYONE IN THE
WHITE HOUSE OR VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE WAS INVOLVED:
“There’s been nothing, absolutely nothing, brought
to our attention to suggest any White House involvement, and
that includes the vice president’s office as well.”
[White House, 9/29/03]
MCCLELLAN SAID IF ANYONE IN THE ADMINISTRATION WAS
INVOLVED THEY’D BE FIRED: “If anyone in this
administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in
this administration.” [White House, 9/29/03]
MCCLELLAN SAID ROVE, LIBBY AND ABRAMS WERE NOT INVOLVED:
“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.” [White House,
10/10/03]
MCCLELLAN REFUSES TO COMMENT FURTHER BECAUSE “THE
INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING”: Even though he made
his previous comments while the investigation was ongoing. [White
House, 7/11/05]
Dan Bartlett
White House Communications Director
(2001-2005); Councelor to the President (2005-Present)
BARTLETT WAS ON AIR FORCE ONE: Bartlett was
one of several senior administration officials on a July 2003
flight to Africa. During the trip, Bartlett gave a background
briefing in which he urged reporters to look into the CIA’s
sole in sending Joe Wilson to Niger. The briefing has not drawn
“substantial interest” the prosecutor’s office
recently. One source for a New York Times article on the subject
said Prosecutor Fitzgerald knew about the briefing but was not
pursuing it. A different source for the same article said the
Mr. Bartlett did not see the State Department memo that was otherwise
witnessed on the plane. [NYT, 7/27/05]
BARTLETT TESTIFIED BEFORE THE GRAND JURY:
According to Anne Kornblut of the New York Times, citing “a
person who has been briefed on the case,” Bartlett told
investigators that “he did not know who Ms. Wilson was”
when her name was leaked. Bartlett’s attorney has refused
to discuss the case, citing requests by the special counsel.
[[NYT, 7/27/05;
Washington Post, 7/21/05]
BARTLETT HAS LONGSTANDING TIES TO KARL ROVE:
Rove and Bartlett go way back, and the influence of the former
still has a tendency to affect the later. As Newsweek reports:
“Technically, Rove was in charge of politics, not ‘communications.’
But, as he saw it, the two were one and the same–and he
used his heavyweight status to push the message machine run by
his Texas protege and friend, Dan Bartlett.” [Newsweek July
25, 2005.] He has worked closely with both Bush and Rove since
1994, when he worked on Bush’s first successful campaign
for governor. Before that, Bartlett was an employee of Karl Rove
and associates, a political consulting firm established by Karl
Rove after the 1980 primary defeat of George HW Bush against
Ronald Reagan. [Link;
White
House]
BARTLETT OFFERED CONTRADICTORY EXPLANATIONS OF 16
WORDS: In July of 2003, Bartlett, referring the infamous
“16 words” in Bush’s State of the Union address,
told reporters that “there was no debate or questions with
regard to that line when it was signed off on.” The very
same week Condoleeza Rice told reporters that there was “discussion
on that specific sentence, so that it reflected better what the
CIA thought.” [Washington Post, 7/15/03;=]
MEMBER OF WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Bartlett
was a regular participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush
Administration’s White House Iraq Group. The main purpose
of the group was the systematic coordination of the “marketing”
of going to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at
home. One clear example of this fact is that “the escalation
of nuclear rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including
the introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into
the debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group
included the two individual who have been confirmed as leakers,
Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Claire Buchan
Deputy Press Secretary (2001-2005)
BUCHAN ANNOUNCED THAT PRESIDENT BUSH HAD SPOKEN WITH
A LAWYER REGARDING LEAK: On Wednesday, June 2, 2004,
Buchan announced that Bush had consulted a lawyer, Jim Sharp,
about the growing leak controversy. “The president has said
that everyone should cooperate in this matter and that would
include himself,” said Buchan at the time. [Associated Press,
6/2/04]
BUCHAN TESTIFIED BEFORE THE GRAND JURY: Buchan
testified on February 6, 2004–the same day as Adam Levine,
a former press office employee, and Scott McClellan. “I
was pleased to cooperate,” said Buchan at the time. She
has declined to reveal any details of her testimony. [Fox News,
2/11/04]
BUCHAN CLAIMED THAT NO WHITE HOUSE STAFF HAD BEEN
ASKED TO SIGN WAIVERS: Despite the fact that the White
House is “fully cooperating,” Buchan said that no one
had been asked to sign a form waiving the right to privacy. White
House officials said that privacy waivers were routinely sought
from government employees in the course of investigations to
find the sources of sensitive or classified information, even
though the procedure was not widely known. [NYT, 1/3/04].
Catherine Martin
Assistant
to the Vice President for Public Affairs (2001-2004)
MARTIN DENIED THAT CHENEY HAD ANY KNOWLEDGE OF WILSON
OR HIS REPORT: In response to claims that Joe Wilson
had circulated his Niger report prior to the State of the Union
Address, Martin denied that Cheney had any knowledge of it. “The
vice president doesn’t know Joe Wilson and did not know
about his trip until he read about it in the press,” said
Martin. [The New Yorker, 10/20/03]
MARTIN INTERVIEWED BY FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS:
The FBI interviewed Martin about the leak. It is suspected, though
uncertain, that Martin testified before the grand jury. [Newsday,
2/24/04;
Washington Post, 11/26/04]
PROSECUTORS EXPRESS INTEREST IN CALLS MADE TO AND
BY MARTIN: Prosecutors have reportedly asked about calls
made to and from Martin’s cell phone in July of 2003. [NYT,
2/10/03]
MARTIN CLAIMED IGNORANCE OF WHETHER OR NOT LIBBY HAD
TALKED TO NOVAK: According to a Newsweek article, Martin
denied knowledge of whether or not Scooter Libby had talked to
columnist Bob Novak. “I don’t know the answer,”
Martin said when asked about Scooter’s possibly involvement.
Her response is considered part of a larger White House tactic
to avoid answering such questions. [Newsweek, 10/8/03]
Colin Powell
Secretary of State (2001-2005)
POWELL WAS ON AIR FORCE ONE: Then-Secretary
of State Colin Powell was on Air Force One accompanying President
Bush on the July 2003 trip to Africa. A “senior State Department
official confirmed that, while on the trip, Powell had a department
intelligence report on whether Iraq had sought uranium from Niger.”
The State Department memo in question — a “key piece
of evidence in the CIA leak investigation” — stated
that “Wilson’s wife had attended a meeting at the CIA
where the decision was made to send Wilson to Niger.” The
memorandum “contained information about CIA officer Valerie
Plame in a paragraph marked ‘(S)’ for secret, a clear
indication that any Bush administration official who read it
should have been aware the information was classified…”
There are also indications that Fitzgerald subpoenaed phone records
from Air Force One — where the memo was first seen by many
administration officials — to “determine whether presidential
aides used the aircraft’s phones to leak the name of a CIA
employee to reporters.” [Newsweek, 8/9/04;
Washington Post, 7/20/05;
Knight Ridder, 3/5/04]
POWELL TESTIFIED BEFORE THE GRAND JURY: Though
not a subject of the inquiry, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell
testified before the federal grand jury on July 16, 2004. Powell’s
appearance was seen “as the latest sign the probe being
conducted by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald [was] highly active
and broader than [had] been publicly known. Sources close to
the case say prosecutors were interested in discussions Powell
had while with President George W. Bush on a trip to Africa in
July 2003, just before Plame’s identity was leaked to columnist
Robert Novak.” Sources saw the decision to question Powell
as indicative of “the thoroughness with which Fitzgerald
is conducting the probe–and that knowledge about Plame was
circulated at the highest levels of the administration.”
[Newsweek, 8/9/04]
Karen Hughes
White House Aide (2001-2002); Under
Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy (2005-Present)
HUGHES INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: In
the questionnaire for her confirmation proceedings, Karen Hughes
listed that she had been interviewed by the special prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald. [New York Times, 7/22/05]
HUGHES DECRIED LEAK, DENIED ROVE’S INVOLVMENT:
In her book, Ten Minutes From Normal, Hughes discussed the leak,
calling it “wrong” and “unfair” to Bush.
Hughes earlier said the leak was “disruptive to democracy.”
In her book, she said whoever conducted the leak “should
come forward and not hide behind journalistic ethics for his
or her self-protection.” She added, “The use of unnamed
sources has become a convenient way for too many political operatives
to hide and avoid accountability for their statements.”
Additionally, Hughes commented that she knew Rove wasn’t
involved in the leak because “Karl has said he was not involved.”
[Ten
Minutes From Normal; POE News, 10/2/03]
HUGHES INVOLVED IN DRAFTING 2003 STATE OF THE UNION
WITH FALSE URANIUM CLAIM: In his 2003 State of the Union
address, President Bush declared, “The British government
has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities
of uranium from Africa.” It has been reported that Karen
Hughes was “involved in drafting the speech.” She said
her primary goal in the process was to answer: “Why is Saddam
Hussein’s continued defiance a threat to our country and
to peace in the world?” Intelligence from the CIA and the
State Department at that time indicated Iraq was not attempting
to acquire uranium from Niger. Furthermore, the inclusion of
the false statement led to apologies from Condi Rice, Stephen
Hadley, Ari Fleischer, and George Tenet. Instead of addressing
the allegations at the time they were made, Hughes defended the
false intelligence and devised a communications strategy that
questioned the motives of those who criticized the president.
[President Bush, 1/28/03;
The Houston Chronicle, 1/27/03; Baltimore Sun, 7/23/03;
Washington Post, 7/20/05;
MSNBC, 9/28/03;
White House Press Briefing, 7/29/03;
CNN, 7/11/03;
USA Today, 3/14/02]
HUGHES HAS PREVIOUS HISTORY OF SMEARING WHITE HOUSE
CRITICS: Hughes “was an advocate of the howitzer
treatment” of the former Bush counter-terrorism chief and
White House critic Richard Clarke. In an attempt to attack and
smear the character of Richard Clarke, the White House released
numerous pieces of information that were previously classified,
including an email from Clarke to Condi Rice shortly after 9-11
and Clarke’s resignation letter. The White House also revealed
Clarke to be the source of an anonymous background briefing he
had done on behalf of the president. However, the White House
refused Clarke’s request to declassify his correspondence
with Rice prior to 9-11 about the threats that were being ignored.
Hughes admitted on ABC’s 20/20 that she was involved in
these efforts against Clarke: “I’m involved in White
House discussions about those issues… I think, from personal
knowledge, that many of the things he said are not true.”
[New York Times, 3/28/04;
CNN, 4/9/04;
CNN, 3/4/04;
ABC’s 20/20, 3/29/04]
MEMBER OF WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Hughes was a regular
participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush Administration’s
White House Iraq Group. The main purpose of the group was the
systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going
to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. One
clear example of this fact is that “the escalation of nuclear
rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including the
introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into the
debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group
included the two individual who have been confirmed as leakers,
Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
Adam Levine
Communications Aide (2001-2003)
LEVINE WAS ONE OF FEW PRESS AIDES TO SPEAK TO REPORTERS
DURING AFRICA TRIP: “Levine was one of the few
press officials at the White House to answer reporters’
calls [during the Africa trip].” [CNN, 2/10/04]
LEVINE AMONG THE FIRST WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS TO TESTIFY
BEFORE GRAND JURY: Levine testified on February 6, 2004.
“Levine’s testimony was described as ‘brief’
and non-combative, and followed several interviews with FBI agents.
The source said there were many questions about which reporters
[Levine] and other senior officials talked to, suggesting investigators
are trying to get as much information as possible from press
officials, knowing the reporters are unlikely to talk.”
[Newsday 2/24/04;
CNN, 2/10/04]
LEVINE SAID TO TESTIFY ABOUT ‘WHITE HOUSE PROCEDURES’:
“Dan French, former U.S. attorney for New York’s Northern
District, and Don Kinsella, the district’s longtime criminal
bureau chief, are representing a former White House press aide,
Adam Levine ‘The President of the United States has asked
his staff to cooperate, and even though Levine’s no longer
on the staff he’s adhering to the President’s request,’
French said. ‘He has been called to testify before the federal
grand jury concerning his knowledge of White House procedures,
in particular phone calls with reporters. He was called to testify
and we represented him in those proceedings.’” [The
Times Union (Albany, NY) 2/12/04]
LEVINE LEFT ADMINISTRATION IN DECEMBER ‘03, BUT
RELATIONSHIP CONTINUED: New York Times: “Levine
left the Bush administration in December after working as the
principal liaison between the White House and television networks.”
Later, the Washington Post describes Levine as “a former
White House aide who portrayed Russert in mock sessions with
administration officials,” referring to White House prep
for President Bush in advance of his Meet the Press appearance
in early February ‘04. [NYT, 2/10/04;
Washington Post, 2/5/04]
Bob Joseph
Director
for Nonproliferation at National Security Council (2001-2005);
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
Affairs (2005-Present)
JOSEPH SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR INCLUSION OF URANIUM
CLAIM IN STATE OF THE UNION: The New York Times reported
that senior intelligence officials said that Alan Foley, a C.I.A.
expert on weapons of mass destruction, said “he was asked
by Bob Joseph, the director for nonproliferation at the National
Security Council, whether the president’s address could
include a reference to Iraq’s seeking uranium from Niger.”
[NYT, 7/18/03]
JOSEPH GUIDED WMD CASE AGAINST IRAQ: Bob
Joseph, “the senior director dealing with weapons of mass
destruction, guided the process of building the case against
Iraq” from the White House. Thus, it appears likely he would
have seen the State Department memo that contained Plame’s
identity. [Newsweek, 9/30/03]
Vice President Dick
Cheney
CHENEY INTERVIEWED BY FEDERAL
PROSECUTORS: “Vice President Dick Cheney was recently
interviewed by federal prosecutors who asked whether he knew
of anyone at the White House who had improperly disclosed the
identity of an undercover C.I.A. officer. Mr. Cheney was also
asked about conversations with senior aides, including his chief
of staff, I. Lewis Libby . In addition, those people said, Mr.
Cheney was asked whether he knew of any concerted effort by White
House aides to name the officer. It was not clear how Mr. Cheney
responded to the prosecutors’ questions. [Cheney] was not
questioned under oath and he has not been asked to appear before
the grand jury.” [NYT, 6/5/04]
CHENEY SEEMS TO BE THE COMMON DENOMINATOR:
Four members of the Vice President’s staff — “Scooter”
Libby, John Hannah, Mary Matalin, and Catherine Martin —
have either been implicated in the leak or testified before the
grand jury. In addition, Stephen Hadley worked under Cheney at
the Defense Department and is considered by some to be his “eyes
and ears” on the NSC staff. [Washington Post, 7/25/01]
CHENEY AND LIBBY PRESSURED CIA ON URANIUM:
Cheney and Libby visited the CIA headquarters to engage the CIA
analysts directly on this issue of uranium acquisition in Africa,
“creating an environment in which some analysts felt they
were being pressured to make their assessments fit with the Bush
administration’s policy objectives.” [Washington Post,
6/5/03]
President George
W. Bush
WAS BUSH INVOLVED IN THE LEAK?
In July 2005, the New York Times raised the possibility
that Bush could be involved in the leak. “It is still not
clear what the investigation into the leak of a C.I.A. operative’s
identity will mean for President Bush. So far the disclosures
about the involvement of Karl Rove, among others, have not exacted
any substantial political price from the administration. And
nobody has suggested that the investigation directly implicates
the president. Yet Mr. Bush has yet to address some uncomfortable
questions that he may not be able to evade indefinitely There
is the broader issue of whether Mr. Bush was aware of any effort
by his aides to use the C.I.A. officer’s identity to undermine
the standing of her husband, a former diplomat who had publicly
accused the administration of twisting its prewar intelligence
about Iraq’s nuclear program.” [NYT, 7/24/05]
BUSH QUESTIONED BY FITZGERALD FOR OVER AN HOUR:
On June 24, 2004, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and several
of his assistants questioned the president for about 70 minutes
in the Oval Office. Bush retained a private lawyer, Jim Sharp,
for the interview. A prominent First Amendment lawyer, Floyd
Abrams, said “It’s hard to believe the special prosecutor
would be burdening the president with an interview unless they
had testimony to the effect that the president had information.”
[Washington Post, 2/25/04]
STARR DEPUTY SAID BUSH INTERVIEW SUGGESTED HIGH-LEVEL
INVOLVEMENT IN LEAK: The New York Daily News reported,
“The Bush interview ‘indicates there’s obviously
a belief that the leak was at a high level,’ said Sol Wisenberg,
a former [Ken] Starr deputy who questioned Clinton. ‘The
President usually doesn’t meet and knock around ideas with
midlevel staffers.’” [New York Daily News, 6/25/04]
BUSH WAS ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE WITH THE STATE DEPARTMENT MEMO:
A classified State Department report that contained Valerie Plame’s
identity was sent to Secretary of State Colin Powell and other
administration officials who were aboard Air Force One with the
president on July 7, 2003. The extent of the circulation of the
memo is not known. [Washington Post, 7/21/05]
BUSH CLAIMED TO WANT TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THE LEAK:
On September 29, 2003, a senior administration official
told the Washington Post that Bush said, “I want to get
to the bottom of this,” during a daily staff meeting which
Karl Rove attended. [Washington Post 9/30/03]
BUSH TOLD TENET HE WOULD COOPERATE WITH THE INVESTIGATION:
A conversation between the president and Tenet about the investigation
did not consume, according to Andy Card, “any significant
amount of time or discussion or angst. It was basically, ‘We’re
cooperating, you’re cooperating, I’m glad to see the
process is moving forward the way it should.’” [NYT,
10/4/03]
© 2005 American Progress Action Fund
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