Democrats attack Bush aide over CIA leak charges

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House faced fierce
questioning on Monday over top political aide Karl Rove’s
involvement in a CIA leak scandal and Democratic calls mounted
for President Bush to sideline the adviser.

One Democratic lawmaker said the intentional disclosure of
a covert agent’s identity amounted to an “act of treason.”
Others urged Bush to sideline Rove by suspending his access to
classified information and said the aide should “clear the air”
by answering questions from Congress.

After publicly defending Rove two years ago, the White
House responded to a barrage of pointed questions on Monday by
saying that it would not comment at the request of the
prosecutors investigating who leaked the identify of the CIA
agent, Valerie Plame.

Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday that Rove was one of
the secret sources who spoke to Time magazine reporter Matt
Cooper about Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph
Wilson. The Washington Post on Monday quoted Rove’s lawyer as
saying that his client did not mention Plame by name.

Plame’s name was leaked, her diplomat husband said, because
of his criticism of the Bush administration’s handling of the
Iraq war. Rove’s lawyer was not immediately available to
comment.

“The president should immediately suspend Karl Rove’s
security clearances and shut him down by shutting him out of
classified meetings or discussions,” said Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat.

Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and the ranking
minority member of the House Government Reform Committee,
called for a congressional hearing to hear testimony from Rove,
who is widely seen as the architect of Bush’s election
victories.

“The recent disclosures about Mr. Rove’s actions have such
serious implications that we can no longer responsibly ignore
them. The intentional disclosure of a covert CIA agent’s
identity would be an act of treason,” Waxman said.

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote the White
House asking Rove to “tell Americans what he knew, when he knew
it, and who he may have told about Valerie Plame’s identity in
order to clear the air once and for all.”

A U.S. federal judge had ordered Cooper, along with New
York Times reporter Judith Miller, to testify in the case and
reveal their sources. Cooper avoided a jail sentence last week
by agreeing to testify. Miller refused to testify and was
jailed.

INUNDATED WITH QUESTIONS

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who was inundated
with questions about Rove at his daily news briefing, declined
to comment when asked whether Bush continued to have confidence
in Rove. “You’re asking this question in the context of an
ongoing investigation, and I would not read anything into it,”
McClellan said of his refusal to comment.

McClellan also refused to say whether Rove’s job could be
changed, or whether Bush stood by his pledge to fire anybody
found responsible for the leak.

“I think we all want to see the prosecutors get to the
bottom of this matter, the president wants to see the
prosecutors get to the bottom of this matter,” McClellan said.

A grand jury investigation by special counsel Patrick
Fitzgerald, a Justice Department prosecutor, is seeking to
determine who in the Bush administration leaked Plame’s name to
the media in 2003 and whether any laws were violated.

McClellan would not address what critics said were
contradictory statements issued in the past by the White House
and now by Rove’s lawyer.

“I am well aware of what was said previously. I remember
well what was said previously, and at some point, I look
forward to talking about it. But until the investigation is
complete, I’m just not going to do that,” McClellan said.

In September and October 2003, McClellan rejected as
“ridiculous” any suggestion that Rove was involved in the Plame
leak.

When asked at an Oct. 10, 2003, briefing whether Rove and
two other White House aides had ever told any reporter that
Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, McClellan said: “I spoke with
those individuals… and those individuals assured me they were
not involved in this… the leaking of classified information.”