Root of the Rove controversy is the war in Iraq
U.S. justification for waging war on Saddam still haunts White House
Larry Downing / Reuters
President Bush speaks to the press following a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove in the background.
• Bush: CIA leak investigation ‘serious’
July 13: President Bush says that he will withhold judgment about top aide Karl Rove’s involvement in leaking the identity of a CIA agent.
MSNBC
David Gregory
Chief White House correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC - President Bush said on Wednesday that he will reserve judgement on Karl Rove’s possible involvement in the leaking of a CIA agent's identity until the special prosecutor’s criminal investigation into the matter is complete.
"This is a serious investigation," Bush said at the end of a meeting with his Cabinet, with Rove, his Deputy Chief of Staff, sitting just behind him. "I will be more than happy to comment on this matter once this investigation is complete,” Bush said.
While the White House seemingly stands by its man, NBC News Chief White House correspondent David Gregory discusses the investigation, how the administration is expected to proceed, and how the root of the scandal is once again the controversial justifications for the war in Iraq.
Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, came to Rove’s defense during a press briefing on Tuesday by saying, “Any individual who works here at the White House has the confidence of the president. They wouldn’t be working here at the White House if they didn’t.” What is the likelihood that Bush would ever actually fire Rove, a close confident and the architect of his re-election campaign?
I think, were Karl Rove to be indicted for any crime, it would be impossible for the president to keep him on. Short of that, I don’t think that he will go anywhere. I think the president will stand behind him.
If you look, the president’s past comments were pretty clear: that anyone who is responsible for leaking classified information, which is a crime, would be fired. Until and unless that’s proven in this case, I don’t think that Karl Rove will go anywhere.
As to the question of whether what Karl Rove did was a smear campaign, or politically sleazy, it’s pretty clear to me that everyone in White House — from the president, to the vice-president, to other officials — shared Rove’s interest in discrediting former ambassador Joseph Wilson who was critical of the administration’s case for going to war in Iraq.
Other than standing by Rove, how much longer can the White House remain silent and dodge this issue?
The president spoke out this morning to say it’s an ongoing investigation and that they should get to the bottom of it. But, beyond that, he’ll try to make it clear that Karl Rove continues to do his job as normal, that it’s business as usual, and that he retains the president’s confidence. It’s pretty clear that’s the case.
The White House has a political problem because they have made statements that are wrong and that are no longer accurate. That’s brought the heat on them.
The president just said today that he “will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports.” So, it doesn’t appear that he is going to comment beyond that.
