WASHINGTON, June 20, 2008
Ex-Aide Blames Bush For CIA Leak Uproar
Scott McClellan Tells House Committee President Failed On Promise To Talk Publicly About Case
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Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan (CBS)
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"This White House promised or assured the American people that at some point when this was behind us they would talk publicly about it. And they have refused to," McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee. "And that's why I think more than any other reason we are here today and the suspicion still remains."
He suggested that Mr. Bush could do much to redeem his credibility on the Plame matter and his reasons for going to war in Iraq if he would embrace "openness and candor and then constantly strive to build trust across the aisle."
There was no indication that the Bush administration was going to take McClellan's advice. In fact, the White House was dismissive of the event and McClellan himself.
"I think Scott has probably told everyone everything he doesn't know, so I don't know if anyone should expect him to say anything new today," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
In his recently-released book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan said he was instructed to lie about the role of senior White House officials in the leak of Plame's name.
Mr. Bush's spokesman from 2003-2006, McClellan said that former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told him that the president and vice president wanted him to publicly say that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff at the time, was not involved in the leak.
"I was reluctant to do it," McClellan said. "I got on the phone with Scooter Libby and asked him point-blank, 'Were you involved in this in any way?' And he assured me in unequivocal terms that he was not."
In fact, both Libby and former presidential adviser Karl Rove had discussed Plame's identity with reporters. Libby resigned from office the day he was indicted on charges of covering up the leak. Rove remained, eventually leaving office in August 2007. Rove has never been charged in the case.
Plame maintains the White House quietly outed her to reporters as retribution for criticism from her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, of Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq.
Last July, Mr. Bush commuted Libby's 2½-year sentence, sparing him from serving any prison time. "It was special treatment," McClellan said of the commutation.
McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee that he doesn't know if a crime was committed and does not believe that Mr. Bush knew about or directed the leak. When asked about Cheney, he replied: "I do not know. There's a lot of suspicion there."
Lingering public mistrust of the administration in the sunset of the president's second term is a direct cause of Mr. Bush's justification for the war, later deemed in error and several broken presidential promises, McClellan told the panel.
First, he said, the White House "packaged" prewar intelligence to justify going to war.
"It's public record that they were ignoring caveats and ignoring contradictory intelligence," McClellan said.
Mr. Bush also backtracked or outright broke his promise of accountability in the Plame matter, McClellan said.
The White House had said in 2003 that anyone who leaked classified information in the case would be dismissed. Mr. Bush reiterated that promise in June 2004.
By July 2005, Mr. Bush qualified his position, saying he would fire anyone for leaking classified information if that person had "committed a crime." He then commuted Libby's sentence.
McClellan said the White House was helping the Justice Department investigate the leak, but he knew of no internal White House probe to ferret out and fire the leaker.
"I certainly think that the president should have stuck by his word on the matter, and I certainly view the commutation as it was special treatment," McClellan said. "It does undermine our system of justice."
Republicans cast his testimony as old news. Ranking Republican Lamar Smith questioned the impartiality of McClellan's publisher and said that whatever the witness was instructed to say about the Plame affair was typical work of the White House press office.
"It should be of no surprise that there was spin in the White House Press Office," said Smith. "What White House has not had a communications operation that advocates for its policies? Any recent administration that did not try to promote its priorities should be cited for dereliction of duty."
Rather than discuss the substance of the book, former and current Bush aides "sought to turn it into a game of 'gotcha,' misrepresenting what I wrote and seeking to discredit me though inaccurate personal attacks," McClellan said.
Stunned White House aides fired back at McClellan in May, and Bush press secretary Dana Perino issued a statement that was highly critical of their former colleague.
"Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House," she said last month. "For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad - this is not the Scott we knew."
"Scott himself repeatedly made the case for the war from the podium and even after he left the White House, I remember watching him on Bill Maher’s show - about one year ago - making the case for the war," former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer wrote in a statement. "If Scott had such deep misgivings, he should not have accepted the press secretary position as a matter of principle."
Said former top aide Karl Rove, in an interview with Fox News Channel: "If he had these moral qualms, he should have spoken up about them. And frankly I don't remember him speaking up about these things. I don't remember a single word."
McClellan's book draws a portrait of his former boss as smart, charming and politically skilled, but unwilling to admit mistakes and susceptible to his own spin. Mr. Bush "convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment," McClellan wrote.
He also faults Mr. Bush for a "lack of inquisitiveness."
"President Bush has always been an instinctive leader more than an intellectual leader," McClellan writes. "He is not one to delve deeply into all the possible policy options-including sitting around engaging in extended debate about them-before making a choice. Rather, he chooses based on his gut and his most deeply held convictions. Such was the case with Iraq."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 331 Comments............
Suggestion to Scott, go home to momma, she still believes you.
You got your smart rats, your dumb rats, and your dead rats.
Scott at least isn''t going down with the sinking, stinking Darth Bushit regime.
Come on Scott you are talking about George not an American.
Posted by faith_in_W at 10:36 AM : Jun 20, 2008
He doesn''t need to wear one he''s telling the truth only liars, cheats and Republicans need to wear a flag lapel pin!
McClellan as Press Secretary sharply criticized those that do what he himself has now just done. First, on January 12, 2004 McClellan responded to Treasury Secretary Paul O''Neill''s "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O''Neill," by saying this about the former Treasury head: "It appears to be more about trying to justify personal views and opinions than it does about looking at the results that we are achieving on behalf of the American people."
But wait, it gets even better. This next quote is golden. In response to former Bush White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke''s "Against All Enemies: Inside America''s War on Terror," McClellan had this exchange with a reporter on March 22, 2004:
"McCLELLAN: WELL, WHY, ALL OF A SUDDEN, IF HE HAD ALL THESE GRAVE CONCERNS, DID HE NOT RAISE THESE SOONER? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. AND NOW, ALL OF A SUDDEN, HE''S RAISING THESE GRAVE CONCERNS THAT HE CLAIMS HE HAD. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. HE HAS WRITTEN A BOOK AND HE CERTAINLY WANTS TO GO OUT THERE AND PROMOTE THAT BOOK. Certainly let''s look at the politics of it. His best buddy is Rand Beers, who is the principal foreign policy advisor to Senator Kerry''s campaign. The Kerry campaign went out and immediately put these comments up on their website that Mr. Clarke made. ...
And the Bush supporters hiss and their teeth gnash.
There is weeping and gnashing of teeth as the wicked mourn!
There is weeping and gnashing of teeth from the Bush supporters
posted by jamesm12341
Not as stupid and irrelevant as 99% of yours are.
Ask to be buried wearing one and see if it impresses the Lord.
HAHAHA
if he had any truth to tell,,, he would have said it to the grand jury,,,
right nancy,,, LOL
hahaha
Posted by WDRussell1 at 10:44 AM : Jun 20, 2008
And the Bush supporters hiss and moan.
Posted by faith_in_W
They''re shipping a new batch from China--should be her any day now.
another left wingnut koolaid drinking barking moonbat,,,
do not drink the hussein/jim jones koolaid left wingnut barking moonbat demonic-rats,,,
Koolaid Drinker
People who believe anything they are told. people who refuse to change there minds when confronted with facts.
a koolaid drinker is the liberal democrat who is liberal because they are told they should be. they have made no attempt to decide why they are liberal.
often a koolaid "drinker" simply wants to hate anything a republican does good or bad.
koolaid people are the vocal howard dean wing of the democrat party. the converse of rightwing loonies.
koolaid drinkers are the ones that went first when jim jones said drink.
that earth mama hippy chick is such a sixties burn out wanabe. dude she is just a "koolaid drinker" cut her a break. she listens to air american and npr.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Koolaid+Drinker
Karl Rove said: "If he had these moral qualms, he should have spoken up about them. And frankly I don''t remember him speaking up about these things. I don''t remember a single word."
That''s because Rove has no idea of the meaning of "moral qualms". Those words are not in his vocabulary.
Posted by mudrose at
Yeah mud--do your usual Sgt Schultz impersonation--"I see noting" I hear noting".
If you don''t hear it from Lintball, Hannity or Faux news--it must not be true!!! Hahahaha
got it
Jones Captivated S.F.''s Liberal Elite
They were late to discover how cunningly he curried favor
With these willing workers, Jones made himself the perfect gift for the liberal machine of U.S. Representatives Phillip and John Burton, Assemblyman Willie Brown and Mayor George Moscone, which was trying to consolidate its hold on San Francisco politics.
The turning point in Jones'' drive for power came in 1975, according to Tim Reiterman''s and John Jacobs'' exhaustive study, ``Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his People.'''' Jones'' army of volunteers saturated San Francisco neighborhoods, distributing slate cards for Moscone (running for mayor), Joseph Freitas (district attorney) and Richard Hongisto (sheriff). All three won.
``What you had here was a ready-made volunteer workforce,'''' said Agar Jaicks, who was chairman of the county Democratic Central Committee, the governing body of the Democratic Party in San Francisco. ``And you also had in Jones a man who touched a component of the consensus power forces in the city, such as labor and ethnicity groups, and he was very strong in the Western Addition. So here was a guy who could provide workers for causes progressives cared about.''''
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/11/12/MN85578.DTL
There is weeping and gnashing of teeth as the snakes stick their tongue out at the world as their last days dwindle down through the hour glass.
Posted by raflin1 at 11:09 AM : Jun 20, 2008
Their souls scream out as the lies sting them they attack like a scared animal. Hold on while the wrath of truth pours more burning coal into your bed as you lay down with the great W H O R E. REPENT
Posted by faith_in_W
Who but a moron gives a d@mn about that propaganda tool used by republicons to represent something they are not....patriotic. They must have really done some research of the Nazi propaganda methods of gaining power over the populace. Nazi party members always were their little tin lapel pins too to show their loyality. If you didn''t wear one, your loyality and patriotism was questioned. No difference. Both are scum bags.
Posted by faith_in_W
...and that red tie can only stand for one thing - communism!
He couldn''t get a flag lapel pin from China Bush supporters bought the last shipment, special delivery.
Posted by wayne081 at 11:22 AM : Jun 20, 2008
He''s taller than McCain
Posted by faith_in_W
...and that red tie can only stand for one thing - communism!
Posted by shingles1
But he uses Colgate toothpaste just like Bush and Blair...
I just follow the dumocrats road map. Get a life!!
Vote McCain
Posted by wayne081 at 11:27 AM : Jun 20, 2008
New Poll
76 % believe America is on the wrong track
McBush is part of the reason
No thanks
Posted by wayne081 at 11:22 AM : Jun 20, 2008
That sounds strange coming from you, after reading your posts.
Posted by faith_in_W
...and that red tie can only stand for one thing - communism!
Posted by shingles1
But he uses Colgate toothpaste just like Bush and Blair...
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Posted by IOWEIGN
================================================
He does that to throw off suspicion, that all.
Posted by wayne081 at 11:22 AM : Jun 20, 2008
Well what is he lying about?? Come on swastika breath! You bootlickers are handed these lines to repeat but you NEVER seem to know exactly what it is that was supposed to be false about his book or his account. HE is willing to go UNDER OATH and tell his side of the story... where are those who throw stones... let them take the Oath and testify!! SIEG HEIL BUSH!! ROFLMAO Folks I''ve got PLANTS smarter than this loser!!
They will watch this country collapse before they''d ever be willing to acknowledge the fact that they fell for this administrations lies hook, line and sinker.
Sad.
Ask to be buried wearing one and see if it impresses the Lord.
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Posted by mrright5
===================================================
Thats a swell idea! I am sure it will. I have given much thought on the clothes I want to die in so God will be impressed with me.
Nothing will come from his Bush-bashing book or his chatting with the Democrat-controlled congress - except he will make a lot of money off of a bunch of stir-crazy liberals.
Yawn.
He may be trying to ''step away'' from Bush, Cheney, and the others, but he''s smart enough to know he better not DIRECTLY tell on them!
They will prove they remain insane by voting for McSame. He may have spent five years in POW prison, but he comes from a military family, and has said we may be in Iraq for a HUNDRED years. Is this the road our children need to travel?
They will prove they remain insane by voting for McSame. He may have spent five years in POW prison, but he comes from a military family, and has said we may be in Iraq for a HUNDRED years. Is this the road our children need to travel?
Posted by panhandlpete
It''s been long established that Armitage outted Plame who was never really covert to begin with. Be that as it may, this dork was not an inner-circle guy. He was given his daily talking points and was no where near any decision-making processes. His book is purely to make money. His publisher is backed by George Soros and it''s just more spin; more fodder for the little lefty dolts. His book is a travesty; he''ll not make the money he was hoping to make. The right views him as a Judas and the left pundits see him as a Jerk. He deserves both monikers.
Yeah, Karl Rove should be the moral compass for everyone; he exudes morality like rocks ooze orange juice.
Well, Dana, the other thing you left out is, "This is not the Bush we know." Yeah, right.
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