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Former Aide McClellan Blames Bush, Rove in CIA Case (Update2)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aLBVJOUDRQws&refer=home
By Holly Rosenkrantz and Ken Fireman
Enlarge Image/Details
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a memoir that he unintentionally misled the public about the leak of a CIA operative's name because of misinformation given to him by President George W. Bush, political adviser Karl Rove and other top officials.
A three-paragraph excerpt from the book released today by the publisher doesn't give details of what the president told McClellan. The case eventually led to the indictment and conviction of Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
``I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby,'' McClellan, 39, wrote. ``There was one problem. It was not true.''
McClellan wrote that he ``unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff, and the president himself.''
White House Response
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said last night that the president ``has not and would not ask anyone to pass on false information.'' She directed reporters to call McClellan, saying he believes the excerpts were taken ``out of context.''
McClellan didn't return a phone call and an e-mail requesting comment.
McClellan doesn't suggest that Bush deliberately lied to him about Libby's and Rove's involvement in the leak, said Peter Osnos, founder and editor-in-chief of Public Affairs Books, which is publishing McClellan's memoir next year.
``He told him something that wasn't true, but the president didn't know it wasn't true,'' Osnos said in a telephone interview. ``The president told him what he thought to be the case.''
In an interview with CNN in March, McClellan said he had said what he ``believed to be true at the time'' and ``it was also what the president believed to be true at the time, based on assurances that we were both given.''
Referring to press briefings he gave in 2003 denying Rove and Libby's involvement, McClellan told CNN: ``Knowing what I know today, I would have never said that back then.''
Conviction
A jury found that Libby lied to thwart the investigation into whether the Bush administration deliberately identified Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame to journalists in 2003 to retaliate against her husband, Joseph Wilson.
Wilson was a critic of Bush's decision to invade Iraq, and in a July 6, 2003, column in the New York Times he accused the administration of ``twisting'' intelligence to justify a war.
On July 14, syndicated columnist Robert Novak identified Wilson's wife as a CIA operative, citing ``two senior administration officials.'' That sparked an investigation by a federal prosecutor at the request of the CIA.
While Rove was questioned during the probe of the leak, he was never charged. Testimony during Libby's trial revealed that he discussed Plame's employment with the CIA with reporters.
Rove, a longtime adviser to Bush and the architect of his two successful presidential campaigns, resigned from the administration last August.
In July, Bush commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence while letting his conviction stand.
McClellan's memoir, ``What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong With Washington'' is scheduled for release in April 2008 by New York-based Public Affairs Books.
McClellan, who followed Bush from Texas to the White House, was press secretary from July 2003 to April 2006.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aLBVJOUDRQws&refer=home
By Holly Rosenkrantz and Ken Fireman
Enlarge Image/Details
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a memoir that he unintentionally misled the public about the leak of a CIA operative's name because of misinformation given to him by President George W. Bush, political adviser Karl Rove and other top officials.
A three-paragraph excerpt from the book released today by the publisher doesn't give details of what the president told McClellan. The case eventually led to the indictment and conviction of Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
``I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby,'' McClellan, 39, wrote. ``There was one problem. It was not true.''
McClellan wrote that he ``unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff, and the president himself.''
White House Response
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said last night that the president ``has not and would not ask anyone to pass on false information.'' She directed reporters to call McClellan, saying he believes the excerpts were taken ``out of context.''
McClellan didn't return a phone call and an e-mail requesting comment.
McClellan doesn't suggest that Bush deliberately lied to him about Libby's and Rove's involvement in the leak, said Peter Osnos, founder and editor-in-chief of Public Affairs Books, which is publishing McClellan's memoir next year.
``He told him something that wasn't true, but the president didn't know it wasn't true,'' Osnos said in a telephone interview. ``The president told him what he thought to be the case.''
In an interview with CNN in March, McClellan said he had said what he ``believed to be true at the time'' and ``it was also what the president believed to be true at the time, based on assurances that we were both given.''
Referring to press briefings he gave in 2003 denying Rove and Libby's involvement, McClellan told CNN: ``Knowing what I know today, I would have never said that back then.''
Conviction
A jury found that Libby lied to thwart the investigation into whether the Bush administration deliberately identified Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame to journalists in 2003 to retaliate against her husband, Joseph Wilson.
Wilson was a critic of Bush's decision to invade Iraq, and in a July 6, 2003, column in the New York Times he accused the administration of ``twisting'' intelligence to justify a war.
On July 14, syndicated columnist Robert Novak identified Wilson's wife as a CIA operative, citing ``two senior administration officials.'' That sparked an investigation by a federal prosecutor at the request of the CIA.
While Rove was questioned during the probe of the leak, he was never charged. Testimony during Libby's trial revealed that he discussed Plame's employment with the CIA with reporters.
Rove, a longtime adviser to Bush and the architect of his two successful presidential campaigns, resigned from the administration last August.
In July, Bush commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence while letting his conviction stand.
McClellan's memoir, ``What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong With Washington'' is scheduled for release in April 2008 by New York-based Public Affairs Books.
McClellan, who followed Bush from Texas to the White House, was press secretary from July 2003 to April 2006.
