http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20031230/ts_nm/iraq_leak_ashcroft_dc Ashcroft Steps Down from CIA Leak Probe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) will step aside from the politically charged investigation into a leak related to the Iraq (news - web sites) war and the Justice Department (news - web sites) will name a special prosecutor, department officials said on Tuesday. The officials gave few details, saying only that Ashcroft was stepping down from the investigation and it would now be headed by the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald. Further details are expected at a 2 p.m. news conference. The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into who had disclosed the identity of a CIA (news - web sites) officer whose husband had challenged President Bush (news - web sites)'s claims about Iraq's weapons threat. Disclosing the identity of a clandestine intelligence officer is a federal crime as is leaking classified information to the media. Democrats in Congress had demanded that Ashcroft, who was appointed by Bush to head the Justice Department, should step aside and name an outside counsel to run the probe. The investigation stemmed from the disclosure in July that the wife of a former U.S. envoy in Iraq and Gabon, Joseph Wilson, was an undercover CIA officer specializing in weapons of mass destruction. Wilson has charged that the Bush administration officials made public his wife's name in an act of revenge after he accused the White house of exaggerating the weapons threat from Iraq, Washington's main justification for going to war. Wilson went to Niger early in 2002 at the CIA's request to assess a report that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger. Wilson found the allegation to be highly doubtful and the International Atomic Energy Agency later dismissed it as based on forged documents. But the charge found its way into Bush's State of the Union speech in January as part of the U.S. case against Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). Only after Wilson went public did the White house admit Bush should not have included it, blaming the CIA. The furor over the leak broke as Bush faced low approval ratings and growing political pressure over the continued killing and disorder in Iraq. In addition, no weapons of mass destruction have been found by U.S. teams in Iraq since the war ended.
This isn't an independent "Special Prosecutor", but it's finally a step in the right direction and long overdue.
Very wierd. Maybe the CIA is fighting back. Maybe Ascroft and gang have already cleaned it up. Someone is to be sacrificed.
Agreed. An independent investigator is almost always needed to look into governmental abuses, but this is a positive step.
So when do we get the Whitewater 2 prosecutor? http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/01/elec04.neil.bush.ap/index.html WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's brother Neil made at least $798,218 on three stock trades in a small U.S. high-tech company where he had been a consultant, according to his tax returns, including $171,370 buying and selling the company's shares in a single day. . . . I think Neil Bush must be running our foreign policy in the Far East and he's partially responsible for the rebound in Nasdaq, too. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35297-2003Dec27.html . . . But Neil Bush has surpassed them all. Bush has done something that no other American has ever accomplished: He has become the embarrassing relative of not one but two presidents. . . .
Leadership on display. The moral courage to make the right decision regardless of the consequences. Rule of law. ______________ No Word From Bush On Forms in Leak Probe FBI Tactic Encourages Reporters to Talk By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 6, 2004; Page A04 ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Jan. 5 -- White House press secretary Scott McClellan declined to say Monday whether President Bush thinks his aides should sign forms that would release reporters from any pledges of confidentiality regarding the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. A senior administration official said investigators have begun asking several Bush aides to sign the FBI forms after the reorganization of the three-month-old probe, to be overseen by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald of Chicago instead of by officials at Justice Department headquarters. The forms could put pressure on White House officials as well as journalists, who would be told that the source wants reporters to answer the FBI's questions rather than assert any journalistic privilege. Time magazine reported that Karl Rove, Bush's senior adviser, was among the recipients of the forms. McClellan said Bush has directed his aides to "cooperate fully in this investigation." Citing an ongoing investigation, however, he would not say whether the president thinks that extends to signing the forms. "That's asking a specific question about matters that should be directed to the career officials at the Department of Justice," McClellan said. "The president has always said that leaking classified information is a serious matter, and certainly no one wants to get to the bottom of this more than he does." The investigation is aimed at pinning down who in the government revealed Plame's identity, which was printed by columnist Robert D. Novak on July 14. The formal investigation began Sept. 30, and Bush has expressed doubt that the leaker will be found, citing the number of people who could fit Novak's description of his source: a "senior administration official." One government official familiar with such investigations called the forms a "quintessential cover-your-rear-end" move by investigators. "It provides political cover, because you can say you tried everything, and this is a very politically charged environment," the official said. "There's no other value to it."
I'm really happy to hear this. I think this is the most serious issue facing Bush's whitehouse. I say that because Iraq, IMO, is many issues and not one single one. But Iraq does tie into this. It's bad enough that someone in Bush's whitehouse committed a felony, and that person has top level security clearance. It's even worse that this person, who's a member of the whitehouse, did this while we have troops in the field, and are engaged and perhaps even more importantly while we are fighting a war on terrorism. The war on terrorism is a war that relies heavily on the intel agencies, and informants, connections, undercover agents etc. It's discomforting to say the least that somebody in our Presidents whitehouse would blow the cover of an intel agent. We don't know what this does to contacts she's made, other agents, etc. Even if I agreed 100% with every other policy decision the president has made, this would give me cause for very serious concern.
When you have half the Supreme Court in your pocket, nothing too bad is going to happen to you. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...5feb05,1,3912983.story?coll=la-home-headlines Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Raised By David G. Savage and Richard A. Serrano, Times Staff Writers PATTERSON, La. -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks. The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force. According to those who met them at the small airstrip here, the justice and the vice president flew from Washington on Jan. 5 and were accompanied by a second, backup Air Force jet that carried staff and security aides to the vice president. Two military Black Hawk helicopters were brought in and hovered nearby as Cheney and Scalia were whisked away in a heavily guarded motorcade en route to a secluded, private hunting camp owned by an oil industry businessman. The Los Angeles Times previously reported that the two men hunted ducks together while the case was pending, but it wasn't clear then that they had traveled together or that Scalia had accompanied Cheney on Air Force Two. . . .
I think we have a winner. http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/02/17/National/Cheneys.Staff.Focus.Of.Probe-598606.shtml Cheney's Staff Focus of Probe Posted Feb. 5, 2004 By Richard Sale Published: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer's identity last year. 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, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls. 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. The case centers on Valerie Plame, a CIA operative then working for the weapons of mass destruction division, and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who served as ambassador to Gabon and as a senior U.S. diplomat in Baghdad in the early 1990s. Under President Bill Clinton, he was head of African affairs until he retired in 1998, according to press accounts. . . .
Ouch! 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. Man, if this is true we could end up with an "Agnew" here, at the very least. The Plame case has been a ticking time bomb for the Administration that they have been throwing water on since it broke. They may be running out of water.
I hope GWB has the moral clarity to do the right thing: Suspend these two guys without pay until the matter is settled. Visions of future potential Presidential pardons are dancing through my head.
That's one way to look at it, sure... but if Cheney has to resign before the election because of this it's not a plus for Bush. And it's not impossible that things could be headed that way. Who's going to be willing to spend years in a Federal pen for him? Or Bush? They may figure they'll get a pardon, but I wouldn't put my faith in that.
This really good. Heads need to roll for what happened. It's a dangerous thing having a felon who leaks national security secrets running loose with top level security clearance. Something this important should be handeled independent of of any election schedule. Obviously the sooner it's done the better it is for our national security but the job should be done correctly, so if that takes longer than November to complete then so be it.
That's one way to look at it, sure... but if Cheney has to resign before the election because of this it's not a plus for Bush. And it's not impossible that things could be headed that way. Who's going to be willing to spend years in a Federal pen for him? Or Bush? They may figure they'll get a pardon, but I wouldn't put my faith in that. True - I just have my doubts that it'll will get to the point of forcing a Cheney resignation. I'm betting he'll just be forced out for the next ticket, and that lets them bring in someone better.
Having Cheney as VP for the second term is a bit of a mistake for the Republicans. If they win (or lose) in 2004, Cheney will not the guy in 2008 (if his heart even makes it that long). A better plan would be to pick someone who actually wants to run in 2008.
FBI turns up the heat... Bush Aides Testify in Leak Probe Grand Jury Called McClellan, 2 Others By Mike Allen and Susan Schmidt Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, February 10, 2004; Page A01 A federal grand jury has questioned one current and two former aides to President Bush, and investigators have interviewed several others, in an effort to discover who revealed the name of an undercover CIA officer to a newspaper columnist, sources involved in the case said yesterday. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday that he talked to the grand jury on Friday. Mary Matalin, former counselor to Vice President Cheney, testified Jan. 23, the sources said. Adam Levine, a former White House press official, also testified Friday, the sources said. None is suspected by prosecutors of having exposed undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame, but they were questioned about White House public relations strategy, the sources said. FBI agents have interviewed those and at least five other current and former Bush aides and have questioned them about thousands of e-mails that the White House surrendered in October, along with stacks of call logs and calendars, the sources said. The logs indicate that several White House officials talked to columnist Robert D. Novak shortly before July 14, when he published a column quoting "two senior administration officials" saying that Plame, "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction," had suggested her husband for a mission to Niger to investigate whether Iraq tried to acquire uranium there as part of an effort to develop nuclear weapons. White House witnesses have been asked about cell phone calls and have been shown handwritten, diary-style notes from colleagues, as well as e-mails from reporters to administration officials. In at least a few cases, the FBI questioning was portrayed as very aggressive, with agents homing in on specific conversations with journalists. "Even witnesses that they describe as being potentially helpful are being treated as adversaries," a source close to the investigation said. Plame is married to Joseph C. Wilson IV, former U.S. ambassador to Gabon. He became a prominent critic of Bush's case for war after conducting the mission in 2002 and finding no proof that Iraq had tried to buy nuclear materials. The White House e-mails include criticism of Wilson, the sources said. Wilson is an unpaid foreign policy adviser to the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), and has made campaign stops for him in Iowa, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Massachusetts and Washington state. A parallel FBI investigation into the apparent forgery of documents suggesting that Iraq attempted to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger is "at a critical stage," according to a senior law enforcement official who declined to elaborate. That probe, conducted by FBI counterintelligence agents, was launched last spring after U.N. officials pronounced the documents crude forgeries. Several sources involved in the leak case said the questioning suggests prosecutors are preparing to seek testimony from Novak and perhaps other journalists. "There's a very good likelihood they're going to litigate against journalists," one source said. News organizations typically resist subpoenas or other methods of obtaining information about confidential sources. In the Plame case, prosecutors have tried to overcome that obstacle by asking several White House officials to sign waivers requesting "that no member of the news media assert any privilege or refuse to answer any questions from federal law enforcement authorities on my behalf or for my benefit." The sources said most officials declined to sign the form on the advice of their attorneys. "It would just be helping the government to put more pressure on journalists to reveal sources," one of the lawyers said. Legal experts said the request for waivers may be intended to show that the FBI has used all possible means to get the information, as Justice Department regulations require, before bringing reporters before the grand jury. The reporters' news-gathering privilege is limited, and "it's most vulnerable in the course of a criminal probe," said Washington defense lawyer Solomon Wisenberg. The Intelligence Identities Protection Act makes it a felony to disclose a covert agent's identity if the person making the disclosure knew the covert status of the employee and revealed it intentionally. Officials interviewed by the FBI include Karl Rove, Bush's senior adviser; McClellan; Matalin; Levine; White House communications director Dan Bartlett; former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer; I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff; and Cathie Martin, a Cheney aide, according to the sources. McClellan said at a briefing on Oct. 10 that Rove and Libby, the only interview subjects about whom he had been publicly questioned, "assured me they were not involved in this." McClellan told reporters on Air Force One yesterday that his appearance was a matter of "doing my part to cooperate, as the president directed all of us to do." Matalin, reached by telephone, said, "I can't comment." Wilson has said his CIA mission was undertaken in response to questions raised by the vice president. But administration officials have said Cheney knew nothing about Wilson or his trip. Officials said authorities are very interested in who had the security clearance to know about Plame's identity, and how that information might have come into the White House or have been spread once it did. The investigators have also studied how the White House reacted to Wilson's first public attack on Bush's case about Iraq. Eight days before Novak's column, Wilson was quoted in The Washington Post, published an opinion article in the New York Times and appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26979-2004Feb9.html
