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Bush sidesteps questions about CIA leak
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-05 10:25
US President Bush batted away questions about the CIA leak investigation
Friday, unable at an Americas summit thousands of miles from Washington to
escape the controversy that has ensnared a top White House official and weakened
his own popularity.
Taking questions for the first time since the indictment of I. Lewis
"Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Bush
declined to answer calls from Democrats and some Republicans that he apologize
for any administration official's involvement in the case.
Bush also wouldn't say if staff changes were in the works. He sidestepped a
question about whether Karl Rove, his top political adviser who remains under
investigation in the CIA leak case, should stay on the job. And the president
wouldn't comment on whether Rove told him the truth about his role in the events
that led up the investigation.
"You're trying to get me to comment on the investigation, which I'm not going
to do," Bush told a small group of reporters after meeting with Latin American
leaders on the sidelines of the 34-nation Summit of the Americas. "And I hope
you understand that. It's a serious investigation, and it's an important
investigation. But it's not yet over."
The questions about the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame shadowed Bush as
he attended the two-day summit here which ends Saturday.
The summit's opening day was marked by energetic and mostly peaceful
anti-American demonstrations that turned violent when hundreds of protesters
hurled rocks, smashed storefronts and set bonfires less than a mile from the
meetings. Police in riot gear responded with tear gas.
Bush goes on to stops in Brazil and Panama.
Back in Washington, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has
called on Bush to hold a prime-time news conference to answer lingering
questions.
Libby's indictment has enabled Democrats to raise anew questions about the
Bush administration's primary justification for invading Iraq, the assertion —
later proven wrong — that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats have called on Bush to
apologize for the White House misleading the public on the CIA leak case.
Privately, some Republicans have urged the same.
In a letter to the White House, four Democratic congressmen also questioned
Rove's suitability to hold a security clearance. Federal guidelines say
allegations or admissions of criminal conduct, regardless of whether a person is
formally charged, may disqualify a person from holding a security clearance.
In June 2004, Bush said he stood by his previous pledge to "fire anybody" in
his administration shown to have leaked Plame's name. His press secretary, after
checking with Libby and Rove, assured the public that neither man had anything
to do with the leak.
It turns out both were involved, though Rove has not been charged and neither
man has been accused of breaking the law against revealing the identity of an
undercover agent.
Libby was charged with lying to investigators and the grand jury about
leaking the CIA status of Plame, who was a covert officer. Plame's CIA status
was exposed after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the
administration of twisting intelligence before the war to exaggerate the Iraqi
threat from weapons of mass destruction.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is said to be still considering whether
Rove illegally misled investigators.
The case has further damaged Bush's standing in the polls. A new AP-Ipsos
poll found Bush's approval rating was at 37 percent, compared with 39 percent a
month ago. A Washington Post-ABC News poll also found six in 10 Americans say
Rove should resign.
Bush lamented being repeatedly asked in recent weeks about poll numbers that
are the lowest of his presidency. To virtually every question on the leak case,
he responded by pivoting to the importance of focusing instead on his agenda.
"I understand there is a preoccupation by the polls and by some," Bush said.
"The way you earn credibility with the American people is to declare an agenda
that everybody can understand, an agenda that relates to their lives, and get
the job done."
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, is seeking to capitalize on Bush's troubles
to help elect members of their party to Congress in 2006. A fund-raising letter
sent Friday by Democrat Nancy Pelosi alleged that "the Republicans have run this
country under the mantle of profit, partisanship, and power for long enough."
The only question in the 12-minute exchange with reporters that Bush directly
answered was one about how he would greet Hugo Chavez, the outspoken, leftist
leader of Venezuela who is using the summit as a stage to needle Bush and
bolster his own standing among Latin American nations. Bush promised to "of
course, be polite."
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