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Rove fight escalates { July 15 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050715-121257-9887r.htm http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050715-121257-9887r.htm Rove fight escalates By Stephen Dinan and Joseph Curl THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published July 15, 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The partisan fight over Karl Rove exploded onto the Senate floor yesterday, with Democrats trying to strip him of his security clearance and Republicans retaliating by trying to strip the chamber's two top Democrats of theirs. The moves, which came as amendments to a spending bill, both failed, but not before each side blamed the other for "juvenile" behavior and for poisoning a well of good feelings they said had existed in the past few weeks. Some senators said the entire exercise was wrong. "There might be a contest between which of these amendments is more poorly drafted," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican, who voted against both amendments. "We should not be doing this. This is exactly why the American public holds Congress in such low esteem right now," said Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, who also opposed both. Meanwhile, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, whose wife, Valerie Plame, and her identity as a cover CIA employee is the central issue, came to the Capitol to call for President Bush to fire Mr. Rove. "I believe it is time for Karl Rove to go and time for this president to live up to his promises that anyone involved in this leak would be fired," Mr. Wilson said during a press conference with Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, steps away from the Senate floor. Mr. Bush said in 2003 that he would fire whoever leaked the information about Mrs. Plame's identity. Mr. Rove spoke to Time magazine's Matt Cooper about Mr. Wilson's wife, warning the reporter about Mr. Wilson's false claim that he was sent to Niger by Vice President Dick Cheney. Democrats have since called repeatedly for Mr. Rove to be fired or at least lose his security clearance as White House deputy chief of staff. But Republicans said to wait for results from a special prosecutor who is investigating the case and could be considering charges of obstruction of justice or perjury. A former CIA covert agent who supervised Mrs. Plame early in her career yesterday took issue with her identification as an "undercover agent," saying that she worked for more than five years at the agency's headquarters in Langley and that most of her neighbors and friends knew that she was a CIA employee. "She made no bones about the fact that she was an agency employee and her husband was a diplomat," Fred Rustmann, a covert agent from 1966 to 1990, told The Washington Times. "Her neighbors knew this, her friends knew this, his friends knew this. A lot of blame could be put on to central cover staff and the agency because they weren't minding the store here. ... The agency never changed her cover status." Mr. Rustmann, who spent 20 of his 24 years in the agency under "nonofficial cover" -- also known as a NOC, the same status as the wife of Mr. Wilson -- also said that she worked under extremely light cover. In addition, Mrs. Plame hadn't been out as an NOC since 1997, when she returned from her last assignment, married Mr. Wilson and had twins, USA Today reported yesterday. The distinction matters because a law that forbids disclosing the name of undercover CIA operatives applies to agents that had been on overseas assignment "within the last five years." "She was home for such a long time, she went to work every day at Langley, she was in an analytical type job, she was married to a high-profile diplomat with two kids," Mr. Rustmann said. "Most people who knew Valerie and her husband, I think, would have thought that she was an overt CIA employee." Asked whether his wife had been compromised before the press leak, Mr. Wilson said, "I have no idea," though he said that her work has had to change since the leaks. "My wife's status is that she is back at work, obviously in a different capacity, and she no longer has the cover that she once held," he said. One neighbor of the Wilsons, who live in the affluent Palisades community in Northwest, said that he "absolutely didn't know" that Mrs. Plame was in the CIA. "We understood her to work as an economist," said David Tillotson, a 62-year old lawyer. He said he didn't know that Mrs. Plame commuted to CIA headquarters, but added that "they wouldn't be conducting an investigation if she hadn't been covert." Democrats had been pressuring the White House to act all week, but yesterday decided to try to force the matter. Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, along with Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and three other top Democrats, called for the end of security clearance for anyone "who discloses, or has disclosed, classified information, including the identity of a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, to a person not authorized to receive such information." "Even a child knows that if a person can't keep a secret, you stop telling him secrets," Mr. Schumer said. Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, called Democrats' amendment "purely a political amendment" and then submitted his own. It would have stripped clearance from federal officeholders who make "reference to a classified Federal Bureau of Investigation report on the floor of the United States Senate, or any federal officeholder that makes a statement based on a FBI agent's comments which is used as propaganda by terrorist organizations thereby putting our servicemen and women at risk." The former is a reference to Mr. Reid, who mentioned the FBI file of one of Mr. Bush's judicial nominees, and the latter is a reference to Mr. Durbin, whose comparison of U.S. interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay to Nazi and Soviet regimes was cited in Middle Eastern press, including Al Jazeera. Mr. Frist's amendment failed 64-33, with 20 Republicans joining Democrats and one independent in voting against it, while Mr. Reid's amendment failed on a party-line vote, 53-44. President Bush yesterday gave his longtime confidant an unusual show of support, walking out side by side with Mr. Rove on the White House South Lawn as he headed to his helicopter to leave for a trip to Indiana. The president almost always walks out alone, with his aides following behind. Later in the day, about 100 protesters -- chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Karl Rove has got to go" -- picketed outside the White House while Mr. Bush was in Indiana. The protesters were organized by the liberal group MoveOn.org, which provided signs that read: "Stop the Cover-up: Fire Karl Rove." • Nathan Burchfiel contributed to this report.

Administration blows cover of whistleblower { August 8 2003 } Agee calls leak dirty politics Agee discusses leak of name Agee sees whitehouse getting blowback Another time reported testomy may help rove { December 12 2005 } Appeals court upheld ruling against reporters over leak { February 15 2005 } Ashcroft recused self from investigation { December 31 2003 } Buchanan comments on mclaughlin july 15 05 { July 15 2005 } Bush admits cia leak came from whitehouse { July 12 2007 } Bush aide testifies leak probe { February 9 2004 } Bush and lawyer huddle on CIA leak { June 2 2004 } Bush commuted libby prison sentence { June 2007 } Bush defends declassification of prewar report Bush jokes to reporter about cia leak Bush knew of pending cia leak Bush toughens support of leak investigation { October 7 2003 } Cheney advisor resigns after indictment Cheney aide also linked to cia leak { July 18 2005 } Cheney aide says bush approved leak { April 6 2006 } Cheney and rove lose importance in whitehouse Cheney may use executive privilege { October 29 2005 } Cheney reportedly interviewed in leak of CIA name { June 5 2004 } Cheney source of officer name to libby { October 25 2005 } Cheney staff focus of probe { February 17 2004 } Cheney to be defense witness in cia leak case Cia blocks varerie plame book Cia name leak from whitehouse { September 30 2003 } Cia probe widens Colleague says armitage was cia leak source { August 29 2006 } Did rove blow spooks cover { September 16 2003 } Doj investigation whitehouse reveal cia agent Fitzgerald calls new grand jury after woodward testimony { November 19 2005 } Judith freed to testify about source lewis libby { September 30 2005 } Judith miller cant remember where name came from { October 16 2005 } Judith miller retires from the times Karl rove testifies before federal grand jury on leak Last day of probe keeping whitehouse jittery Leaders express outrage for libby commuted sentence { July 3 2007 } Leaker said wilson wife fair game { September 28 2003 } Libby charges dont address cia leak Libby lawyer told miller to clear scooter libby { October 16 2005 } Libby may have hidden cheney role { November 13 2005 } Libby perjury worse than lewinsky perjury Libby retains 5th amendment by avoiding pardon { July 3 2007 } Libby says white house superiors approved leak { February 9 2006 } Libby scapegoated to protect karl rove { January 24 2007 } Libby trial delayed right after 2006 elections { February 4 2006 } Matthew cooper testify after rove lawyers maneuvering { July 7 2005 } Mcclellan cant clear cheney in cia leak case { June 20 2008 } Memo central to leak delivered to powell { July 21 2005 } Nbc russert rebuts libby testimony { February 7 2007 } New tork times reporter jailed for concealing leak { July 7 2005 } New york times reporter given top security clearance { October 16 2005 } Novak claims book was source of leak { August 2 2005 } Novak points to cia { October 1 2003 } Novak pokes fun at cia leak Novak wont give up source { October 1 2003 } Pat buchanan says neocons behind whole thing { July 15 2005 } Powell gives testimony to grand jury Press secretary says bush behind leak { October 2007 } Prison fines await those leak cia identities Probe exposing cia identity { September 29 2003 } Prosecutor investigating coverup of leak { July 27 2005 } Prosecutors question Bush on CIA name leak { June 25 2004 } Reporter held in contempt Rove and libby worked damage control { July 22 2005 } Rove blamed libby to jury { October 20 2005 } Rove called to testify 5th time { April 27 2006 } Rove confirmed plame indirectly lawyer says { July 15 2005 } Rove emailed security official about matthew cooper { July 11 2003 } Rove fight escalates { July 15 2005 } Rove legal team furious efforts to convince prosecutor { October 27 2005 } Rove mclellan interviewed cia probe { October 23 2003 } Rove told cooper wilsons wife works for agency { July 11 2005 } Rove wont face indictment in cia leak case { June 13 2006 } Story from two senior whitehouse employees Time magazine talked to rove for plane story Time reporters in contempt of court for cia leak Time reporters says he first learned of plame from rove { July 18 2005 } Valerie plame does vanity fair spread { December 3 2003 } Whitehouse press secretary contradicts libby { December 2007 } Wilson suggested rove leaked { September 30 2003 } Woodward attacked by liberals { November 18 2005 } Woodward eyed after calling fitzgerald overzealous { November 17 2005 } Woodward was told of plame before leak { November 16 2005 } Files Listed: 85

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