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Bush urges patience with Rove


Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
President Bush, in front, urges patience with his Top White House advisor Karl Rove, seating behind him.

Washington / AFP
07/15/2005

While a journalist sits in jail for a never written story, US President George W. Bush urged the US public Wednesday not to assume that his chief political strategist, Karl Rove, acted improperly in the case of a leak that may have unmasked a covert CIA agent.

"It is very important for people not to prejudge the outcome of the investigation based on media reports," the president told reporters during a cabinet meeting as Rove sat quietly behind him.

A federal prosecutor has been looking into who identified Valerie Plame, the wife of a fierce critic of the war in Iraq , as a CIA agent in some 2003 press reports after her husband went public saying the case for war was exaggerated.

Democrats have seized on recent news accounts that say Rove told Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper in 2003 that Plame "apparently works" for the CIA to call on the president to fire Rove or strip him of his security clearance.

"I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports. We're in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed," said Bush.

Bush's comments came as White House officials worried about the political fallout from a growing controversy with national security implications.

"I have instructed every member of my staff to fully cooperate in this investigation," said Bush, who pledged in 2004 to fire any aide found to have leaked classified information in the case.

Cooper meanwhile appeared for two-and-a-half hours before prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury on Wednesday.

"I testified openly and honestly, I have no idea whether a crime was committed or not, that is something that the special council has to determine," he told reporters outside a Washington Courthouse.

The Time reporter was back at court a week after he narrowly escaped going to jail, after receiving what he said was a last minute personal waiver of his guarantee of anonymity from his source, allowing him to testify.

Another reporter, Judith Miller of The New York Times, refused to divulge the name of her source in the episode, and was sent to jail for contempt of court.

"Today we should all remember is Judith Miller's eighth day in jail and the sooner this grand jury recesses, the sooner she can get home," Cooper said.

It was unclear from news reports whether Rove knew that Plame was undercover, which could make a difference under a US law that makes knowingly unmasking a covert CIA agent a crime.

But in the story that triggered the probe, conservative columnist Robert Novak identified her as an "operative" -- a common term for covert agent -- and said the information came from two senior administration officials.