Karl Rove in the Spotlight

Posted on July 12, 2005

The White House Press Corps woke from its long slumber yesterday and simply pummeled Press Secretary Scott McClellan with questions about Karl Rove's role in Plamegate. Reporters demanded to know if President Bush is still going to fire the leaker, as he promised the American public. They wanted to know why McClellan told them that Rove had nothing to do with the leak, when even his own attorney has now admitted that he spoke to Matthew Cooper of Time magazine about "Joseph Wilson's wife being a CIA agent." It was heated. It was intense and Scotty was sweating like crazy. But he didn't crack, instead saying "no comment" and that it wasn't the time to discuss it.

The New York Times helpfully lays out theprior transcripts of prior White House press briefings about the outing of Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA agent. McClellan's prior statements are very different from the "no comment" mantra repeated by McClellan today.

McClellan at White House press conference: "No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the President of the United States. If someone leaked classified information, the President wants to know. If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates."

Howie Kurtz says the media coverage of this story is just beginning. And I think he might be right.