Novak Says Bush Knows Who Leaker Is

Posted on December 15, 2005

Conservative columnist Robert Novak declared in a speech this week that President Bush knows who leaked Valerie Plame's name to reporters, blowing her cover as an undercover agent.

Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak, who has repeatedly declined to discuss his role in disclosing the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, said in a speech this week that he is certain President Bush knows who his mystery administration source is.
Novak said Tuesday that the public and press should be asking the president about the official rather than pressing journalists who received the information.
Novak also suggested that the administration official who gave him the information is the same person who mentioned Plame and her CIA role to Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward in the summer of 2003
"I'm confident the president knows who the source is," Novak told a luncheon audience at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, according to an account published yesterday in the Raleigh News & Observer. "I'd be amazed if he doesn't." "So I say, don't bug me. Don't bug Bob Woodward. Bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is," Novak said.

That little bombshell is just now winding its way through the media outlets. One has to wonder what's fueling Novak's sudden willingness to chat about Plamegate and his sudden willingness to point the finger at the White House. Because telling journalists to "bug the President" about revealing the source is not exactly going to endear him to the Bush inner circle.