From Scott McClellan

[mmonk]

from his book, "What Happened-Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception", Copyright 2008 Scott McClellan, PublicAffairs a division of Perseus books.

From Chapter 16, p. 307, After The Trial

-snip-

Whether they committed a crime by revealing Plame's identity is something I don't know. It is in part a technical, legal issue that I'm not qualified to judge. None of these men were charged with a crime for revealing her identity. But I do know that what they did was wrong and harmful to national security, regardless of whether her disclosure was detrimental to any sources or methods. Plame was a covert CIA officer at the time, and they shouldn't have been discussing this with reporters, whether it is an indictable offense or not.

The vice president's office sought to find out why Wilson was sent to Niger. When his wife's name was mentioned, it started to circulate within the State Department and White House creating a permissive environment for her identity to be disclosed. As revealed in court filings, Libby sought to enlist Ari Fleischer's help in making it known to reporters. After Novak contacted Rove, Rove went to Libby and let him know that Novak was writing about her role. Rove also disclosed her identity to Matt Cooper of Time magazine.

As for what Rove and Libby told me when I was asked to publicly exonerate them, I can only conclude that they knowingly misled me. The facts have been recounted in this book. But set aside what I have written and consider another important fact. All objective observers, based on the facts that have become public, agree that what I said on their behalf was false; they were in fact involved in anonymously disclosing her identity-or leaking it-to some reporters. And I stated publicly at the time that my comments were based on assurances given to me by Karl and Scooter. I said they had "assured me they were not involved" in the leaking of classified information. I would never had made that statement had I known the facts above.


-snip-

[CJCRANE]

1. Scotty either

has a conscience or he's CYA.

I give him credit for being on the right side of history though.

[mmonk]

2. It could be both.

But he is definitive concerning the facts.

[WilliamPitt]

3. Day late, six hundred billion dollars and 100,000 lives short.

Fuck him.

[mmonk]

4. Can we have that in writing?

[DinahMoeHum]

5. Hey, McClellan! Psss psss psss psss psss! Psss psss psss psss psss!

n/t

[mmonk]

6. More-A nervous president?

pp. 182-183

"Hey, Scott," the president said good-naturedly. "What's on the press's mind today?"
"The reports of a Justice Department investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame's name," I said, knowing his question was just pro forma since he, like all of us, was well aware of the topic du jour. "I want to talk to you about it before I gaggle"
"Karl didn't do it," the president reflexively said, referring to his senior advisor and chief political strategist, Karl Rove. The "it" clearly meant disclosing Plame's identity to reporters. He was holding on to the armrests and leaning back in his chair behind his desk. He seemed in pretty good spirits.
"I know..." I began, not realizing the president had more to say.
"He told me he didn't do it," the president continued, cutting me off in mid sentence.