Novak, in an interview, said his sources had come to him with the information.
"I didn't dig it out, it was given to me," he said. "They thought it was
significant, they gave me the name and I used it."

Raw Story: I know that after this occurred you had gotten a kind letter
from George H. W. Bush expressing his concern and dismay.

Wilson: I got a long hand-written note.

Raw Story: What were his sentiments?

Wilson: He expressed his outrage at what had happened and his understanding of the seriousness of it.

Raw Story: And it was he, the elder Bush, who said of outing CIA assets,
was akin to treason and later the current President used that quote as
well.

Wilson: Yes, he said “those who betray the trust by exposing the names of
our sources" are "the most insidious of traitors.”

Raw Story: Have you spoken or communicated with him since that
note?

Wilson: I have not talked to him in quite a while.

Raw Story: Do you think that the former President Bush is really appalled
by all of this?

Wilson: What I can tell you on that that is that after I wrote my first
article for the San Jose Mercury News, on October 13, 2002, I sent him a
courtesy copy because I referred to the first Gulf War. Within days I got a
letter back from him saying basically that “I agree with virtually everything in
your article.”

I'm struck by how similar the Republican's attack on Richard Clarke and their
defense of Rove are. Both issues cut right to the core of their right-wing being
and needed to be defended, or else they risk losing everything. So that is why
the defense is so ferocious. But it is also why, like the Clarke attack, it is
so scattershot and incoherent.

The National Guard won't meet its recruiting targets for the remainder of
the budget year, the service's top officer said Tuesday.

''It's physically possible,'' Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum
told reporters. ''Is it likely? No, it's not likely we are going to close that
gap.''

Blum's comments came a day after the Pentagon announced that the National
Guard had failed to meet its recruiting goal for June, the ninth straight month.
The service attempted to recruit 5,032 soldiers but could only sign 4,337.

For the 12 months ending Sept. 30, the National Guard has a
goal of recruiting 63,002 soldiers but will end up about 18,000 short, if
current recruiting rates continue.

Blum blamed the slump on the parents of potential recruits who
are advising their children not to sign up for fear of being dispatched to Iraq and Afghanistan. He added that the media has exaggerated the
threat to soldiers in Iraq, exacerbating the recruiting problems.

''It is dangerous, but it is - I shouldn't say it to this group but I'm going to - it is misrepresented, how dangerous it really is,'' he said.

Of about 250,000 National Guardsmen called to active duty since the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist strikes, 262 have been killed, a ''remarkably low'' casualty
rate for the National Guard, he said.

Q: Do you stand by your statement from the fall of 2003, when you were
asked specifically about Karl and Elliot Abrams and Scooter Libby, and you said,
"I've gone to each of those gentlemen, and they have told me they are not
involved in this"?

MCCLELLAN: And if you will recall, I said that, as part of helping the
investigators move forward on the investigation, we're not going to get into
commenting on it. That was something I stated back near that time as well.

Q: Scott, this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before
us, after having commented with that level of detail, and tell people watching
this that somehow you've decided not to talk. You've got a public record out
there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium or not?

MCCLELLAN: I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said. And I
will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is
when the investigation...

Q: (inaudible) when it's appropriate and when it's inappropriate?

MCCLELLAN: If you'll let me finish.

Q: No, you're not finishing. You're not saying anything. You stood at that
podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he
spoke about Joseph Wilson's wife. So don't you owe the American public a fuller
explanation. Was he involved or was he not? Because contrary to what you told
the American people, he did indeed talk about his wife, didn't he?

MCCLELLAN: There will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time
to talk about it.

Q: Do you think people will accept that, what you're saying today?

MCCLELLAN: Again, I've responded to the question.

QUESTION: You're in a bad spot here, Scott... because after the
investigation began -- after the criminal investigation was under way -- you
said, October 10th, 2003, "I spoke with those individuals, Rove, Abrams and
Libby. As I pointed out, those individuals assured me they were not involved in
this," from that podium. That's after the criminal investigation began.Now that
Rove has essentially been caught red-handed peddling this information, all of a
sudden you have respect for the sanctity of the criminal investigation?

MCCLELLAN: No, that's not a correct characterization. And I think you are
well aware of that.....And we want to be helpful so that they can get to the
bottom of this. Because no one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the
president of the United States.I am well aware of what was said previously. I
remember well what was said previously. And at some point I look forward to
talking about it. But until the investigation is complete, I'm just not going to
do that.

Q: So you're now saying that after you cleared Rove and the others from
that podium, then the prosecutors asked you not to speak anymore and since then
you haven't.

MCCLELLAN: Again, you're continuing to ask questions relating to an ongoing
criminal investigation and I'm just not going to respond to them.

Q: When did they ask you to stop commenting on it, Scott? Can you pin down
a date?

MCCLELLAN: Back in that time period.

Q: Well, then the president commented on it nine months later. So was he
not following the White House plan?

MCCLELLAN: I appreciate your questions. You can keep asking them, but you
have my response.

Q: Well, we are going to keep asking them. When did the president learn
that Karl Rove had had a conversation with a news reporter about the involvement
of Joseph Wilson's wife in the decision to send him to Africa?

MCCLELLAN: I've responded to the questions.

Q: When did the president learn that Karl Rove had been...

MCCLELLAN: I've responded to your questions.

QUESTION: Has the President either asked Karl Rove to assure him that he
had nothing to do with this; or did Karl Rove go to the President to assure him
that he . . .

McCLELLAN: I don't think he needs that. I think I've spoken clearly to
this publicly . . . I've just said there's no truth to it.

QUESTION: Yes, but I'm just wondering if there was a conversation between
Karl Rove and the President, or if he just talked to you, and you're here at
this . . .

McCLELLAN: He wasn't involved. The President knows he wasn't involved.

QUESTION: How does he know that?

McCLELLAN: The President knows.

Scott McClellan Press Gaggle September 29, 2003

QUESTION: Weeks ago, when you were first asked whether Mr. Rove had the
conversation with Robert Novak that produced the column, you dismissed it as
ridiculous. And I wanted just to make sure, at that time, had you talked to
Karl?

McCLELLAN: I've made it very clear, from the beginning, that it
is totally ridiculous. I've known Karl for a long time, and I didn't even need
to go ask Karl, because I know the kind of person that he is, and he is someone
that is committed to the highest standards of conduct.

QUESTION: Can you say for the record whether Mr. Rove possessed the
information about Mr. Wilson's wife, but merely did not talk to anybody about
it?

McCLELLAN: I don't know whether or not -- I mean, I'm sure he probably saw
the same media reports everybody else in this room has.

QUESTION: When you talked to Mr. Rove, did you discuss, did you ever have
this information?

McCLELLAN: We're going down a lot of different roads here. I've made it
very clear that he was not involved, that there's no truth to the suggestion
that he was.

Scott McClellan Press Briefing September 29, 2003

QUESTION: Yesterday we were told that Karl Rove had no role in it. . .

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

QUESTION: Have you talked to Karl and do you have confidence in him . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Listen, I know of nobody -- I don't know of anybody in my
administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak
classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate
action.

George W. Bush Remarks to Reporters September 30, 2003

QUESTION: Scott, you have said that you, personally, went to Scooter Libby,
Karl Rove and Elliot Abrams to ask them if they were the leakers . . . Why did
you do that, and can you describe the conversations you had with them?

McCLELLAN: They're good individuals, they're important members of our White
House team, and that's why I spoke with them, so that I could come back to you
and say that they were not involved. I had no doubt of that in the beginning,
but I like to check my information to make sure it's accurate before I report
back to you, and that's exactly what I did.

QUESTION: So you're saying -- you're saying categorically those three
individuals were not the leakers or did not authorize the leaks; is that what
you're saying?

McCLELLAN: That's correct.

Scott McClellan Press Briefing October 7, 2003

QUESTION: Scott, earlier this week you told us that neither Karl Rove,
Elliot Abrams nor Lewis Libby disclosed any classified information with regard
to the leak. I wondered if you could tell us more specifically whether any of
them told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA?

McCLELLAN: I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands.

QUESTION: So none of them told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for
the CIA?

McCLELLAN: They assured me that they were not involved in this.

Scott McClellan Press Briefing October 10, 2003

Question: Do you want to retract your statement that Rove -- Karl Rove was
not involved in the Valerie Plame expose? -- involved?

McClellan: This is -- no, I appreciate the question. This is an ongoing
investigation at this point. The President directed the White House to cooperate
fully with the investigation, and as part of cooperating fully with the
investigation, that means we're not going to be commenting on it while it is
ongoing.

Question: But Rove has apparently commented, through his lawyer, that he
was definitely involved.

McClellan: You're asking me to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Question: I'm saying, why did you stand there and say he was not involved?

McClellan: Again, while there is an ongoing investigation, I'm not going to
be commenting on it, nor is --

McClellanN: -- any remorse?

McClellan: -- nor is the White House, because the President wanted us to
cooperate fully with the investigation, and that's what we're doing.

Question: That's not an answer.

Question: It's not an answer. And you were perfectly willing to comment
from that podium while the investigation was going on, and try to clear Karl
Rove. Why the double standard? Why were you willing to say Karl Rove was not
involved when -- and talk at length about it, when the investigation was going
on, and now that he's been caught red-handed, all of a sudden you've got a new
line?

McClellan: No, I don't think it is the way you characterize it, as new,
because I have said for quite some time that this is an ongoing investigation,
and we're not going to get into discussing it while it's an ongoing
investigation. I've really said all I'm going to say on it.

Question: But you did -- you did discuss it while it was an ongoing
investigation. You stood there and told the American people Karl Rove wasn't
involved.

McClellan: I've said all I'm going to say on it. Go ahead, April.

Consider his two on-the-record comments about the leak (which are both
on-camera):

Reporter: Did you have any knowledge or did you leak the name of the CIA
agent to the press?Rove: No. [ABC, 9/29/03]

Rove: Well, I’ll repeat what I said to ABC News when this whole thing
broke some number of months ago. I didn’t know her name and didn’t leak her
name. [CNN, 8/31/04]

Notice that in the second statement, Rove rephrases what ABC’s original
question was to him, omitting the part where the reporter asked whether he had
“any knowledge” of the leak. Rove offered a categorical denial to the entire
question. The ABC reporter did not ask whether Rove knew Plame’s name – that was simply offered as part of Rove’s later recasting of the question.

If Rove wants to play these legal word games, then he should explain why he
said he did not have any knowledge of the leak when he was Matt Cooper’s source.