NYT : Bush Says He Will Withhold Judgment on Rove Inquiry

July 14, 2005

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON

WASHINGTON, July 13 - President Bush said Wednesday that he would withhold judgment on whether Karl Rove, his senior adviser and political strategist, had identified an undercover C.I.A. operative in a conversation with a reporter for Time magazine.
Mr. Bush's comment came nearly two years after he suggested that he would fire anyone in his administration who had knowingly leaked the identity of the operative, Valerie Wilson. Her naming has led to a federal grand jury investigation.
On Wednesday, in his first remarks on the matter since the disclosure that Mr. Rove had alluded to the Central Intelligence Agency officer in a background interview in July 2003 with Matthew Cooper, a White House correspondent for Time, Mr. Bush held that it would be wrong to discuss the case while the investigation was under way.
"I have instructed every member of my staff to fully cooperate in this investigation," Mr. Bush told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports."
Mr. Bush neither criticized nor defended Mr. Rove. But Mr. Rove sat directly behind him as he spoke, sending a visual signal that he remained on the job and at the president's elbow, where he has been throughout Mr. Bush's political career.
As Mr. Bush was speaking, Mr. Cooper was testifying to the federal grand jury. Afterward, Mr. Cooper said he had answered all questions during his two-and-a-half hours of testimony. He did not say what the questions were, but said he intended to write an account of his experience for Time.
"I testified openly and honestly," said Mr. Cooper, who had initially resisted naming his source but agreed to do so after Time turned his notes over to the special prosecutor under court order, and after Mr. Rove released him from his pledge of confidentiality. "I have no idea whether a crime was committed or not. That is something the special counsel is going to have to determine."
Mr. Cooper said he had been told that there was no reason for him to expect to be called before the grand jury again.
In a statement late Wednesday, Mr. Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, suggested that Mr. Rove had already told the grand jury of his conversation with Mr. Cooper. Mr. Luskin said "truthful testimony" by Mr. Cooper "will not call into question the accuracy or completeness of anything Rove has previously said to the prosecutor or the grand jury."
"Rove has cooperated completely with the special prosecutor, and he has been repeatedly assured he is not a target of the investigation," Mr. Luskin said. "Rove has done nothing wrong. We're confident that he will not become a target after the special prosecutor has reviewed all evidence."
The disclosure of the identity of Ms. Wilson, also known by her maiden name, Valerie Plame, raised questions about whether the White House was trying to retaliate against her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, after he criticized the president's Iraq policy in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times.
Mr. Rove's allies have emphasized that, according to an e-mail message Mr. Cooper sent to his bureau chief, Mr. Rove did not use Ms. Wilson's name in the conversation or mention her undercover status, but referred to her only as Mr. Wilson's wife, who worked at the C.I.A.
Democrats tried to keep up the pressure on Mr. Rove. Some, led by Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey, began an uphill effort to force a House vote on a resolution demanding that the administration turn over any documents bearing on disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee sent a letter to Mr. Bush seeking withdrawal of Mr. Rove's security clearance. Senate Democratic leaders sent their own letter to the White House, calling on the administration to conduct a new investigation into the leak given the disclosure about Mr. Rove.
At a news conference, two Democratic senators, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Charles E. Schumer of New York, said that whether Mr. Rove broke the law governing disclosure of the identity of covert agents was not the sole issue.
"We just don't hold those working at the closest and highest levels to the president to a criminal standard and say, 'If you have not committed a crime, show up for work tomorrow morning,' " Mr. Durbin said.
There was no sign that Republicans on Capitol Hill would break ranks with the White House, with a growing number of them coming to Mr. Rove's defense.
John Files, Carl Hulse and David Johnstoncontributed reporting for this article.