Feeding Frenzy! The White House Press Corp takes no prisoners!

[TruthIsAll]

Read the full transcript. They smell blood. This is IT.

Q Scott, has anyone -- has the President tried to find out who outed the CIA agent? And has he fired anyone in the White House yet?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Helen, that's assuming a lot of things. First of all, that is not the way this White House operates. The President expects everyone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. No one would be authorized to do such a thing. Secondly, there -- I've seen the anonymous media reports, and if I could find out who "anonymous" was, it would make my life a whole lot easier. But --

Q Does he think it didn't come from here?

MR. McCLELLAN: But we've made it very clear that anyone -- anyone -- who has information relating to this should report that information to the Department of Justice.

Q Does he doubt it came from the White House?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q Does he doubt?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there's been no information that has been brought to our attention, beyond what we've seen in the media reports, to suggest White House involvement.

Q Will the President move aggressively to see if such a transgression has occurred in the White House? Will he ask top White House officials to sign statements saying that they did not give the information?

MR. McCLELLAN: Bill, if someone leaked classified information of this nature, the appropriate agency to look into it would be the Department of Justice. So the Department of Justice is the one that would look in matters like this.

Q You're saying the White House won't take a proactive role?

MR. McCLELLAN: Do you have any specific information to bring to my attention suggesting White House involvement?

Q If you would --

MR. McCLELLAN: I haven't seen any.

Q Would you not want to know whether someone had leaked information of this kind?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President has been -- I spoke for him earlier today -- the President believes leaking classified information is a very serious matter. And it should be --

Q So why doesn't he want --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- pursued to the fullest extent --

Q Right, so why --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- by the appropriate agency. And the appropriate agency is the Department of Justice.

Q Why wouldn't he proactively do that, ask people on the staff to say that they had not leaked anything?

MR. McCLELLAN: Do you have specific information to suggest White House involvement? I saw a media report that said "senior administration officials." That's an anonymous source that could include a lot of people. I've seen a lot of "senior administration officials" in media stories.

Q Would they know -- to the White House?

Q Scott, when you say that it should be pursued by the Justice Department -- Justice has not said whether it actually is conducting an investigation. Does the President want the Justice Department to investigate this matter?

MR. McCLELLAN: If someone leaked classified information of the nature that has been reported, absolutely, the President would want it to be looked into. And the Justice Department would be the appropriate agency to do so.

Q And do you know that they are doing this?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's a question you need to ask the Department of Justice. My understanding is that if something like this happened and it was referred to the Department of Justice, then the Department of Justice would look to see whether or not there is enough information to pursue it further. But those are questions you need to ask the Department of Justice.

Q But, Scott, something like this ....

More...much more...


http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030929-7.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Yes yes it is

this is what will break the damn, FINALLY.

And they should take NO PRISONERS

[Caution]

2. Holy crap

that just made my night. It's like all of a sudden the White House press corps realized they perform an important function in society again!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. I have this crazy feeling...

That they may just have been biding their time, waiting for the maladministration to pull the boner that their editors could not sweep under the rug.

[Ilsa]

4. They've been ganging up on Simple Scotty

alot lately.

I loved it the other night on Malloy when they replayed the daily briefing. After sodging another question posed by several reporters, Helen Thomas asked him about the poverty rate and jobs and he went off on some tangent about home ownership. SHe and others responded with, "Jobs! Jobs! We're asking about Jobs!"

He is such a dimwit. Totally outmatched. They've got his number.

[mike_c]

5. outing a CIA agent isn't quite as amorphous as lying about the...

...basis for war. A) it demonstrably happened; B) it's a felony. Somebody's gonna have to fall, and I don't think the CIA is going to settle for some junior staff sword swallower.

[maggrwaggr]

6. Maybe this is why Ari left.

he was probably at home stuffing his face with twinkies laughing his ass off that he wasn't the guy in front of that room

[calimary]

7. Now's the time to call your congressman (or woman) and nag 'em!

Check out the TOLL FREE Capitol Hill Switchboard:

1 (800) 648 - 3526

1 (800) 839 - 5276

You can ask them to connect you with ANYBODY'S office on the Hill. Or check out www.congress.org - for their directory. You can get the phone numbers, locally and in Washington, for anybody's office.

It is ABSOLUTELY VITAL, URGENT, IMPERATIVE, CRUCIAL, that you call your reps about this. DEMAND action. DEMAND an independent investigation. Remind them of what they'd do if this had happened in the Clinton White House, if need be. Remind them that if this is treason and people sat on it, and covered up for it, and knew about it and did nothing, they're complicit.

[tjdee]

8. McClellan really is a mess, isn't he? Ahhh, Ari....

I hate to say it, but I wish Ari was still around. With him at least we'd get the smug answers we're used to, and if this thing does break open, we'd get a good payoff. I'd love to get a listen to Ari spinning someone going to jail.

This guy...is not so good, IMO. Seems out of his depth, and he talks about himself too much.

[proud patriot]

9. I just saw the repeat on C-span

Sharks are in the water...They smell blood ..

Gosh I wish it was Ari that was having to take the questions ..