Bush Welcomes CIA Leak Probe
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2003
. . ."I don't know of anyone in my administration who has leaked," Mr. Bush told reporters in Chicago. But, he added, "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/01/national/main575986.shtml***
Did Bush Leave Wiggle Room On Firing Any Leaker?
by Michael in New York - 7/12/2005 02:19:00 PM
. . .Just got around to watching Good Morning America's take on the brewing Rove scandal. (Can we say Rovegate yet?). It aired a clip of Bush from Sept. 30 2003 in which Bush seemed to leave himself some wiggle room. Bush said:
If there's a leak out of my administration, I wanna know who it is. Uh...and...if the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of."
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/07/did-bush-leave-wiggle-room-on-firing.html ****
President Bush on Sept. 30, 2003, talking with reporters after meeting with business people at University of Chicago.
Q. Do you think that the Justice Department can conduct an impartial investigation, considering the political ramifications of the C.I.A. leak, and why wouldn't a special counsel be better?
A. Yes. Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks.
And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.And so I welcome the investigation. I - I'm absolutely confident that the Justice Department will do a very good job. There's a special division of career Justice Department officials who are tasked with doing this kind of work; they have done this kind of work before in Washington this year. I have told our administration, people in my administration to be fully cooperative.
I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business.
Q. Have you talked to Karl and do you have confidence in him …
A. 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. And this investigation is a good thing.
And again I repeat, you know, Washington is a town where there's all kinds of allegations. You've heard much of the allegations. And if people have got solid information, please come forward with it. And that would be people inside the information who are the so-called anonymous sources, or people outside the information - outside the administration. And we can clarify this thing very quickly if people who have got solid evidence would come forward and speak out. And I would hope they would.
And then we'll get to the bottom of this and move on. But I want to tell you something - leaks of classified information are a bad thing. And we've had them - there's too much leaking in Washington. That's just the way it is. And we've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them and I want to know who the leakers are."
http://www.yuricareport.com/Corruption/BushPressConfOnCIALeak10_07_03.html