Washington – President Bush said today that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the CIA-leak case, that person will “no longer work in my administration.” At the same time, Bush yet again sidestepped a question on the role of his top political adviser, Karl Rove, in the matter.
“We have a serious ongoing investigation here and it’s being played out in the press,” Bush said at an East Room news conference.
Bush spoke a day after Time magazine’s Matthew Cooper said that a 2003 phone call with Rove was the first he heard about the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson apparently working for the CIA.
A tempest has swirled around the leak of the CIA agent’s name, apparently by Bush administration officials, in July 2003.
Some Democrats have called for Rove, whose title is deputy chief of staff, to be fired. They have suggested that he violated a 1982 federal law that prohibits the deliberate exposure of the name of a CIA agent.
“It’s best people wait until the investigation is complete before you jump to conclusions. I don’t know all the facts. I want to know all the facts,” Bush said. “I would like this to end as quickly as possible. If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration.”
