Washington – Democrats demanded Sunday that President Bush fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and that the White House fully account for Vice President Dick Cheney’s role in the unmasking of CIA agent Valerie Plame, as Republicans acted to limit the political damage from Friday’s indictment of Cheney’s chief of staff.
Using the forum of the Sunday television talk shows, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other Democrats sought to portray the indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby on Friday as part of a broader pattern of unethical – if not illegal – conduct by the administration.
Republicans, while not defending Libby, asserted that the lack of other indictments indicated there was no conspiracy in the White House to punish an administration critic by identifying his wife as a CIA operative.
Reid, speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” called for apologies from Bush and Cheney and Rove’s resignation because of Bush’s vow to dismiss anybody involved in the leak. Later, on CNN’s “Late Edition,” Reid repeated his call for Rove’s dismissal four times.
“The president said anyone involved would be gone,” Reid said. “And we now know that Official A is Karl Rove. He’s still around. He should be let go.”
Reid added that if Bush “is a man of his word, Rove should be history.”
In the indictment, “Official A” is a senior White House official who discussed with syndicated columnist Robert Novak the identity of the wife of former ambassador and administration critic Joseph Wilson as a CIA covert agent. That person has been identified as Rove by senior administration officials.
On June 10, 2004, Bush responded affirmatively when asked in a news conference if he would “fire anyone found” to have leaked Plame’s name (although Bush has qualified that pledge on other occasions).
