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CNN Saturday Morning News
White House Staffers Asked to Turn Over Documents in CIA leak
Aired October 04, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now to the questions over who might have leaked the name of a CIA operative to the news media. White House staffers are now being asked to turn over documents that could help the investigation.
White House correspondent Dana Bash is live in our Washington bureau -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kelli.
And White House aides began to go through their e-mails, phone logs and correspondence late yesterday, responding to a directive from the Justice Department to turn over anything that may be related to the disclosure of a CIA officer's identity. Now, they were given a deadline of Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., just a few days, to hand over all documents going back to February 2002 concerning former Ambassador Wilson and his wife, whose classified identity was disclosed. And that is the subject of this investigation.
The State Department, CIA and Pentagon have also been ordered not to destroy documents, but the White House is the first to be asked to actually turn them over and government officials say interviews with senior officials who may have had access to classified information are expected to start very soon -- Kelli.
ARENA: Dana, another touchy issue for the White House this week, David Kay's report to Congress about his hunt for weapons of mass destruction. None have been found. Did it hit a sore spot?
BASH: Well, Kelli, with the headlines screaming yesterday no weapons of mass destruction found," the administration is in damage control mode. The president and his top aides tried all day to point out potential threats David Kay's report has unearthed during his short time there, his two month search, talking, the president himself talking about designs on prohibited long range missiles and a clandestine network of biological laboratories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These findings already make clear that Saddam Hussein actively deceived the international community, was in clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 and was a danger to the world. The world is a better place when we got rid of Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: But Democrats seized on the fact that Dr. Kay had not found any actual weapons of mass destruction, calling that proof the White House may have misled Americans or exaggerated how dangerous a threat Saddam Hussein actually was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Because of the lack of imminence of a threat, it is clear that there was time for more diplomatic efforts to be made before we went to war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And Dr. Kay himself was involved in some of the damage control. He had about an hour long conference call with reporters last night and he, as the White House is, they're both continuing to say that they have about six to nine months left of work to do in Iraq and that it has been a tough time in the past couple of months because of how dangerous the post-war atmosphere is in Iraq -- Kelli.
ARENA: All right, Dana Bash, thanks for joining us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
leak>
Aired October 4, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now to the questions over who might have leaked the name of a CIA operative to the news media. White House staffers are now being asked to turn over documents that could help the investigation.
White House correspondent Dana Bash is live in our Washington bureau -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kelli.
And White House aides began to go through their e-mails, phone logs and correspondence late yesterday, responding to a directive from the Justice Department to turn over anything that may be related to the disclosure of a CIA officer's identity. Now, they were given a deadline of Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., just a few days, to hand over all documents going back to February 2002 concerning former Ambassador Wilson and his wife, whose classified identity was disclosed. And that is the subject of this investigation.
The State Department, CIA and Pentagon have also been ordered not to destroy documents, but the White House is the first to be asked to actually turn them over and government officials say interviews with senior officials who may have had access to classified information are expected to start very soon -- Kelli.
ARENA: Dana, another touchy issue for the White House this week, David Kay's report to Congress about his hunt for weapons of mass destruction. None have been found. Did it hit a sore spot?
BASH: Well, Kelli, with the headlines screaming yesterday no weapons of mass destruction found," the administration is in damage control mode. The president and his top aides tried all day to point out potential threats David Kay's report has unearthed during his short time there, his two month search, talking, the president himself talking about designs on prohibited long range missiles and a clandestine network of biological laboratories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These findings already make clear that Saddam Hussein actively deceived the international community, was in clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 and was a danger to the world. The world is a better place when we got rid of Saddam Hussein.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: But Democrats seized on the fact that Dr. Kay had not found any actual weapons of mass destruction, calling that proof the White House may have misled Americans or exaggerated how dangerous a threat Saddam Hussein actually was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Because of the lack of imminence of a threat, it is clear that there was time for more diplomatic efforts to be made before we went to war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And Dr. Kay himself was involved in some of the damage control. He had about an hour long conference call with reporters last night and he, as the White House is, they're both continuing to say that they have about six to nine months left of work to do in Iraq and that it has been a tough time in the past couple of months because of how dangerous the post-war atmosphere is in Iraq -- Kelli.
ARENA: All right, Dana Bash, thanks for joining us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
leak>
