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New Developments in Effort to Find Out Who Blew Cover of CIA Operative
Aired October 08, 2003 - 05:37 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: New developments this morning in the effort to find out who blew the cover of a CIA operative. Most White House staffers have now handed in documents that may provide clues in the case. White House lawyers, though, will review the material before they turn it over to the Justice Department.
Our Senior White House Correspondent John King has more details for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a morning cabinet meeting, the president sounded a bit skeptical when asked if he is confident those responsible for the leak will be caught.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, this is a large administration and there's a lot of senior officials. I don't have any idea. I'd like to. I want to know the truth.
KING: Press Secretary Scott McClellan says he had nothing to do with the leak, but gave reporters a rough estimate of documents he turned over to comply with a Justice Department request that went to some 2,000 White House staffers. The Justice Department deadline for those documents is two weeks away, but the investigation is overshadowing other Bush priorities, to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales set a Tuesday internal deadline and Chief of Staff Andy Card told White House staffers in this memo to do what it takes to comply by the deadline, because the sooner the investigation is over, the sooner we can all return our full attention to doing the work of the people.
McClellan acknowledged questioning three prominent White House aides because of speculation in media accounts. Senior adviser Karl Rove, Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Louis Libby and National Security Council Aide Elliot Abrams (ph) all denied any role in the leak.
Democrats complained the president's lawyer is reviewing the documents before investigators get them.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: There ought to be a full investigation, an independent counsel without any of these bottlenecks.
KING (on camera): White House aides called the Counsel's office review standard procedure and while vowing full cooperation, they are not ruling out invoking executive privilege and shielding classified information from investigators if the White House determines that information is critical to national security but not relevant to the investigation.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
CIA Operative>
Aired October 8, 2003 - 05:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: New developments this morning in the effort to find out who blew the cover of a CIA operative. Most White House staffers have now handed in documents that may provide clues in the case. White House lawyers, though, will review the material before they turn it over to the Justice Department.
Our Senior White House Correspondent John King has more details for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a morning cabinet meeting, the president sounded a bit skeptical when asked if he is confident those responsible for the leak will be caught.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, this is a large administration and there's a lot of senior officials. I don't have any idea. I'd like to. I want to know the truth.
KING: Press Secretary Scott McClellan says he had nothing to do with the leak, but gave reporters a rough estimate of documents he turned over to comply with a Justice Department request that went to some 2,000 White House staffers. The Justice Department deadline for those documents is two weeks away, but the investigation is overshadowing other Bush priorities, to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales set a Tuesday internal deadline and Chief of Staff Andy Card told White House staffers in this memo to do what it takes to comply by the deadline, because the sooner the investigation is over, the sooner we can all return our full attention to doing the work of the people.
McClellan acknowledged questioning three prominent White House aides because of speculation in media accounts. Senior adviser Karl Rove, Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Louis Libby and National Security Council Aide Elliot Abrams (ph) all denied any role in the leak.
Democrats complained the president's lawyer is reviewing the documents before investigators get them.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: There ought to be a full investigation, an independent counsel without any of these bottlenecks.
KING (on camera): White House aides called the Counsel's office review standard procedure and while vowing full cooperation, they are not ruling out invoking executive privilege and shielding classified information from investigators if the White House determines that information is critical to national security but not relevant to the investigation.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
CIA Operative>
