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American Morning

CIA Leak Investigation

Aired October 03, 2003 - 07:14   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Federal prosecutors are casting a wider net in their investigation of who leaked the name of a CIA operative. And now, a well-known Republican says the attorney general should consider recusing himself from the probe to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
For the latest, we go to senior White House correspondent, John King.

Good morning to you -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

We are getting a sense this morning of how the pace of this investigation is accelerating and the scope expanding in terms of accelerating. A government source is telling us that the White House is now being asked by the Justice Department to turn over any documents that have been collected in recent days.

You might recall the first request from the Justice Department was for everybody here at the White House to go back, check their e- mails, check their phone logs, check any documentation at all to see if they had anything that could be relevant to Ambassador Joe Wilson, his trip to Niger back in 2002, his wife, the now CIA operative whose name is now known around the world.

They have collected the documents in recent days. Now, the Justice Department says, turn them over.

And we also are told there could be interviews of White House officials within days, perhaps even as early as today.

That is the focus here at the White House.

The Justice Department also expanding the net, as you put it, to check with the CIA, the State Department, perhaps even other government agencies, to find out how big is the universe of people who had access to information about Ambassador Wilson's wife, who would have perhaps talked to the news media about that.

So, they are expanding the scope of the investigation and accelerating the pace of the interviews.

We are told that Attorney General John Ashcroft was personally responsible in that decision to try to move as quickly as possible -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: John, let's talk about a new poll that's out this morning, really dealing with the president's ability to deal with international crises. Any concerns from the White House on that?

KING: Well, certainly there is concern when you see the faith of the American people in their president to deal with international crises going down, and this is consistent with an overall drop in Mr. Bush's poll numbers -- in our CNN polling here, in "The New York Times" polling.

You see this poll here. The biggest trouble for the White House is another number in that poll. It shows a majority of Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track, heading in the wrong direction. For a president 13 months away from a re-election that is a number he needs to turn around. If you can turn that around, the other numbers tend to move back up. That is a big concern for this president.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. The man who is in charge of that mission there issued a progress report yesterday. It got sort of mixed reviews on Capitol Hill. How is the White House spinning it for everyone this morning?

KING: Well, the White House is trying to say patience, and the White House wants $600 million more to continue the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, saying that it has found clues that there were weapons programs and plans to expand weapons programs and research on weapons programs. As yet, it has not found any weapons.

To critics, that is proof this president went to war without just cause. The White House says it is continuing to say that if you keep searching, it believes that in the end it will find weapons. And some are balking at that price tag, Soledad. They say another $600 million when you haven't found any weapons yet is a lot of money to spend.

O'BRIEN: Well, a lot going on where you are this morning. John, thanks for that update. We certainly appreciate it.

KING: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 3, 2003 - 07:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Federal prosecutors are casting a wider net in their investigation of who leaked the name of a CIA operative. And now, a well-known Republican says the attorney general should consider recusing himself from the probe to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
For the latest, we go to senior White House correspondent, John King.

Good morning to you -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

We are getting a sense this morning of how the pace of this investigation is accelerating and the scope expanding in terms of accelerating. A government source is telling us that the White House is now being asked by the Justice Department to turn over any documents that have been collected in recent days.

You might recall the first request from the Justice Department was for everybody here at the White House to go back, check their e- mails, check their phone logs, check any documentation at all to see if they had anything that could be relevant to Ambassador Joe Wilson, his trip to Niger back in 2002, his wife, the now CIA operative whose name is now known around the world.

They have collected the documents in recent days. Now, the Justice Department says, turn them over.

And we also are told there could be interviews of White House officials within days, perhaps even as early as today.

That is the focus here at the White House.

The Justice Department also expanding the net, as you put it, to check with the CIA, the State Department, perhaps even other government agencies, to find out how big is the universe of people who had access to information about Ambassador Wilson's wife, who would have perhaps talked to the news media about that.

So, they are expanding the scope of the investigation and accelerating the pace of the interviews.

We are told that Attorney General John Ashcroft was personally responsible in that decision to try to move as quickly as possible -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: John, let's talk about a new poll that's out this morning, really dealing with the president's ability to deal with international crises. Any concerns from the White House on that?

KING: Well, certainly there is concern when you see the faith of the American people in their president to deal with international crises going down, and this is consistent with an overall drop in Mr. Bush's poll numbers -- in our CNN polling here, in "The New York Times" polling.

You see this poll here. The biggest trouble for the White House is another number in that poll. It shows a majority of Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track, heading in the wrong direction. For a president 13 months away from a re-election that is a number he needs to turn around. If you can turn that around, the other numbers tend to move back up. That is a big concern for this president.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. The man who is in charge of that mission there issued a progress report yesterday. It got sort of mixed reviews on Capitol Hill. How is the White House spinning it for everyone this morning?

KING: Well, the White House is trying to say patience, and the White House wants $600 million more to continue the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, saying that it has found clues that there were weapons programs and plans to expand weapons programs and research on weapons programs. As yet, it has not found any weapons.

To critics, that is proof this president went to war without just cause. The White House says it is continuing to say that if you keep searching, it believes that in the end it will find weapons. And some are balking at that price tag, Soledad. They say another $600 million when you haven't found any weapons yet is a lot of money to spend.

O'BRIEN: Well, a lot going on where you are this morning. John, thanks for that update. We certainly appreciate it.

KING: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.