Bush knew about Rove & Plame in 2003

Recall how in parsing the President's and Scott McClellan's statements in 2003 and 2004, we were all puzzled by their repeated invocation of the phrase "leaking classified information" when referring to the identification of Valerie Plame Willson as a CIA operative. For example:

George W. Bush - 30 September 2003 - "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."

Scott McClellan - 7 October 2003 - "If someone leaked classified information, the President wants to know. If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates."

This behavior seemed bizarre under the circumstances since the charge itself - knowingly revealing the identity of a CIA operative - makes no explicit reference to classified information. So why were Bush and his spokesperson treating this as just another leak?

At the time some thought this might be a clever attempt to broaden the outrage over a compromise of our national security into a full attack on government leaks, which have a tendency to embarass the Executive Branch more often than not. "Perhaps the Administration will use the scandal to push for an Official Secrets Act!" we thought.

In retrospect, though, I think this actually reveals that Bush and McClellan knew that Rove had been talking to reporters about Plame. Note how Rove & Luskin have recently been splitting this exact same hair between talking about Plame and "leaking classified information." Rove said that he "didn't know her name and didn't leak her name" (CNN, 31 July 2004) and Luskin now says that "Rove did not mention her name to Cooper" (Washington Post, 10 July 2005). This line of defense has even been refined to "Rove learned about Plame from a reporter" by several Rove loyalists. The explicit inference being that if reporters were giving this information to Rove, it could not be counted as classified information.

Various observers have suggested that Luskin has been neglecting his duties to his client by persisting in contorted and quickly-refuted non-denial denials. However, what if Luskin has been taking his talking points - even his very words - directly from Rove? It certainly sounds as if Bush and McClellan in 2003, and Luskin now, have been working from the same playbook.

If true, this is really quite stunning. For two years, our President has known that his Deputy Chief of Staff was involved in the revelation of a covert CIA operative's identity, and has done nothing about it.

At the same time, it explains why he is refusing to do anything about denying this traitor a government salary - or even a security clearance - now, when everyone else knows it as well.