E-mails to SMS: White House Never Investigated Plame Leak

Sunday, March 18, 2007

White House Never Investigated Plame Leak

Stephanie,
Of all of the revelations that have come out of the White House over the last week, the following story was the one that disturbed me the most (and believe me, it had loads of competition...). The following article that the Plame outing was NEVER investigated at all by this administration is so appalling to me, it truly makes me vomit. Doesn't this qualify as an impeachable offense? It does in my book. One offense among many that should serve as ample evidence of the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by BushCo.

Top Bush Official Reveals White House Never Investigated Plame Leak

Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, revealed today that there was no evidence that the White House ever ordered a probe, report, or sanctions as a result of the Plame leak. "I have no knowledge of any investigation in my office," he said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said he was "shocked" by Knodell's testimony, adding that the White House's lack of action was a "breach on top of a breach."

Knodell claimed the White House did not investigate because there was an outside investigation taking place. But Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) noted that the investigation "didn't start until months and months later, and [only] had the purpose of narrowly looking to see whether there was a criminal law violated." Waxman asked, "But there was an obligation for the White House to investigate whether classified information was being leaked inappropriately, wasn't there?" Knodell answered, "If that was the case, yes."

Shortly after the leak was revealed by Novak, Bush said he wanted an investigation to identify the leaker:

A senior official quoted Bush as saying, "I want to get to the bottom of this," during a daily meeting yesterday morning with a few top aides, including Rove.

Bush: "If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is."

E&P reports, "The White House had first opposed Knodell testifying but after a threat of a subpoena from the committee yesterday he was allowed to appear today."

Transcript of Valerie Plame's testimony.

WaPo's article on Plame's testimony.

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