Slaughter From House Floor: "President Should Keep His Word and Fire Rove"

Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, spoke from the House Floor this morning calling on President Bush to keep his word and fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his role in leaking the identity of Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, an undercover agent for the CIA.

SPEECH AS GIVEN:

M. Speaker, we now know that Karl Rove is one of the White House officials directly involved in the outing of a covert CIA agent.

Rove and his attorneys can parse words all they want - but it's now clear that while Rove may not have given a reporter Plame's name, he clearly identified her by telling the reporter that Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. 

Does Rove expect us to believe that any reporter worth a byline could not easily find out the actual name of Wilson's wife?

And as disturbing as this is, it's even more disturbing that President Bush continues to support Rove.

In September 2003, President Bush told reporters, "If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is." 

Well, the President now knows at least one of the people in his administration responsible for the leak. The question is will he keep his word and fire Mr. Rove?

President Bush shouldn't forget the comments of his own father who in a speech before the CIA in 1999 said, "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources.  They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors."

If President Bush agrees with his father, he'll fire Karl Rove and clear the way for his prosecution.

BACKGROUND:

During a White House Press Briefing on September 30, 2003 President Bush said the following in response to a question regarding the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity, "... if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of."  When asked at a post G-8 Summit News Conference on June 10, 2004 if he stood by his statement that he would fire whoever was responsible for the leak, Bush said, "Yes. And that's up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts."

At the Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence on April 26, 1999, former President George Herbert Walker Bush stated, "Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors."

According to Title 50, Ch. 15, Subch. IV, Sec. 421 intentionally revealing the identity of a covert CIA agent is punishable by 3-10 years in prison or $15-50k in fines or both.