\jeff{krimmel}

Stark Reversal of Position

This topic already came up after the indictment of Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, a few months ago in the case involving the leak of the name of an undercover CIA operative. However, I wanted to bring it up again, because I truly do find it laughable.

Libby very recently told a grand jury that he was authorized to leak classified information by his “superiors”. Keep in mind that he was the vice president’s chief of staff, and you start to get an idea of who may have authorized these leaks.

The press brought this up in the Thursday press briefing with White House spokesman Scott McClellan, and here is his response, from the article,

When asked to comment at Thursday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, “Our policy is we’re not going to discuss this while it’s an ongoing legal proceeding, and that remains our policy.”

I find it priceless every time I hear Scott McClellan say something like this regarding this whole CIA leak fiasco. Because, in many, many instances before an indictment was handed down, Mr. McClellan felt completely at liberty to discuss the ongoing legal proceeding, albeit to discredit the notion that the White House was at all involved.

From the September 29, 2003, press briefing:

Q All right. Let me just follow up. You said this morning, “The President knows” that Karl Rove wasn’t involved. How does he know that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I’ve made it very clear that it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place. I saw some comments this morning from the person who made that suggestion, backing away from that. And I said it is simply not true. So, I mean, it’s public knowledge. I’ve said that it’s not true. And I have spoken with Karl Rove —

From the October 10, 2003, press briefing:

Q Scott, earlier this week you told us that neither Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams nor Lewis Libby disclosed any classified information with regard to the leak. I wondered if you could tell us more specifically whether any of them told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA?

MR. McCLELLAN: Those individuals — I talked — I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that’s where it stands.

Well, maybe these comments were made before any formal investigation was underway. Unfortunately, as of October 6, 2003, Mr. McClellan had already publicly recognized an investigation was ongoing:

Q Do you believe that Karl Rove is upholding the highest ethical standards in doing that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let’s get something clear here about this investigation. Again, the subject of this investigation is whether someone leaked classified information. As I pointed out —

Wow. If that’s not commenting on an ongoing investigation, I really don’t know what is. But now it’s inconvenient to comment on the ongoing investigation, so the White House refuses to do so. Well played.