I don't expect this to get widely trafficked but I know that when I've posted a summary of Rove-related questions and answers from the White House press briefings in comment threads, it has been well received.
My plan is to put this up on Mondays (as time permits) and simply update the diary through Friday with subsequent briefing information. For those interested, this will be one place where you can see the week's worth of Rove questions and (non)answers. At the very least, this will give us an idea of how heavily the questions are being asked and give us an idea as to the press' relative interest on the subject.
Enjoy.
Update [2005-7-28 16:44:27 by RenaRF]: Well color me stunned. It appears that this is information people want! Glad to see so many can use it.
Other Rove Q&A Diaries:
- White House Press Room Rove Q&A - Episode 1
- White House Press Room Rove Q&A - Episode 2
- White House Press Room Rove Q&A - Episode 3 (you are here)
[editor's note, by RenaRF] Final note from me as this drops off the list - this
is a series. I will append today with any press briefing activity. On
Monday, August 1, I will start a new diary for the week of Aug. 1 - 5 and so on. I will always include a link to the new diary so if you've hotlisted this, you can find it, ok?
[editor's note, by RenaRF] Ok. Well, as long as I have such a broad audience's attention, let me refer you to pontificator's diary, which references this article in yesterday's Washington Post. There is much new information in the investigation that extends beyond just Rove and the leak itself and reaches backwards. Further, the ePluribus Media diary (yesterday) strings together a great deal of nuance and oft-missed points in the investigation.
This should be ample and fertile ground to write your favorite newspaper and/or televised news source. If this informational diary draws this much attention from the dKos community, I figure we can all write a few emails to turn the lens back on the issue itself.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Q Do Karl Rove and Scooter Libby still have top secret clearance here, access to classified documents?
MR. McCLELLAN: You asked this question last week, and --
Q I did. And I'm asking again.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- the President has said what our answer is to these questions. We'll be glad to talk about all these issues once the investigation is complete.
Q Do they have a clearance?
MR. McCLELLAN: We'll be glad to talk about all the issues relating to the investigation once it's complete.
Q Why can't you talk about it now?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, that question I addressed a couple weeks ago.
--snip--
Q Yes, Scott, can you assure us that Andrew Card did not speak to either -- or did not tell the President or Karl Rove or Scooter Libby or anybody else about the Justice Department investigation?
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, again, those questions came up back in October of 2003 and I addressed them at the time.
Q May I ask one follow-up?
MR. McCLELLAN: You may. Go ahead.
Q I know that none of you are speaking about this because it's an ongoing investigation. Can you explain why Alberto Gonzales would go on TV yesterday and do that, and talk about it?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, what he said was already said from this podium back in October of 2003, and I don't think he got into commenting in any substantive way on the discussion. But the President has said that we will be glad to talk about this once the investigation has come to a conclusion, but not until then. And there have certainly been preferences expressed to the White House that we not get into discussing it while it is ongoing.
--snip--
Q Yes, thank you. There has been a lot of speculation concerning the meaning of the underlying statute and the grand jury investigation concerning Mr. Rove. The question is, have the legal counsel to the White House or White House staff reviewed the statute in sufficient specificity to determine whether a violation of that statute would, in effect, constitute treason?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think that in terms of decisions regarding the investigation, those are matters for those overseeing the investigation to decide.
Q Thank you.
MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Q Scott, on another topic, former President Bill Clinton spoke to the "Today Show" recently and he basically called the CIA leak issue terrible. And he said, "Rove is a brilliant political strategist and he's proved brilliantly effective at destroying Democrats, personally." He says, "I mean they've gotten away with murder and he's really good at it. He's good at playing psychological head games that damage our side." What are your comments to that?
MR. McCLELLAN: What I've said previously, and I don't have anything else to add to what I've said previously.
Q Former President Clinton, a friend of the first President Bush and a friend of this President Bush, has said "they've gotten away with murder."
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, thank you. And you know our response on questions related to the investigation.
Q This is not a question. I'm asking you what are your thoughts as it relates to this quote from a former President of the United States.
MR. McCLELLAN: That's a question.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Q Has Karl Rove offered to resign, in view of his problems?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, you keep asking these questions that are related to an ongoing investigation --
Q Does he still have his security clearance?
MR. McCLELLAN: -- and those are questions that have already been addressed.
Q No, they -- I've never heard this before. Have you?
MR. McCLELLAN: The question has been asked before.
Q We haven't heard an answer.
Q What was your answer?
Q There hasn't been an answer.
MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
I didn't want to editorialize, but I had to extend my search beyond Rove to include the word "leak" to find anything in today's briefing - seems to me this is falling off the press corps' notoriously small radar screen.
Q I wonder if you can help me understand something from earlier this week. When Alberto Gonzales went on the Sunday shows and was asked about the leak investigation and said that he told Andy Card 12 hours before the rest of the staff was told, we asked you about that, being an ongoing investigation, you told us that he wasn't saying anything new that hadn't been said on the podium in October 2003. And yet, when we've asked you about statements that you made in the podium in 2003, rather than affirming those statements, something that it seems like Gonzales might have done, you've just said that you can't comment on an ongoing investigation. So there seems to be a difference here. He's willing to restate something that happened, or that he said, but you're not.
MR. McCLELLAN: We already addressed this the other day. There's nothing else to add to it.
Friday, July 29, 2005
No Rove-CIA Leak-Related Questions