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Democrats' letter: Rove must explain role in CIA outing or resign [Drafted by John Conyers, D-MI]
LIberal blog | July 5, 2005 | John Conyers, D-MI

Posted on 07/05/2005 4:39:35 PM PDT by summer

The draft of this letter, dated July 7, is currently published on a liberal blog:

July 7, 2005

The President
The White House
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President:

We write in order to urge that you require your Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, to either come forward immediately to explain his role in the Valerie Plame matter or to resign from your Administration.

Notwithstanding whether Mr. Rove intentionally violated the law in leaking information concerning former CIA operative Valerie Plame, we believe it is not tenable to maintain Mr. Rove as one of your most important advisors unless he is willing to explain his central role in using the power and authority of your Administration to disseminate information regarding Ms. Plame and to undermine her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

We now know that e-mails recently turned over by Time, Inc. between writer Matthew Cooper and Time editors reveal that one of Mr. Cooper’s principal sources in the Plame matter was Mr. Rove. This has been confirmed by Newsweek and two lawyers representing witnesses involved in the investigation. Mr. Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, also has confirmed that Mr. Rove was interviewed by Mr. Cooper in connection with a possible article about Ms. Plame three or four days before Robert Novak wrote a column outing Ms. Plame as a CIA operative.

We also know that Mr. Rove told Chris Matthews that Ambassador Wilson’s wife and her undercover status were “fair game.” A White House source also appears to have previously acknowledged that Mr. Rove contacted Mr. Matthews and other journalists, indicating that “it was reasonable to discuss who sent Wilson to Niger.”

The above facts appear to be directly inconsistent with previous statements by you and representatives of your Administration concerning leaking in general and the Plame case in particular. For example, on September 30, 2003, you stated “there’s just too many leaks [in Washington]. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is.” You also stated “I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business.” On October 10, 2003, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was asked if Mr. Rove or two other aides in your Administration had ever discussed the Plame matter with any reporter, and he stated he had spoken to Mr. Rove and the others and “they assured me that they were not involved in this.”

Regardless of whether these actions violate the law – including specific laws against the disclosure of classified information as well as broader laws against obstruction of justice, the negligent distribution of defense information, and obligating reporting of press leaks to proper authorities – they seem to reveal a course of conduct designed to threaten and intimidate those who provide information critical of your Administration, such as Ambassador Wilson.

We hope you agree with us that such behavior should never be tolerated by any Administration. While it is acceptable for a private citizen to use every legal tool at his or her disposal to protect himself against legal liability, high-ranking members of your Administration who are involved in any effort to smear a private citizen or to disseminate information regarding a CIA operative should be expected to meet a far higher standard of ethical behavior and forthrightness. This is why we believe it is so important that Mr. Rove publicly and fully explain his role in this matter.

Sincerely,

/s


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 109th; blahblahblah; cialeak; conyers; karlrove
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BTW, lawyer Victoria Toensing published an article, awhile ago, saying it appears no laws have been broken by Novak's publishing of Plame's name. The article was posted on FR HERE.

As for the Dems' letter - I don't think Rove is going to resign his job because the opposition party asks that he resigns. Just my opinion.
1 posted on 07/05/2005 4:39:44 PM PDT by summer
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To: cyncooper

FYI.


2 posted on 07/05/2005 4:40:13 PM PDT by summer
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: All
The liberal site posted this additional text: The following letter, drafted by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), was issued to other House Democrats for signature this afternoon...
4 posted on 07/05/2005 4:41:23 PM PDT by summer
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To: summer

Oh the mindless liberals, either are just plain stupid or they are EVIL!!!!


5 posted on 07/05/2005 4:41:44 PM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: summer
My goodness....Conyers has just been a busy-busy letter writer recently :-) As I recall, he wrote another letter regarding the Downie Street memos.

Well, I suppose the White House needed a good laugh.

6 posted on 07/05/2005 4:44:04 PM PDT by bevlar (1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila......floor)
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To: Just mythoughts
I think this letter is intended to protect the witnesses' lawyers who blabbed and perhaps blabbed unlawfully -- from letter:

This has been confirmed by Newsweek and two lawyers representing witnesses involved in the investigation
7 posted on 07/05/2005 4:45:26 PM PDT by summer
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: summer
I hope this gets lots and lots of air time. It is just so loony that I just can't believe that most people will not be turned off by it. And barking moonbats are people in DNA only, so they don't count.
9 posted on 07/05/2005 4:47:45 PM PDT by crazyhorse691 ( Heaven on Earth is where the nearest Starbucks is 60 miles away.)
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To: summer

When President Bush gets the letter he should stand before the WH press corps, hold it up, then start tearing it, leaving the various pieces on the floor as he leaves.


10 posted on 07/05/2005 4:50:22 PM PDT by jla
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To: summer

This is too funny! The Democrats are making such fools of themselves, lately! I think that it would be amusing if someone could put together a collage of the various Democrats, ranting about Rove or Gitmo, or anything else.


11 posted on 07/05/2005 4:51:07 PM PDT by Eva
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To: bevlar

Dear John,

Received your letter. Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!

I hope you enjoy your holiday. See you soon.

Yours Truly,

GWB


12 posted on 07/05/2005 4:52:03 PM PDT by kempster
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To: summer
What would you expect from a DU'er?


13 posted on 07/05/2005 4:56:41 PM PDT by Zacs Mom (Proud wife of a Marine! ... and purveyor of "rampant, unedited dialogue")
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To: summer
Lawrence O'Donnell ( in full smirk) took great pride in announcing on "The McGlaughlin Group" Saturday, that Karl Rove "was the leaker" and he couldn't wait for the Time papers to reveal it. Then, I think it was Bob Novak who said, the papers will show that Matt Cooper called Rove, not the other way around.

This should end O'Donnell's career as a talking head permanently.

14 posted on 07/05/2005 4:56:56 PM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: Eva
The democrats have nothing good to offer but bad characterizations of their rivals.

they have an impeached perjurer as their last leader who gassed innocent children and had his armed thugs take a child back to a vicious dictator. Then they had a traitor run for president. How much lower will they go?
16 posted on 07/05/2005 5:03:42 PM PDT by Loud Mime (We want educated people voting, not indoctrinated)
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To: summer
Conyers is an excellent example of a horse's ass.
17 posted on 07/05/2005 5:07:28 PM PDT by b4its2late (GITMO is way too nice of a place to house low life terrorists.)
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To: b4its2late
In light of the fact Rove just gave testimony to a grand jury, and answered the questions put forth by the prosecutor, it seems odd for the Democrats to allege in the first sentence of this letter that Rove did neither:

We write in order to urge that you require your Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, to either come forward immediately to explain his role in the Valerie Plame matter
18 posted on 07/05/2005 5:11:28 PM PDT by summer
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: summer

I doubt Conyers wrote this. After all, he's a senile illiterate drooler. Probably written by a staffer or highschool summer intern.


20 posted on 07/05/2005 5:18:14 PM PDT by Ron in Acreage (It's the borders stupid! "ALLEN IN 08")
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