McClellan's Biggest Revelation? Bush Personally Authorized Leak Of CIA Agent's Identity

Perhaps the biggest revelation from Scott McClellan's bombshell book about his time at the White House is that President Bush directly authorized the leak of Valerie Plame's identity:

During the interview, Scottie revealed the two things that really pissed him off with the Bush Administration. First, being set up to lie by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. And second, learning that Bush had--himself--authorized the selective leaking of the NIE.

Scottie McC: But the other defining moment was in early April 2006, when I learned that the President had secretly declassified the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq for the Vice President and Scooter Libby to anonymously disclose to reporters. And we had been out there talking about how seriously the President took the selective leaking of classified information. And here we were, learning that the President had authorized the very same thing we had criticized.

Viera: Did you talk to the President and say why are you doing this?

Scottie McC: Actually, I did. I talked about the conversation we had. I walked onto Air Force One, it was right after an event we had, it was down in the south, I believe it was North Carolina. And I walk onto Air Force One and a reporter had yelled a question to the President trying to ask him a question about this revelation that had come out during the legal proceedings. The revelation was that it was the President who had authorized, or, enable Scooter Libby to go out there and talk about this information. And I told the President that that's what the reporter was asking. He was saying that you, yourself, was the one that authorized the leaking of this information. And he said "yeah, I did." And I was kinda taken aback.

AP has more on the excerpt from the book:

The president was leaving an event in North Carolina, McClellan recalled, and as they walked to Air Force One a reporter yelled out a question: Had the president, who had repeatedly condemned the selective release of secret intelligence information, enabled Scooter Libby to leak classified information to The New York Times to bolster the administration's arguments for war?

McClellan took the question to the president, telling Bush: "He's saying you yourself were the one that authorized the leaking of this information."

"And he said, 'Yeah, I did.' And I was kind of taken aback," McClellan said.

"For me I came to the decision that at that point I needed to look for a way to move on, because it had undermined, I think, a lot of what we had said."

Comments

[txgal44]

I felt bad for what happened to the Wilson's (Valarie Plame and hubby) but I was very surprised to find out they're Hillary supporters.

[Tommygun264]

And STILL impeachment is "off the table". Let's put Reid and Pelosi on the back bench and get some REAL leaders in Congress.

[dansama]

amen, if Bush is not impeached by the end of his term he will pardon the the whole lot of war criminals and treasonous thugs. If Reid & Pelosi can't see why they must stop them now, they need to be replaced as the election will come too late for our country.

[MACS]

.
I do not believe that he can pardon someone for things with which they have been charged
I believe that he must wait for charges in order to pardon. Much like his daddie did on his last day in office.
.

[damnadamson]

I've been waiting for this big break for the past few years. Let's hope they bring Scott in and then bring in the big boys so they can be shipped off to Guantanamo for a little 'Interrogation' !! One can dream can't we?

[gregjones]

McCLELLAN: AMERICANS SHOUD'VE PAID MORE ATTENTION !!! It is amazing watching the media squirm from the truth that they were all major accomplices in the Bush Regime's deception campaign regarding the entire Iraq invasion. From the over 6 so-called military experts who appeared over 4500 times on cable news lying to the American public (were paid by Pentagon to lie), to the former Bush staffers who had been telling us that we had been lied to (O'Neil, Richard Clark and now McClellan) with very little if any coverage on cable news, anyone who watched cable news regularly could see the non-stop 3rd World style media manipulation. Bottom line....THE MEDIA HAS BETRAYED AMERICA ! Even now, as the media works tirelessly to discredit McClellan, you can see the wheels of deception turning in CYA lockstep. Media folks that we trusted are revealing themselves to be complicit through their desire to join the Regime's discredit campaign. David Gregory, Chuckie T, Anderson, Wolf and even Andrea Mitchell is asking the question why is Scotty speaking out now, without reviewing the fact that her own husband Alan Greenspan waited until he left the Regime to expose that we invaded Iraq FOR THE OIL ! (as he wrote in his memoir). The real story behind McClellan's book is not just how the Bush Regime has betrayed and deceived America....but how THE MEDIA was the #1 chief accomplice. America should demand an investigation of the media ! HEADS SHOULD ROLL !!!!
B4B

[letsmakesense]

You are absolutely correct. If one looks behind the scene one discovers that the same handfull of Corporations control the media and the two major political parties while comprising the backbone of the Military/I­ndustrial/­Medical/Ba­nk complex otherwise known as the New World Order.
Please lets not be so stupid this time to think that Obama does not also represent these interests.
History shows that when a leader not owned by these interest starts to gain power they(MLK,JFK,RK) are killed. If we want our freedom and republic back we must rise up in mass and all become leaders. The Ron Paul campaign is showing us what is posible whem freedom motives us.

[MrWampler]

I still don't see how this is worse than getting a BJ from an intern.

[Ivar]

MrWampler I am sure you do not. How about risking other's lives? Does that help. I am not defending Bill Cinton. I believe he was wrong and unable to control his sexual feelings, and through this brought us Bush. No one wants a weenie wager for our president. But a BJ is a far cry from risking someone elses life. Wake up knothead.

[MrWampler]

The sarcasm wasn't screamingly obvious?

[mmelodee]

Because these accounts reveal at best hypocrisy and at worst the compromising of our national security by the Bush Administration. If you can't see how the Bushies created a far worse crime than Bubba getting pleasured by a chubby girl, then you have absolutely no clue!

[TruEngineHearing]

Oh, I can help. You see, plotting the "leaking of classified information" is a crime and getting a BJ is a god-given right.

[naschkatze]

I don't have the book yet, but from what I have seen from McClellan's interviews so far is that Bush was far more engaged than what we thought. My husband and I have always viewed him as dummy and Cheney as the ventriloquist, but clearly he was very active in the run up to the war.

[lthuedk 1]

Good morning...let me begin where I left off yesterday:

TREASON

http://www.light-to-dark.com/the_third_act.html

[Zentomato]

The mainstream media is going to squash this story just like they did the Downing Street Memos. Wait and see.

[gregjones]

They're already starting to try and squash it. Today's news is all about the DNC tomorrow, the fallen crane in N.Y. ....and aliens. AMERICANS MUST DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION OF THE MANIPULATIVE CORRUPT MEDIA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! p.s. don't mean to yell

[Harrier]

For Valerie Plame Wilson, a dedicated person working undercover and not involved, it is an evil man that will for vindictiveness risk so many people lives by outing her. Pardoning Scooter Libby makes everything else fit. In my view, there is no greater dishonor than to out someone doing their job and defending our nation and literally destroying so many intelligence gathering operations. To me that is treason under our nations' laws.

[dadw5boys]

HEY BUSH YOU CAN'T RUN HOME AND GO AWOL FROM THIS!!!!!!!!!

[devanate]

That IS treason under our nation's laws. Not just to you. And if McClellan's claims are true, that means the President committed treason. Does everyone here know what the penalty for treason is?

[mollyjackson]

I’m no fan of President Bush, but someone should remind Scott that the analysis of a mediocre White House press secretary about world events isn’t quite as relevant as the opinions of the Commander-in-Chief, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the international intelligence community and our own Congress — his analysis is based on $$$$$.

[gadfly55]

Thsi is not analysis, it is reporting or testimony of a witness to events. McCain and the rest of the sheep are all saying that intelligence services provided the information, and they had no hand, act or part in that information. Everyone in the world believed Hans Blix or Scot Ritter closer to home who said there were no WMD's. Colin Powell and Tony Blair wrecked their reputations by bowing before Bush-Cheney, and Blair proved forever, that British Prime Ministers are the tool of American foreign policy, regardless of the cost to themselves, and you can ask Gordon Brown (the PM and previous Chancellor) how much this is costing him now with meltdown of financial services sector and the Northern Rock rescue costing $200 billion, to guarantee one bank from bankruptcy. There is no democracy when Bush launches a war costing millions of wrecked lives and at least 3 trillion dollars, never mind the current cost of oil, tripled since he went in, the nearly total destruction of goodwill to Americans, and a bankrupt economy and collapsed currency. Hope you are well pleased with the leadership.

[damnadamson]

Who cares if his conscience got to him and he makes a few bucks at the same time .... he's blowing the whistle on the nastiest president this country has ever known ... finally we may see justice !

[gregjones]

For years now, the Brits have looked at Americans as absolute morons. The fact is, Tony Blair did not STEP DOWN.....HE WAS OUSTED because of his connection with Bush. The Brittish people marched in the streets by the hundreds of thousands...even children...with signs Tony Must Go. His party...the Labour Party forced him to step down. But the American media never told us the truth on that. Only BBC, Times U.K., Sun U.K. etc.. The American media, under the control of the Bush Regime knew that if Americans saw the Brits revolting against Blair because of his stance with Bush and the illegal invasion of Iraq, a war they KNEW was unjust, that Americans might wise up and revolt also. So that's just another bit of news that the media withheld in their master manipulation scheme.

p.s. That's why for the past 5 years, I would go to Brittish News sources to find out truth. Like the 14 permanent bases the U.S. started building in Iraq some 4 years ago, while the media was lying to us saying 'we're stepping down as they step up'. Permanet bases mean permanent occupation ! The Master Plan is to NEVER LEAVE IRAQ !!!!! And as Alan Greenspan said in his memoir (Andrea Mitchell's husband) we're there for THE OIL !!!!! McCain (and some say DINO Hillary) will continue the Master Plan. They Must be stopped America.

B4B

[gadfly55]

Living on the other side of the Atlantic, and daily following British media, you are correct, but it is of course much worse than you can explain, for example the Chair of the BBC had to resign after an official inquiry regarding a radio interview with David Kelly , who apparently killed himself, and who was an expert on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq with information Blair wanted to ignore. The BBC was effectively silenced by a judge who had also done the bidding of the government in Northern Ireland when required to protect national security interests. Believe me, on either side of the Atlantic, when the President or Prime Minister decide to go to war, no one can stop them. Damn the consequences and costs.

[gadfly55]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3076869.stm
check this on Dr. David Kelly and the Hutton report

[HopeGirl]

I would like to know why Bush, Cheney, Rove and McClellen are not in hand cuffs today.

There is no justice in this country.

[dadw5boys]

THEY OWN THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TOO AND THE SUPREME COURT!!!!!!!!

[bulldoginflorida]

Because they didn't commit any crimes, that's why. It's not illegal to have an opinion that is different from the approved left wing kook view point.

[wm1066]

So your total argument is to name call?
You got nothin but kool-aide.

[paganmist]

Jesus freaking Christ. Someone please help me unsee what I am seeing.

I just want to eat my sugar smacks and pretend like this kind of crap doesn't happen in the United States.

[Oomingmak]

I think the headline needs to be changed -- nothing in the article is about Bush authorizing the leak of Plame's name, but rather his green light to leak the National Intelligence Estimate.

I think someone made a mistake here.

[Marple]

During his interview last night with KO he did in fact say that during that flight Bush had stated he authorized outing Plame. Go back and see this interview and you will see he specifically used Plame's name.

[Pansy]

Someone set me straight. I thought that in the end it was determined (and he admitted) that Richard Armitage leaked Plame's name. Is this correct? If so, then why are Rove and Libby charged with the deed?

[fignozzle]

this just might do it.
it should.