Today Scott called on everyone else in the first four rows of the briefing room, some of them multiple times, but he didn’t call on me. I’m a little frustrated about not getting to ask my question (was it something I said? was my last post too cruel?), but knowing that the White House hates me and/or is afraid of me is some compensation.
Nevertheless, it was a pretty interesting day. The place was jammed, and the first twenty questions dealt with Patrick Fitzgerald’s late Wednesday night bombshell revelation that, according to Lewis Libby, the president authorized Libby’s leak to Judy Miller of information from the top secret National Intelligence Estimate.
Scott explained that leaking is bad, except when done by the president, because when the president tells someone to leak classified information, the very instant that he makes the request, the information is no longer classified.
Aha, said the press, but we are holding in our hands transcripts of you saying, on July 18, 2003, that the NIE information was “just, as of today, officially declassified,” whereas the leak to Judy took place 10 days earlier, on July 8!!!
Er, um, said Scottie, why do you keep bringing up ongoing legal proceedings of which I am not allowed to speak? Besides, when I said, “officially declassified today,” I meant “distributed to the public today.” Then Scott went on to say…
My recollection is, that I was referring to the fact that, yes, it’s officially declassified today, but that doesn’t get into the issue of when everything was declassified.
…but I didn’t hear anyone but me laugh.
Also, Scott said “crass politics” about 15 times.
White House Declines to Counter Leak Claim
The White House on Friday declined to challenge assertions that President Bush authorized the leaks