White House expresses confidence in Rove

WASHINGTON - The White House has broken its silence and said that President George W. Bush continued to have confidence in his top political adviser, Karl Rove, despite his involvement in a scandal over the leak of the identity of a CIA agent.

"Any individual who works here at the White House has the president's confidence. They wouldn't be working here if they didn't have the president's confidence," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in answer to a question.

McClellan had previously refused to say whether Bush still had confidence in Rove in two days of pointed questioning. He said the White House was asked to remain silent by prosecutors investigating who leaked the identify of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Bush had pledged to dismiss any leakers in the case, which is being investigated by a special prosecutor.

Plame is the wife of a former US diplomat, Joseph Wilson, and her name was given to reporters and published in the media after Wilson publicly criticised the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war.

Several prominent Republicans rallied around Rove, the key architect of Bush's two presidential election victories, after some Democrats in Congress called for him to be fired.

The president remained silent. In an Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of Singapore, Bush did not respond to a reporter's shouted question about whether he intended to dismiss Rove.

Some Democrats have urged Bush to sideline Rove by suspending his access to classified information.

McClellan brushed aside these suggestions, saying: "There are a number of people at the White House that have various levels of security clearance and I'm confident that those individuals have the appropriate security clearance."

McClellan refused to discuss the issue in detail. "I don't want to do anything to jeopardise the investigation," he said.

He added: "And just because I'm not commenting on a continuing investigation doesn't mean you should read anything into it beyond that."

The White House came under increasing pressure this week to explain Rove's role in the case after reports that Rove was one of the secret sources who spoke to Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper about Plame and her husband. Rove's lawyer was quoted as saying his client did not mention Plame by name.

Faced with jail if he did not discuss his sources, Cooper agreed last week to testify in the investigation. New York Times reporter Judith Miller refused to testify about sources she spoke to on the story and was jailed.

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, defended Rove against what he dismissed as "blatant partisan political attacks."

Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a member of the Republican leadership, said, "I don't see any evidence that he (Rove) violated the law."

A top Senate Republican aide said, "I expect Rove to stay -- unless the special prosecutor steps forward and says he did violate the law."

McClellan has refused to address apparently conflicting statements issued by the White House. In September and October 2003, McClellan rejected as "ridiculous" any suggestion that Rove was involved in the Plame leak.

When asked at an October 10, 2003, briefing whether Rove and two other White House aides had ever told any reporter that Plame worked for the CIA, McClellan said: "I spoke with those individuals... and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this... the leaking of classified information."

- REUTERS