McClellan Knew About, Defended Bush Leak of Iraq NIE
As FireDogLake, Huffington Post and others detail, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan revealed that it was President Bush himself who authorized the selective leaking of the 2002 Iraq National Intelligence Estimate. As he disclosed both in his book and during interviews today, McClellan says Bush admitted declassifying portions of the NIE to allow Scooter Libby to attack Joe Wilson and other administration critics in July 2003. Getting less attention, though, is McClellan's own critical role in defending President Bush's misuses of classified information for political payback.
During his April 7, 2006 press briefing, McClellan was inundated by questions over when, how and by whom the NIE was declassified in the administration's attempts to undercut Joe Wilson's revelations about Niger. McClellan quickly turned to the two dodges that came to defy White House - and Republican - points on the entire PlameGate affair. Then, McClellan could not comment on an "ongoing investigation." And regardless, leaking is OK when the President does it.
McClellan first deployed the "ongoing investigation" evasion to avoid confirming the inescapable truth that the Bush administration in July 2003 leaked classified elements of the NIE to the press 10 days before publicly declassifying the document:
Q: Back when the NIE was released on July 18, 2003, you were asked that day when that had been actually declassified. And you said in that gaggle that it had been declassified that day. And if that's the case, then when the information was passed on to the reporter 10 days earlier, then it was still classified at that time.
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think you're referring -- a couple of things. First of all, it was publicly released that day, so that's when a portion of the National Intelligence Estimate that we were making available to the public was released. The second part of your question is referring to an ongoing legal proceeding, and referring to a filing in that legal proceeding. We have had a policy in place, going back to the October time period of 2003, that we are not going to comment on an ongoing investigation or an ongoing legal proceeding. That policy remains unchanged.
If McClellan was "taken aback" in April 2006 after President Bush's admission ("Yeah, I did") that he authorized the release of selected, classified portions of the NIE, he didn't show it. Instead, McClellan insisted:
"The President of the United States has the authority to declassify information. I also indicated to some reporters earlier today that the President would never authorize the disclosure of information that he felt could compromise our nation's security. Now, the National Intelligence Estimate was declassified -- portions of it were declassified. We made sure that we did not -- that we continued to protect sensitive sources and methods within the National Intelligence Estimate."
McClellan then famously echoed Richard Nixon, claiming that regardless, it's just fine to leak classified information if the President does it:
Q: He was asked about leaking classified information, but the President said, "I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks." Not just classified information. He says "particularly leaks."
MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes the leaking of classified information is a very serious matter. And I think that's why it's important to draw a distinction here. Declassifying information and providing it to the public, when it is in the public interest, is one thing. But leaking classified information that could compromise our national security is something that is very serious. And there is a distinction.
Now, there are Democrats out there that fail to recognize that distinction, or refuse to recognize that distinction. They are simply engaging in crass politics. Let's make clear what the distinction is.
As it turns out, Scott McClellan (knowingly or not) lied to, deceived or simply evaded the American people about almost every major issue of the day. The President did release classified information; Rove and Libby were involved in PlameGate; the media did not rewrite the history of the administration's calamitous response to Hurricane Katrina, and charges that George W. Bush used cocaine were not "baseless allegations and ridiculous rumors." It's no wonder just weeks after the NIE imbroglio President Bush praised the departing Scott McClellan in Brownie-like terms, "I can say to Scott, job well done."
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