Bush Knows Who Leaked Identity, Columnist Says

Syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who first published the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, says he is confident that President Bush knows who leaked Plame’s identity.

Novak said he would be amazed if the president didn’t know the source’s identity, and that the public should “bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is.”

Novak’s remarks, reported in the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer, came during a question-and-answer session Tuesday after a speech sponsored by the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Bush to identify Novak’s source or to say that he does not know who it is.

In July 2003, Novak exposed Plame’s identity eight days after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, accused the Bush administration of manipulating prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

In the column disclosing Plame’s CIA status, Novak said the sources for his column were two administration officials.

Bush’s top political advisor, Karl Rove, has acknowledged being a source but, through his lawyer, has denied breaking any laws.

Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has aggressively pursued contempt-of-court orders against reporters who have refused to cooperate in his investigation into whether administration officials broke any laws by disclosing Plame’s identity to reporters. Novak is not among those who have become embroiled in court battles in the probe.