Columnist’s Leak Claim Given Cold Shoulder

The White House on Thursday dismissed a claim by syndicated columnist Robert Novak that President Bush knew who revealed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

“I don’t know what he’s basing it on,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. He declined to comment further.

Novak said Tuesday that the public and the media should be asking Bush about the source who named Plame rather than reporters who received the information.

“I’m confident the president knows who the source is,” Novak told a luncheon in Raleigh, N.C. “I’d be amazed if he doesn’t.”

He added: “So I say, don’t bug me. Don’t bug Bob Woodward. Bug the president.”

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) also urged Bush “to set the record straight.”

Novak has repeatedly declined to discuss his role in disclosing Plame’s identity in his column on July 14, 2003.

Plame’s role at the CIA was disclosed after her husband, former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson IV, said the administration had twisted intelligence to support the invasion of Iraq.

Wilson said the naming of his wife was done to undercut his credibility.

On Thursday, Wilson said: “For the first time in 29 months, I agree with Bob Novak. The president needs to answer one simple question: Does he know?”

The two-year investigation, which has reached into the highest levels of the White House, resulted in an indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Libby, who pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury and obstructing justice, resigned.

Bush’s top political advisor and deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, was told by prosecutors that he remained under investigation and could be charged by a new grand jury.