From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Karl Rove in the George W. Bush administration
Karl Rove in the George W. Bush administration
2004 George W. Bush Presiden-
tial Re-election Campaign
Bush publicly thanked Rove and called him "the archi-
tect" in his 2004 victory speech, after defeating John Ker-
ry in the 2004 presidential election.[5]
Valerie Plame affair
Main article: Plame affair
Rove with George W. and Laura Bush On August 29, 2003, retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson
IV claimed that Rove leaked the identity of Wilson’s wife,
Rove’s Bush’s
Karl Rove’s career in U.S. President George W. Bush’s Valerie Plame, as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) em-
administration began shortly after the first inauguration ployee,[6] in retaliation for Wilson’s op-ed in The New York
of George W. Bush in January 2001. He was appointed Se- Times in which he criticized the Bush administration’s ci-
nior Advisor and Assistant to the President. tation of the yellowcake documents among the justifica-
Rove was reassigned from his policy development tions for the War in Iraq enumerated in Bush’s 2003 State
role to one focusing on strategic and tactical planning in of the Union Address.
April 2006, the same month that Joshua Bolten replaced In late August 2006 it became known that Richard L.
Andrew Card as White House Chief of Staff.[1] Armitage was responsible for the leak. The investigation
led to felony charges being filed against Lewis "Scooter"
White House Iraq Group Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice. Eventually,
Libby was found guilty by a jury.[7]
In 2002 and 2003 Rove chaired meetings of the White On June 13, 2006, prosecutors determined there was
House Iraq Group (WHIG), an internal White House work- no cause to charge Rove with any wrongdoing.[8] Special
ing group established in August 2002, eight months prior Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated previously that "I can
to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. WHIG was charged with de- tell you that the substantial bulk of the work of this investiga-
veloping a strategy "for publicizing the White House’s as- tion is concluded."
sertion that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the Unit- On July 13, 2006, Plame unsuccessfully sued Cheney,
ed States."[2] WHIG’s existence and membership was first Rove, Libby, and others, accusing them of conspiring to
identified in a Washington Post article by Barton Gellman destroy her career.[9]
and Walter Pincus on August 10, 2003; members of WHIG On September 6, 2006, Washington Post columnist
included Bush’s Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Rice, her David Broder called on the more vocal members of the
deputy Stephen Hadley, Vice President Dick Cheney’s media who were publicizing Rove’s involvement to apol-
Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby, legislative liaison ogize to him.[10]
Nicholas E. Calio, and communication strategists Mary
Matalin, Karen Hughes, and James R. Wilkinson. Scott McClellan’s book
Quoting one unnamed WHIG member, the Washington
Scott McClellan claims in his book What Happened: Inside
Post explained that the task force’s mission was to “edu-
the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,
cate the public” about the threat posed by Saddam and
published in the spring of 2008 by Public Affairs Books,
(in the reporters’ words) "[to] set strategy for each stage of
that the statements he made in 2003 about Rove’s lack of
the confrontation with Baghdad". Rove’s "strategic commu-
involvement in the Valerie Plame affair were untrue, and
nications" task force within WHIG helped write and coor-
that he had been encouraged to repeat such untruths.
dinate speeches by senior Bush administration officials,
His book has been widely disputed, however, with many
emphasizing Iraq’s purported nuclear threat.[3]
key members of McClellan’s own staff telling a complete-
The White House Iraq Group was “little known” until
ly different story. Former CNN commentator Robert No-
a subpoena for its notes, email, and attendance records
vak has questioned if McClelland wrote the book himself.
was issued by CIA leak investigator Patrick Fitzgerald in
It was also revealed that the publisher was seeking a neg-
January 2004.[2][4]
ative book to increase sales.[11][12]
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Karl Rove in the George W. Bush administration
2006 Congressional elections and be- and Republicans could have kept narrow control of the
House regardless of Bush’s troubles and the war.[17]
yond In analyzing the results of the 2006 midterm election,
On October 24, 2006, two weeks before the Congressional Rove told Time:
election, in an interview with National Public Radio’s The profile of corruption in the exit polls was
Robert Siegel, Rove insisted that his insider polling data bigger than I’d expected ... Abramoff, lobbying,
forecast Republican retention of both houses: Foley and Haggard added to the general distaste
SIEGEL: I’m looking at all the same polls that you that people have for all things Washington, and it
are looking at. just reached critical mass... Iraq mattered, but it
was more frustration than it was an explicit call for
ROVE: No, you are not. I’m looking at 68 polls a
withdrawal. If this was a get-out-now call for
week for candidates for the US House and US
withdrawal, then Lamont would not have been
Senate, and Governor and you may be looking at
beaten by Lieberman. Iraq does play a role, but not
4-5 public polls a week that talk attitudes
the critical, central role.
nationally.
Rove defended the role of the Republican get-out-the-
SIEGEL: I don’t want to have you to call races...
vote program he helped invent. He told Time:
ROVE: I’m looking at all of these Robert and adding I see this as much more of a transient, passing
them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and thing ... [T]he Republican Party remains at its core
Republican House. You may end up with a different a small-government, low-tax, limit-spending,
math but you are entitled to your math and I’m traditional-values, strong-defense party. I see the
entitled to the math.[13] power of the ideas, even in a tough year ... People
were talking 35, 40 or more and it didn’t happen.
In the election the Democrats won both houses of There were a number of elections which were
Congress. The White House Bulletin, published by Bulletin supposed to be close and ended up not being
News, cited rumors of Rove’s impending departure from close.[18]
the White House staff: "’Karl represents the old style and he’s
got to go if the Democrats are going to believe Bush’s talk of get- He added that he has "fundamental confidence in the power
ting along’, said a key Bush advisor."[14] However, while al- of the underlying agenda of this President", and cited fighting
lowing that many Republican members of Congress are the war on terror, tax cuts, immigration, welfare, and le-
"resentful of the way he and the White House conducted gal reform, reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, re-
the losing campaign", the New York Times also stated that, ducing trade barriers, restrained spending.
"White House officials say President Bush has every intention of In the January 29, 2007 issue of Newsweek, GOP activist
keeping Mr. Rove on through the rest of his term."[15] Grover Norquist described how Rove showed up at a
Prior to the election, Rove voiced impatience with weekly meeting of influential D.C. conservatives early in
the notion that his own reputation is on the ballot. He the month, surprising attendees with his bubbly de-
told the Washington Post, "I understand some will see the elec- meanor after weeks of rumors that he might be headed
tion as a judgment on me, but the fact of the matter is that, out. Norquist was quoted as saying "I think some people
look what has been set in motion: a broader, deeper, strength- had given him up for dead, but he was good old Karl, up-
ened Republican Party, and with an emphasis on grass-roots beat and enthusiastic." At the meeting Rove previewed
neighbor-to-neighbor politics, is going to continue."[16] After Bush’s final two years in office, saying Social Security re-
the election, Rove continued to express optimism, telling form was likely off the table and that Iraq and the econ-
the Post, "The Republican philosophy is alive and well and like- omy would be the biggest issues for 2008. "I don’t know
ly to reemerge in the majority in 2008." Rove also told the anyone who holds him personally responsible for what hap-
Post that the GOP election strategy was working until the pened to us in the election", said a GOP national commit-
Mark Foley scandal put the Republican campaign "back on tee member, who declined to be named talking about the
its heels". Rove added "We were on a roll, and [the Foley scan- inner circle. "But his stature isn’t quite the same." Accord-
dal] stopped it.... It revived all the stuff about Jack Abramoff and ing to Newsweek, "behind the scenes, according to administra-
added to it." tion officials (anonymous in order to discuss White House mat-
In Rove’s analysis, 10 of the 28 House seats Repub- ters), Rove has been laying the groundwork for Bush’s State of
licans lost were sacrificed because of various scandals. the Union address and mulling how the GOP can regain mo-
Another six, he said, were lost because incumbents did mentum in 2008 ... Rove has been busy trying to find common
not recognize and react quickly enough to the threat. ground with Dems, organizing two meetings between Bush and
Rove argued that, without corruption and complacency, the Blue Dog Democrats, a coalition of conservative lawmakers
The Democrats would have gained around a dozen seats who offer the White House its best chance at compromise with
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Karl Rove in the George W. Bush administration
the new Congress. Rove also sat in on many of Bush’s meetings the House Judiciary Committee, Rove again told re-
with members of Congress in recent weeks about Iraq."[19] porters, he had played only a "peripheral role" in the fir-
ings.[26] On August 11, 2009, the New York Times report-
Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys ed that previously classified White House emails, showed
Allen Weh, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Par- Rove had played a more central role than he had
ty, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney claimed.[27] The New York Times also reported that the
David Iglesias to a White House aide for Rove, asking emails detailed a lobbying effort by Rove to have a pro-
that Iglesias be removed.[20] In 2006, Rove personally told tege of his, Timothy Griffin, appointed US Attorney for
Weh that Iglesias had been dismissed.[20] Weh was dis- Arkansas, after the incumbent, Bud Cummins, had been
satisfied with Iglesias due in part to his failure to indict pressured to resign.
New Mexico State Senator Manny Aragon on fraud and
conspiracy charges. After Iglesias was dismissed, his re- E-mail scandal
placement, Acting U.S. Attorney Larry Gomez brought a Main article: Bush White House e-mail controversy
26 count felony indictment against Aragon. In a plea bar- Due to investigations into White House staffers’ e-mail
gain, Aragon plead guilty to three felony fraud counts. communication related to the controversy over the dis-
Weh followed up with, "There’s nothing we’ve done that’s missal of United States Attorneys, it was discovered that
wrong. It wasn’t that Iglesias wasn’t looking out for Republi- many White House staff members, including Rove, had
cans. He just wasn’t doing his job, period.”"[20] White House exchanged documents using Republican National Com-
spokeswoman Dana Perino said that Rove "wasn’t involved mittee e-mail servers such as gwb43.com[28] and
in who was going to be fired or hired".[20] georgewbush.com[29] or personal e-mail accounts with
On July 30, 2009, after giving closed door testimony third party providers such as BlackBerry,[30] considered
before Congress, Rove gave interviews to the New York a violation of the Presidential Records Act. Over 500 of
Times and the Washington Post in which he revealed that Rove’s emails were mistakenly sent to a parody website,
he had suggested Timothy Griffin, his former aide, for a who forwarded them to an investigative reporter.[31]
government post. He stated that if there was an avail-
able government post, Griffin should be hired. Griffin was Resignation from the White House
subsequently given the U.S. Attorney post in Arkansas, In a Wall Street Journal interview published on August 13,
replacing Henry Cummins, whom the Bush administra- 2007[32] Rove revealed that he would resign from the Ad-
tion claimed had been planning on retiring. Cummins de- ministration effective August 31. Having originally float-
nied that. ed the idea of resigning in mid-2006, Rove opted to stay
On March 14, 2007 former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzger- with the White House through the 2006 mid-term elec-
ald said he believes Rove was trying to influence the se- tions and a number of policy debates in the first half of
lection in reaction to pressure from Rep. Dennis Hastert, 2007. The resignation fell prior to the Labor Day deadline,
then Speaker of the House and a political ally of then- set by White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, for any
Gov. George Ryan, who knew Fitzgerald was seeking senior aides wishing to leave the administration prior to
someone from outside Illinois to attack political corrup- the end of Bush’s second term. In a statement, he said,
tion.[21] "There’s always something that can keep you here, and as much
On July 26, 2007 Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman as I’d like to be here, I’ve got to do this for the sake of my fami-
of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced that the ly".[33]
committee was issuing a subpoena for Rove to appear
personally before the committee and testify, following
Gonzales’ testimony on the U.S. Attorney dismissal con- References
troversy and other matters.[22] [1] David Jackson and Richard Benedetto (April 20,
On July 30, 2008, a U.S. Congressional panel voted 2006). "White House ’transition’ continues". USA
20-14 to hold Rove in Contempt of Congress for defying Today (Gannett). http://www.usatoday.com/news/
a subpoena to testify in its probe into suspected political washington/
interference at the Justice Department.[23] 2006-04-19-whitehouseshakeup_x.htm. Retrieved
On March 4, 2009 Rove and former White House 2009-08-12.
Counsel Harriet Miers agreed to testify under oath before [2] ^ Kelli Arena (March 6, 2004). "Air Force One
Congress about the firings of U.S. attorneys.[24] records subpoenaed in CIA leak probe". CNN.
On May 14, 2009 the New York Times reported that http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/05/
Rove would soon be interviewed by Federal Prosecutors cia.leak.probe/. Retrieved 06-12-14.
investigating the firings of the US Attorneys, and by in- [3] Barton Gellman and Walter Pincus (2001-08-10).
vestigators for the House Judiciary Committee.[25] On Ju- "Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting
ly 30, 2009, after two days of in-camera testimony before Evidence". Washington Post.
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Karl Rove in the George W. Bush administration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp- content/article/2006/10/29/
dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A39500-2003Aug9. AR2006102900753.html.
[4] Tom Hamburger and Sonni Efron (August 26, 2005). [17] Peter Baker (November 12, 2006). "Rove Remains
"The CIA leak: Infighting, grudges, justifying a Steadfast in the Face of Criticism". The Washington
war". CNN. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
html/politics/2002452876_leak26.html. Retrieved content/article/2006/11/11/
06-12-14. AR2006111101103.html.
[5] "President Bush Thanks Americans in Wednesday [18] Mike Allen (November 10, 2006). "The Architect
Acceptance Speech". White House press release. Speaks". Time. http://time-blog.com/allen_report/
2004-11-03. http://georgewbush- 2006/11/the_architect_speaks.html.
whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/11/ [19] Holly Bailey (January 29, 2007 issue). "Still
20041103-3.html. Busy—But Staying Out of the Spotlight".
[6] New York Times (July 21, 2005). "Timeline of Plame Newsweek. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
affair". The New York Times. 16721090/site/newsweek/.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/07/ [20] ^ "Report: Rove was urged to oust U.S. attorney".
21/politics/20050722leak_graphic.html. MSNBC. March 11, 2007.
[7] Sniffen, Michael; Matt Apuzzo (2007-03-06). "Libby http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17560718/.
Found Guilty in CIA Leak Trial". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/ [21] Zajac, Andrew (March 14, 2007). "Fitzgerald: Rove
20070306/cia-leak-trial?. Retrieved 2007-03-09. tried to limit choice". Chicago Tribune.
[8] CNN (June 13, 2006). "Lawyer: Rove won’t be http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/
charged in CIA leak case". http://www.cnn.com/ nationworld/
2006/POLITICS/06/13/rove.cia/. chi-0703140213mar14,1,2314396.story?coll=chi-
[9] Associated Press (July 13, 2006). "Plame sues White newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true.
House figures over CIA leak". Retrieved 2007-03-12.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13845613/. [22] F.B.I. Chief Challenges Gonzales’s Testimony - New
[10] Washington Post (September 6, 2006). "Some of us York Times
media folks owe Karl Rove an apology". [23] http://www.truthout.org/article/house-panel-
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/ votes-cite-rove-for-contempt
outlook/4168101.html. [24] Karl Rove, Harriet Miers To Testify Before House
[11] Novak, Robert D. (June 2, 2008). "Parroting the Judiciary Committee, Huffington Post, 4 March 2009.
Democrats". The Washington Post. [25] David Johnson (2009-05-14). "Prosecutors
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ Reportedly Set to Interview Rove". New York
content/article/2008/06/01/ Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/
AR2008060101915.html. Retrieved May 7, 2010. politics/15rove.html?fta=y. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
[12] "Ex-spokesman attacks Bush over Iraq". [26] David Johnson (2009-07-30). "Rove Says His Role in
AlJazeera.net (Al Jazeera). 2008-05-28. Prosecutor Firings Was Small". New York Times.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/us/politics/
3FDDB097-FE8B-4DDE-884D-57345F734676.htm. 31rove.html?fta=y. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
Retrieved 2008-05-30. [27] Eric Lichtblau, Eric Lipton (2009-08-11). "E-Mail
[13] "All Things Considered (transcript)". National Reveals Rove’s Key Role in ’06 Dismissals". New
Public Radio. 2006-10-24. http://www.npr.org/ York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/
about/press/061024_rove.html. Retrieved 12/us/politics/12firings.html?em. Retrieved
2006-11-18. 2009-08-14.
[14] "REPORT: Karl Rove May Be Leaving The White [28] Steve Holland (April 13, 2007). "Rove in new
House In ’Weeks, Not Months’". Bulletin News cited controversy over e-mails". Reuters.
on the blog of the Center for American Progress. http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/
2006-11-17. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/17/ idUSN1319467820070413.
rove-departure/. Retrieved 2006-11-18. [29] "Rove Exhibits Part 1" (PDF). U.S. House of
[15] Jim Rutenberg and Adam Nagourney (2006-11-19). Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. pp.
"A Tough Road Ahead for Rove". The New York 50, 55, 113 etc.. http://judiciary.house.gov/
Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/ hearings/pdf/RExhibits.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
washington/19rove.html. Retrieved 2006-11-19. [30] Paul Bedard (March 27, 2007). "E-mail Controversy
[16] Michael Abramowitz (October 30, 2006). "Midterm Prompts Many Aides To Stop Usage". US News &
Vote May Define Rove’s Legacy". The Washington World Report.
Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ [31] Karl Rove Emails Mistakenly Sent to Reporter
4
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[32] Mckinnon, John D. (2007-08-13). "Karl Rove to [33] Steve Goldstein (2007). "Karl Rove tells WSJ he’s
Resign At the End of August". Wall Street Journal. going to resign at end of August". Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/ MarketWatch. http://www.marketwatch.com/
SB118698747711695773.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news. news/story/karl-rove-tells-wsj-hes/
Retrieved 2007-08-13. story.aspx?guid=%7B22CBAD43-022C-4247-AF9D-
A0F16F396828%7D. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
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