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Bush sidesteps questions about CIA leak
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-05 14:01
President Bush batted away questions about the CIA leak investigation Friday,
unable at an Americas summit thousands of miles from Washington to escape the
controversy that has ensnared a top White House official and weakened his own
popularity.
U.S. President Bush pauses as he speaks to
White House reporters on the sidelines of the fourth Summit of the
Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Friday, Nov. 4, 2005. [AP]
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Taking questions for the first time since the indictment of I. Lewis
"Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Bush
declined to answer calls from Democrats and some Republicans that he apologize
for any administration official's involvement in the case.
Bush also wouldn't say if staff changes were in the works. He sidestepped a
question about whether Karl Rove, his top political adviser who remains under
investigation in the CIA leak case, should stay on the job. And the president
wouldn't comment on whether Rove told him the truth about his role in the events
that led up the investigation.
"You're trying to get me to comment on the investigation, which I'm not going
to do," Bush told a small group of reporters after meeting with Latin American
leaders on the sidelines of the 34-nation Summit of the Americas. "And I hope
you understand that. It's a serious investigation, and it's an important
investigation. But it's not yet over."
The questions about the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame shadowed Bush as
he attended the two-day summit here which ends Saturday.
The summit's opening day was marked by energetic and
mostly peaceful anti-American demonstrations that turned violent when hundreds
of protesters hurled rocks, smashed storefronts and set bonfires less than a
mile from the meetings. Police in riot gear responded with tear gas.
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