‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Aug. 19, 2007

MR. ROVE:  Because you confront terrorism by calling it by its name, and you use all your available tools—economic, diplomatic, intelligence and, if need be, military to deal with it.  And what we’re doing here is, in a very measured tone, sending a signal that we will use all of these tools in an appropriate time and in an appropriate way.  And, and I don’t want to get deeper into it.  There, there are things that are going—that are being discussed, many of which I’m not privy to, though I’m confident the policy will be laid out at a—in, in due time.  But the point is, is that we have a variety of tools, and we will employ all those tools to deal with the threat of global terrorism.

MR. GREGORY:  Will Iran face serious consequences if talks break down?

MR. ROVE:  Let’s, let, let’s have confidence that Iran will understand the difficulties that it will place itself in and that the talks will go well.

MR. GREGORY:  Let me talk about the CIA leak case, of which you were obviously a, a central part.  This is what the president said in 2003 after the identity of Valerie Plame was divulged in a Robert Novak column.  Watch.

(Videotape, September 30, 2003)

PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH:  If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is.  And if the person has violated laws, that person will be taken care of.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  Robert Novak, who divulged Valerie Plame’s name in his column, appeared on this program with Tim Russert back in July, and Tim asked about his book.  Watch.

(Videotape, July 15, 2007)

MR. RUSSERT:  Then you go on to say, in the book, “Senior White House adviser Karl Rove returned my call late that afternoon [July 8^th, 2003],” the same day.  “I mentioned I had heard that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA in the counterproliferation section and that she had suggested Wilson be sent to Niger.  I distinctly remember Rove’s reply, ‘Oh, you know that, too.’ Rove and I also discussed other aspects of Wilson’s mission, but since he never has disclosed them publicly, neither have I.” So you considered Rove’s comments, “Oh, you know that, too,” as a confirmation?

MR. ROBERT NOVAK:  Yes.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY:  Were you a confirming source for Robert Novak?

MR. ROVE:  No.  And I, I remember it slightly differently.  I remember saying, “I’ve heard that, too.” Let, let me say this.  There is a civil lawsuit filed by Mr. Wilson and Ms. Plame.  It has been tossed out at the district court level.  They’ve announced their intention to appeal.  I think it is better that I not add anything beyond what is already in the public record until that suit is resolved.  But, as I’m—my recollection is that I said, “I heard that, too.” We—I would point you to...

MR. GREGORY:  Where, where had you heard that?

MR. ROVE:  You’ll have to wait.

MR. GREGORY:  But that’s an important distinction, because the—you—“I heard that, too,” suggests that you heard it from somebody else rather than knowing it yourself.

MR. ROVE:  That’s correct.

MR. GREGORY:  But he, he took those notes down just as you said them.

MR. ROVE:  Well, but I—my recollection is, “I’ve heard that, too.” So—but the point is, if, if, if a journalist had said to me, “I’d like you to confirm this,” my answer would have been, “I can’t.  I don’t know.  I’ve heard that, too.”

MR. GREGORY:  It, it, it’s important to point out that the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, declined to bring any criminal charges against you.  But given the president’s emphatic statement about getting to the bottom of this, were you ever held to account by the president for what you did?

MR. ROVE:  You know, I acted in an appropriate manner, made all the appropriate individuals aware of, of, of my contact.  I met with the FBI right at the beginning of this, told them everything.  You’re right, the special prosecutor declined to take any action at all.  I was never a target.  In fact, it’s—what’s interesting to me is that the person who did give the name, Richard Armitage, we found out at the end of the process, did, did have the conversation with Novak, took no action against him either.

MR. GREGORY:  Was it an inappropriate investigation?

MR. ROVE:  It’s entirely appropriate to look into these kind of things, sure.

MR. GREGORY:  Should Armitage have come forward sooner, do you think, to the administration?

MR. ROVE:  That’s—that was his decision, and those are the people who were advising him.  That’s fine.

MR. GREGORY:  The president seemed frustrated that he didn’t.

MR. ROVE:  I, I’m, I’m going to leave it there.

MR. GREGORY:  Do you think you owe Valerie Plame an apology?

MR. ROVE:  No.

MR. GREGORY:  You do not?

MR. ROVE:  No.

MR. GREGORY:  You considered her fair game in this debate?

MR. ROVE:  No.  And you know what?  Fair game, that wasn’t my phrase.  That’s a phrase of a journalist.  In fact, a colleague of yours.

MR. GREGORY:  Was she an appropriate target in this debate?

MR. ROVE:  No.

MR. GREGORY:  She was not.

MR. ROVE:  No.  Look, her husband wrote a op-ed that we now know by—in a statement issued on July 11^th by the director of the CIA, backed by a report by the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, was misleading and inaccurate. The vice president, the White House and the director of the CIA did not send Mr. Wilson to Africa to look into—to the question of uranium cake from Niger to Iraq.  We also know that he did—he came—the information he came back with was not dispositive, was not conclusive, did not disprove the British intelligence finding that the Iraqis had attempted to acquire uranium cake. In fact, we now know that he brought back information not disclosed in his article that added to the belief, that confirmed the British intelligence report that the Iraqis had attempted to acquire uranium cake.  He brought back information about a previously unknown contact where the Iraqis, working through a third party, attempted to bring and did bring to Niger a trade delegation.  And since the only thing Niger had to sell was uranium cake that was on a U.N.  sanctions list, they declined to do any business.  He brought back information that affirmed the, the British intelligence report.  After this all came out, the British did a study, did a review, appointed a commission to review their intelligence finding and came back and confirmed that they stood by their original assessment that, that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium yellow cake from Niger in—and exactly as was in the president’s speech.

MR. GREGORY:  In our remaining moments, I want to talk about the 2008 campaign.  Now, you’ve said—you haven’t ruled anything out, but you said you’re not going to go work for another candidate.  But you also said that you’re an opinionated guy.  And some of those opinions came flowing out this week, including your conversation with Rush Limbaugh this week about Senator Hillary Clinton.  Watch.

(Audiotape)

MR. ROVE:  I think she’s likely to be the nominee, and I think she’s fatally flawed.

(End audiotape)

MR. GREGORY:  “Fatally flawed” how?

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