Slaughter to Bush: "Keep Your Word and Fire Rove."

Washington, DC – Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, today called on President Bush to keep his word and fire Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for his role in leaking the identity of Ambassador Joe Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, an undercover agent for the CIA.

(Join Congresswoman Slaughter’s call for President Bush to fire Karl Rove, CLICK HERE)

“It is time for the President to keep his word. Karl Rove should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said Rep. Slaughter. “There can be no gray area here, regardless of how he phrased it, regardless of how much detail he provided, he revealed the identity of an undercover CIA agent. What Mr. Rove did is reprehensible. Putting the life of an undercover CIA agent in jeopardy can not be tolerated. He clearly deserves his pink slip,” she continued.

BACKGROUND:

During a White House Press Briefing on September 30, 2003 President Bush said the following in response to a question regarding the leaking of Valerie Plame’s identity, ”... if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.” When asked at a post G-8 Summit News Conference on June 10, 2004 if he stood by his statement that he would fire whoever was responsible for the leak, Bush said, “Yes. And that’s up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts.”

At the Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence on April 26, 1999, former President George Herbert Walker Bush stated, “Even though I’m a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.”

According to Title 50, Ch. 15, Subch. IV, Sec. 421 intentionally revealing the identity of a covert CIA agent is punishable by 3-10 years in prison or $15-50k in fines or both.