Ex-White House Aide on Periphery of Leak Inquiry - New York Times
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
POUND RIDGE, N.Y., July 25 - From the road, it is barely possible to see the home where Ari Fleischer lives. Tucked away behind a secured fence and a thicket of shrubbery, Mr. Fleischer, the former White House press secretary, is where he wants to be these days: nearly invisible.
For the two years since he left the White House - on the very day in July 2003 that Robert D. Novak printed the name of a Central Intelligence Agency operative in his syndicated newspaper column - Mr. Fleischer has been caught up in the investigation of who supplied that information to the columnist and whether it was a crime. The prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, called Mr. Fleischer to appear before the grand jury that is investigating the leak.
One person familiar with Mr. Fleischer's testimony said he told the grand jury that he was not Mr. Novak's source. And Mr. Fleischer, who was never shy about championing his Republican bosses, seems not to fit Mr. Novak's description, in a subsequent column, of his primary source as "no partisan gunslinger."
But Mr. Fleischer was in the middle of the developments that surrounded the White House's response to the criticism leveled by Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former diplomat, who on July 6, 2003, publicly said the administration had "twisted" intelligence about the nuclear ambitions of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
In the week that followed Mr. Wilson's assertions in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times, Mr. Fleischer played a central role as the White House acknowledged that six months earlier, President Bush should not have cited intelligence about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa in his State of the Union address.
Mr. Wilson, who had traveled to the African nation of Niger in 2002 at the request of the C.I.A. to look into the uranium reports, had challenged Mr. Bush's statement.
A White House telephone log shows that Mr. Fleischer received a call from Mr. Novak on July 7, 2003, but a person familiar with Mr. Fleischer's testimony said he told prosecutors he never returned the call. Mr. Fleischer was aboard Air Force One with Mr. Bush and several other senior administration officials as they traveled across Africa that week.
And while a classified State Department memorandum that identified Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Wilson, as a C.I.A. operative, was also on board, Mr. Fleischer has told the grand jury that he never saw the document, according to the person familiar with his testimony.
["I'm cooperating with the investigators, and refer all questions to them," Mr. Fleischer said on Tuesday, after turning away a reporter at his house on Monday.]
The people who discussed the testimony of Mr. Fleischer and other witnesses asked not to be named because Mr. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, has asked anyone involved in the case not to talk about it. At least one person who provided an account of Mr. Fleischer's role did so in the belief that it would remove suspicion from Mr. Fleischer.
As the investigation has progressed, according to people who have been officially briefed on the inquiry, investigators have lessened their interest in Mr. Fleischer's activities and those of other top White House press aides at the time as more senior administration figures have attracted greater attention. Those figures include Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, and I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
With Judith Miller, a reporter for The New York Times, in jail for refusing to divulge her source for the same information about Ms. Wilson, and the grand jury set to expire in October, the outcome of the investigation remains unclear.
[In an interview on the CNN program "Inside Politics" on Tuesday, Mr. Novak said he could not discuss any role he had had in the case. He added, "I can't tell anything I ever talked to Karl Rove about because I don't think I ever talked to him about any subject, even the time of day, on the record."]
Mr. Fleischer, as White House spokesman, delivered the administration's pronouncements about the Iraq war in the weeks after the invasion began in March 2003. But he was never part of Mr. Bush's inner circle, and he was not the only member of the Bush communications team trying to counter Mr. Wilson's critique.
Dan Bartlett, the most senior communications strategist in the White House, has also told investigators that he did not know who Ms. Wilson was, according to a person who has been briefed on the case.
Few if any reporters who traveled with Mr. Fleischer, Mr. Bartlett and the White House entourage that week have been called to testify before the grand jury. A background briefing during the trip in which Mr. Bartlett spoke with reporters and urged them to look into the C.I.A.'s role in sending Mr. Wilson to Niger has not drawn substantial interest from prosecutors recently.
One source familiar with the case said Mr. Fitzgerald knew about the briefing but was apparently not pursuing it as a significant lead.
A different person, who has been briefed on the investigation, said, "If Bartlett spoke to the issue, it was to suggest to reporters to inquire at the C.I.A. because it was the C.I.A. that had control of the issue."
That individual added that Mr. Bartlett did not see the classified State Department memorandum.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bartlett repeated that administration officials "are fully cooperating with the investigators in this process, at the direction of the president."
When he left the White House on July 14, 2003, Mr. Fleischer was newly married and ready to return to the small, affluent town of Pound Ridge in Westchester County, where he was raised. He has largely kept a low profile, speaking to groups around the country but staying off the television talk-show circuit.
Earlier this year, Mr. Fleischer's memoir, "Taking Heat: The President, the Press, and My Years in the White House," was published. In it, he made no mention of the leak but took note of the story roiling the White House the day he left.
"A controversy raged over the accuracy of a claim the president had made in his State of the Union address concerning Iraq's efforts to obtain uranium from Africa," he wrote. "For more than 45 minutes, the press and I enjoyed our last clash."
David Johnston contributed reporting from Washington for this article.
POUND RIDGE, N.Y., July 25 - From the road, it is barely possible to see the home where Ari Fleischer lives. Tucked away behind a secured fence and a thicket of shrubbery, Mr. Fleischer, the former White House press secretary, is where he wants to be these days: nearly invisible.
For the two years since he left the White House - on the very day in July 2003 that Robert D. Novak printed the name of a Central Intelligence Agency operative in his syndicated newspaper column - Mr. Fleischer has been caught up in the investigation of who supplied that information to the columnist and whether it was a crime. The prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, called Mr. Fleischer to appear before the grand jury that is investigating the leak.
One person familiar with Mr. Fleischer's testimony said he told the grand jury that he was not Mr. Novak's source. And Mr. Fleischer, who was never shy about championing his Republican bosses, seems not to fit Mr. Novak's description, in a subsequent column, of his primary source as "no partisan gunslinger."
But Mr. Fleischer was in the middle of the developments that surrounded the White House's response to the criticism leveled by Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former diplomat, who on July 6, 2003, publicly said the administration had "twisted" intelligence about the nuclear ambitions of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
In the week that followed Mr. Wilson's assertions in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times, Mr. Fleischer played a central role as the White House acknowledged that six months earlier, President Bush should not have cited intelligence about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa in his State of the Union address.
Mr. Wilson, who had traveled to the African nation of Niger in 2002 at the request of the C.I.A. to look into the uranium reports, had challenged Mr. Bush's statement.
A White House telephone log shows that Mr. Fleischer received a call from Mr. Novak on July 7, 2003, but a person familiar with Mr. Fleischer's testimony said he told prosecutors he never returned the call. Mr. Fleischer was aboard Air Force One with Mr. Bush and several other senior administration officials as they traveled across Africa that week.
And while a classified State Department memorandum that identified Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Wilson, as a C.I.A. operative, was also on board, Mr. Fleischer has told the grand jury that he never saw the document, according to the person familiar with his testimony.
["I'm cooperating with the investigators, and refer all questions to them," Mr. Fleischer said on Tuesday, after turning away a reporter at his house on Monday.]
The people who discussed the testimony of Mr. Fleischer and other witnesses asked not to be named because Mr. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, has asked anyone involved in the case not to talk about it. At least one person who provided an account of Mr. Fleischer's role did so in the belief that it would remove suspicion from Mr. Fleischer.
As the investigation has progressed, according to people who have been officially briefed on the inquiry, investigators have lessened their interest in Mr. Fleischer's activities and those of other top White House press aides at the time as more senior administration figures have attracted greater attention. Those figures include Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, and I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
With Judith Miller, a reporter for The New York Times, in jail for refusing to divulge her source for the same information about Ms. Wilson, and the grand jury set to expire in October, the outcome of the investigation remains unclear.
[In an interview on the CNN program "Inside Politics" on Tuesday, Mr. Novak said he could not discuss any role he had had in the case. He added, "I can't tell anything I ever talked to Karl Rove about because I don't think I ever talked to him about any subject, even the time of day, on the record."]
Mr. Fleischer, as White House spokesman, delivered the administration's pronouncements about the Iraq war in the weeks after the invasion began in March 2003. But he was never part of Mr. Bush's inner circle, and he was not the only member of the Bush communications team trying to counter Mr. Wilson's critique.
Dan Bartlett, the most senior communications strategist in the White House, has also told investigators that he did not know who Ms. Wilson was, according to a person who has been briefed on the case.
Few if any reporters who traveled with Mr. Fleischer, Mr. Bartlett and the White House entourage that week have been called to testify before the grand jury. A background briefing during the trip in which Mr. Bartlett spoke with reporters and urged them to look into the C.I.A.'s role in sending Mr. Wilson to Niger has not drawn substantial interest from prosecutors recently.
One source familiar with the case said Mr. Fitzgerald knew about the briefing but was apparently not pursuing it as a significant lead.
A different person, who has been briefed on the investigation, said, "If Bartlett spoke to the issue, it was to suggest to reporters to inquire at the C.I.A. because it was the C.I.A. that had control of the issue."
That individual added that Mr. Bartlett did not see the classified State Department memorandum.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bartlett repeated that administration officials "are fully cooperating with the investigators in this process, at the direction of the president."
When he left the White House on July 14, 2003, Mr. Fleischer was newly married and ready to return to the small, affluent town of Pound Ridge in Westchester County, where he was raised. He has largely kept a low profile, speaking to groups around the country but staying off the television talk-show circuit.
Earlier this year, Mr. Fleischer's memoir, "Taking Heat: The President, the Press, and My Years in the White House," was published. In it, he made no mention of the leak but took note of the story roiling the White House the day he left.
"A controversy raged over the accuracy of a claim the president had made in his State of the Union address concerning Iraq's efforts to obtain uranium from Africa," he wrote. "For more than 45 minutes, the press and I enjoyed our last clash."
David Johnston contributed reporting from Washington for this article.
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