Rove back in the crosshairs

Democrats to hold unofficial hearing on investigation
Cox News Service


WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats will conduct an unofficial hearing today that may return public attention to White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove.

The president’s adviser has been saddled with allegations that he had a role in disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence officer whose husband criticized prewar intelligence President Bush used to justify the war in Iraq.

Congressional Republicans complained that Democrats had arranged the hearing because the president’s nomination of John Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court this week has distracted much of Washington from developments in a federal investigation of the White House leaks that resulted in the public identification of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Democrats “will do everything they can … to keep Karl Rove on the front page,” said Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican and the former chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, which develops the legislative agenda of the GOP leadership.

“This issue deserves to be vetted, but it has been vetted for three years,” Craig told Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill.