Karl Rove Claims the Bush White House Never Leaked (Seriously)

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 1:11 PM on February 10, 2009.

Speaking about the first amendment at Loyola Marymount University last week, former Bush adviser Karl Rove said that "secrecy and confidentiality are necessary for every government." Rove then made the laughable claim that the Bush White House never leaked to the press:

I love how the last eight years, this White House, the Bush White House, was criticized for being tight-lipped. We didn't leak. I hope Barack Obama has a White House that doesn't leak.

As Christy Hardin Smith notes at FireDogLake, Rove appears to be forgetting the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, for which he was Robert Novak's confirming source. Joe Sudbay writes that "Rove's speech was an assault on journalists" who frequently "printed what Rove leaked to them."

Tagged as: karl rove, plame, valerie plame, liar, bush white house, leak, valerie

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.