Democrats' Reid urges Bush to oust Rove

WASHINGTON -- The Senate's top Democrat yesterday called on President Bush to fire his top political adviser, Karl Rove, for his role in the outing of a CIA agent, and urged the president to rule out pardons for anyone involved in the leak and alleged attempts to thwart the investigation.

Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney ''should come clean with the American public" by apologizing and stating what they and their aides knew and did. Reid said Rove should be let go because of the president's promise to fire anyone involved in the leak, and warned that the president is losing the trust of the American people.

''If he's a man of his word, Rove should be history," Reid said on CNN's ''Late Edition." ''If the president is a man of his word, then he should follow what he said. He should be a uniter, not a divider."

Reid's comments were part of an effort by Democrats to broaden their political attack on the president, two days after I. Lewis ''Scooter" Libby -- Cheney's chief of staff -- was indicted on five criminal counts alleging that he lied about his role in outing CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. Reid and other Democrats used yesterday's talk shows to connect the indictment of Libby to Rove, Cheney, and the Bush administration's push for war.

When the leak investigation into the identity of Wilson started two years ago, White House officials said repeatedly that Rove and Libby were not involved. Bush initially promised to fire any White House aide involved in the leak, although he later altered that by saying he would get rid of staff members who are shown to have committed crimes.

Rove has not been indicted, but special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's investigation is continuing and further charges are possible. Libby's indictment identifies White House ''Official A" as discussing Wilson's identity with columnist Robert Novak -- the first to publish Wilson's name and occupation, and most observers believe that the unnamed official is Rove. Reid suggested yesterday that Rove is the official.

The leak investigation resulted in charges at a difficult time for Bush and Republicans in Congress. Beyond the high energy prices and the ongoing violence in Iraq, two top congressional leaders are facing investigations, and last week the president had to withdraw his Supreme Court nominee, White House counsel Harriet E. Miers, amid a conservative firestorm.

Bush is expected to name a new choice for the Supreme Court as soon as today. He is under pressure from Republicans to choose someone with an established record of commitment to a conservative judicial philosophy, but such a choice could provoke a major confrontation with Democrats.

''It appears to me that maybe the Karl Rove White House -- which is still there; the president, I guess, is still being driven by Karl Rove -- it appears that they want to have a fight out here someplace to divert attention from the many problems in the White House," Reid said on ''This Week."

Speaking on CNN's ''Late Edition," Reid warned against nominating federal appeals Judge Samuel Alito. ''That is not one of the names that I've suggested to the president," he said. ''In fact, I've done the opposite. I think it would create a lot of problems."

Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who was the first lawmaker who called for an independent counsel to investigate the leak, said the case demands a more extensive probe of operations within the vice president's office.

''Vice President Cheney's office was in a sort of campaign to not answer [former ambassador Joseph] Wilson's allegations about nuclear weapons in Niger, but to discredit his wife," Schumer said on the CBS program ''Face the Nation." Joseph Wilson, married to Valerie Plame Wilson, took a trip to Niger that called into question Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein sought to obtain uranium.

''The president ought to do his own internal investigation of the vice president's office, see what happens, set some standards, and if need be, send the vice president to the woodshed," Schumer said.

Republicans, meanwhile, sought to minimize the political fallout. They noted the only official facing criminal charges is Libby, and that he stands accused of misleading investigators and lying to a grand jury -- not of the underlying charge of leaking Valerie Plame Wilson's identity.

''Any alleged wrongdoing is really confined to a single individual," Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said on ABC's ''This Week." ''People who actually were trying to use this, of course, to the president's political disadvantage, I think are going to be disappointed by the fact that this appears to be limited to a single individual."

Senator Lindsey O. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said the indictment is not as damaging as it would have been had Rove been charged, or if charges were brought for leaking an undercover agent's identity.

''The underlying charge that started this investigation never materialized, so you have to put it in that perspective," Graham said on ''Face the Nation." ''To be honest with you, politically, this is not anything that can't be overcome."

Senator Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said he expects the president to address the problems by bringing in some new faces.

''I'm not talking about wholesale changes, but you've got to reach out and bring in more advice and counsel," Lott said on ''Fox News Sunday." ''I think he is a man that knows when there's a time to make moves and take actions. He will do that."