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President: If there's a crime, leaker goes

WASHINGTON - President Bush qualified his pledge to dismiss any White House official found to have leaked the name of a CIA operative, saying Monday that "if someone committed a crime" he would be fired.

In September 2003, the White House had said anyone who leaked classified information in the case would be dismissed. Bush reiterated that promise last June, saying he would fire anyone found to have disclosed the CIA officer's name.

Democrats said Bush in his new comments had lowered the ethics bar for his administration.

Bush would not say whether he was displeased that Karl Rove, his top political adviser, told a reporter that the wife of administration critic Joseph Wilson worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction issues. A 2003 phone call with Rove was the first time that Matthew Cooper of Time magazine heard that Wilson's wife worked at the agency, according to a first-person account by Cooper in the magazine.

The president, in an East Room news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said there was a "serious ongoing investigation."

"I think it's best that people wait until the investigation is complete before you jump to conclusions. And I will do so, as well," he said. "I don't know all the facts. I want to know all the facts."

Democrats contended that Bush's comments indicated he was lowering the administration's ethical standards.

"It appears that an administration that came to office promising "honesty and integrity' and to avoid "legalisms' is now defining ethical standards downward," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.

"In this White House, apparently no aide will be fired or forced to resign unless and until the jail cell door is locked behind him."

While Rove has not disputed that he told Cooper that Wilson's wife worked for the agency, he has insisted through his lawyer that he did not mention her by name.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not say whether Bush meant an indictment or a conviction when he referred to a crime, or whether he considered leaking itself to be a crime. Nor would McClellan acknowledge that the president created a standard different from previous statements.

On another issue, Bush said Monday that he is still evaluating prospects for a Supreme Court vacancy and needs to talk with some potential nominees face to face. He said he wants the Senate to be able to complete confirmation hearings so a new justice will be on the court when it begins its next session in the fall.

"My desire is to get this process moving so that someone will be confirmed - whoever he or she is - will be confirmed by October," Bush said.

The president noted that the White House had heard suggestions from many lawmakers, but also made clear that it's his nominee.

"We have consulted with the Senate. We will continue to consult with the Senate," Bush said. "I, of course, am the person that picks the nominee and they get to decide whether or not the nominee gets confirmed."

Republican strategists and interest groups friendly with the White House are gearing up for an announcement within days. They believe Bush is focusing on a woman to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Among new names in speculation were Michigan Supreme Court Judge Maura Corrigan; Cecilia M. Altonaga, a Cuban-American who is a U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Florida; and professor Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard Law School.

[Last modified July 19, 2005, 01:09:13]