April 10, 2006: Bush ‘Sidesteps’ Question of White House Retaliation against Wilson

At a speech before an audience of students at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, President Bush attempts to dodge a question from a student about special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s assertion that Bush’s White House had sought to retaliate against former ambassador Joseph Wilson (see April 5, 2006). The New York Times observes: “Mr. Bush stumbled as he began his response before settling on an answer that sidestepped the question. He said he had ordered the formal declassification of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in July 2003 because ‘it was important for people to get a better sense for why I was saying what I was saying in my speeches’ about Iraq’s efforts to reconstitute its weapons program. Mr. Bush said nothing about the earlier, informal authorization that Mr. Fitzgerald’s court filing revealed.” Bush concludes: “You’re just going to have to let Mr. Fitzgerald complete his case, and I hope you understand that. It’s a serious legal matter that we’ve got to be careful in making public statements about it.” [New York Times, 4/11/2006]