Bush appears unconcerned

2005-10-28 17:06

Washington - United States President George W Bush on Friday met with top aides at the White House, including senior political strategist Karl Rove, thought to be in legal peril in connection to a CIA leak investigation.

With an announcement by the special prosecutor leading the probe expected later in the day, Bush met with senior advisers, including vice-president Dick Cheney, White House chief of staff Andrew Card and Rove, in the Oval Office.

The president showed little concern about his worsening fortunes as he left the mansion, bound for the nearby state of Virginia to make a speech on one of his political strong suits: the global war on terrorism.

Bush, grinning broadly, faked coming to the television cameras to answer reporters' questions but proceeded to his Marine One helicopter without saying a word.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's two-year-old criminal investigation into who unmasked a CIA agent has been reportedly focused of late on Rove and Cheney chief of staff I Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The New York Times said that sources briefed about the case expected Libby, but not Rove, to be charged with making false statements, and noted that Fitzgerald was likely to extend the term of the grand jury beyond its expiration on Friday.

An announcement was expected later in the day.

Fitzgerald could also decide to lay no charges over the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame and head home to Chicago - a move that would also start political shock waves.

- AFP