The Note

ByABC News
September 30, 2003, 11:20 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 30 &#151;<br> -- Today's Schedule (all times Eastern):

7:30 am: Senator Joe Lieberman attends a "Lawyers for Lieberman" campaign fundraiser, New York City9:00 am: Senator Lieberman attends a "LieberWomen" campaign fundraiser, New York City9:15 am: Senate convenes for legislative business10:00 am: Senate Appropriations Committee holds full committee markup of the 2004 emergency supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan, Capitol Hill10:00 am: SEC Chairman William McDonough testifies to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on the state of the securities industry, Capitol Hill10:45 am: Governor Howard Dean attends breakfast at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium, Los Angeles12:25 pm: Vice President Cheney speaks to the State of Commerce Luncheon during the National Minority Enterprise Development Week Conference, D.C.12:30 pm: House of Representatives convenes for morning business1:05 pm: President Bush attends a Bush-Cheney 2004 luncheon fundraiser, Chicago1:30 pm: Senator John Kerry delivers remarks at the Brookings Institution on the future of American operations in Iraq, D.C.2:00 pm: President Bush meets with business leaders, Chicago2:30 pm: Governor Gray Davis and DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe greet volunteers at a phone bank to get out the vote, Los Angeles3:15 pm: Senator Kerry holds a conference call to announce former Senator Gary Hart's endorsement3:15 pm: Senator Bob Graham meets with the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, San Jose3:30 pm: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers testify to the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, Capitol Hill4:00 pm: California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley tours Sacramento County elections office to review election preparations such as absentee ballot processing4:30 pm: General Wesley Clark holds private meetings with members of Congress, Capitol Hill5:00 pm: Maria Shriver makes brief remarks after touring the Hollenbeck Youth Center, Los Angeles5:00 pm: Senator Lieberman attends a campaign fundraiser reception, New York City5:30 pm: Governor Davis signs a comprehensive workers' compensation legislative package, Los Angeles6:00 pm: State Senator Tom McClintock holds a press conference to announce an endorsement from Professor Bruce Herschenson, Los Angeles6:05 pm: President Bush attends a Bush-Cheney 2004 private fundraiser reception, Cincinnati6:30 pm: General Clark participates in a conference call with the anti-recall "Stand for California" 7:00 pm: State Senator McClintock appears on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews 7:00 pm: Representative Dick Gephardt takes part in "Gephardt Parties Across America," Philadelphia8:00 pm: Senator Kerry attends a campaign fundraiser at Regional Food & Drink, D.C.8:30 pm: Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a press availability at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco8:30 pm: Senator Graham attends a private campaign fundraiser reception, San Jose11:00 pm: Governor Dean attends a "September to Remember" celebration at Union Station, Los Angeles11:35 pm: Governor Dean appears on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno

NEWS SUMMARY

The following notice was sent to all White House employees:

PLEASE READ: Important Message From Counsel's Office

We were informed last evening by the Department of Justice that it has opened an investigation into possible unauthorized disclosures concerning the identity of an undercover CIA employee. The Department advised us that it will be sending a letter today instructing us to preserve all materials that might be relevant to its investigation. Its letter will provide more specific instructions on the materials in which it is interested, and we will communicate those instructions directly to you. In the meantime, you must preserve all materials that might in any way be related to the Department's investigation. Any questions concerning this request should be directed to Associate Counsels Ted Ullyot or Raul Yanes in the Counsel to the president's office. The president has directed full cooperation with this investigation.

Alberto R. Gonzales

Counsel to the president

ABC News has now been told that the preliminary investigation is over, and that this is now a full-scale investigation being conducted by the Justice Department.

We would still like to see Attorney General Ashcroft come out publicly and explain how this politically charged investigation will be conducted.

The president and Karl Rove departed by chopper this morning from the White House, ABC News' Peter Doherty reports, but that familiar whirring sound kept the shouted questions from being heard or, at least, answered.

In all our back-and-forth history(onics) about the Wilson matter yesterday, we inadvertently left out one really important notion, which we insert here now high up:

The press and the opposition party should NOT go around assuming that because someone MIGHT be guilty of something that they ARE guilty of something.

Karl Rove's name was out there yesterday, but there are bound to be others, and there is just no reason to rush to judgment (even in our current 24/7 media culture) just because someone hears a name, or even if someone hears that someone else has hired a criminal defense lawyer.

If you care even a whit about America having a civil national public discourse (during this time and forever), read every word of David Brooks' brilliant New York Times column, and thank Arthur for hiring him. LINK

Now: before this morning's blockbuster White House announcement, we were all prepared to tell you that on this last day of the presidential campaign fundraising quarter and one week before the California recall, only one American newspaper broke new news on the Wilson story this cycle.

(For some important Wilson investigative work done overseas, check out our new Egyptian version of The Note one of the first two of many international daily editions we are rolling out in the coming weeks. You can find it at http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote/egpyt.html.)

The Washington Post 's Mike Allen and Dana Milbank not Priest have these three key paragraphs, and if you aren't sure you will get why they are key, you need to read s-l-o-w-l-y. LINK

"Another journalist yesterday confirmed receiving a call from an administration official providing the same information about Wilson's wife before the Novak column appeared on July 14 in The Post and other newspapers."

"The journalist, who asked not to be identified because of possible legal ramifications, said that the information was provided as part of an effort to discredit Wilson, but that the CIA information was not treated as especially sensitive. 'The official I spoke with thought this was a part of Wilson's story that wasn't known and cast doubt on his whole mission,' the person said, declining to identify the official he spoke with. 'They thought Wilson was having a good ride and this was part of Wilson's story .'"

"An article that appeared on the Time magazine Web site the same week Novak's column was published said that 'some government officials have noted to Time in interviews . . . that Wilson's wife, [...], is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.' The same article quoted from an interview with I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, saying that Cheney did not know about Wilson's mission 'until this year when it became public in the last month or so.'"

One obvious implication of this is that the oft-press shy Libby was taking journalists' calls during the period when [Wilson's wife]'s name was named, but, of course, that doesn't mean that Libby had anything to do with it.

Of course, the Post printing that pretty much non-sequitarial paragraph COULD suggest two things:

A. The Post has its suspicions .

B. Maybe Mr. Libby should have played nicer with the intel boys during the run-up to the Iraq war .

The Time.com story is also interesting because it demonstrates the clear animus that the administration felt toward Wilson contemporaneously with the leak of the name:

" Administration officials have taken public and private whacks at Wilson, charging that his 2002 report, made at the behest of U.S. intelligence, was faulty and that his mission was a scheme cooked up by mid-level operatives ." LINK

"George Tenet, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, took a shot at Wilson last week as did ex-White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. Both contended that Wilson's report on an alleged Iraqi effort to purchase uranium from Niger, far from undermining the president's claim in his State of the Union address that Iraq sought uranium in Africa, as Wilson had said, actually strengthened it."

And we really don't like to fight with Bob Novak besides being a fellow journalist and Terps fan, he is our hero.

But we don't understand why

1. Bob thinks it matters that he was told the name of Wilson's wife in a conversation he initiated, as he claimed yesterday. It is a classic political hit strategy, Bob, to take the call from the reporter, and work the negative information into the call.

2. Newsday quoted Bob on July 22 saying, "his sources had come to him with the information. 'I didn't dig it out, it was given to me,' he said. "They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.'" LINK

("I'd say the story's changed," says IF Stoner Josh Marshall.)

3. Bob seems to be somewhat mischaracterizing what Wilson's wife's job was.

Senator Kerry delivers remarks at the Brookings Institution on the future of American operations in Iraq this afternoon.

He also holds a conference call to announce, ABC News' Ed O'Keefe has learned, former Senator Gary Hart's endorsement, which will also be Webcast this afternoon. He will attend a fundraiser tonight at Regional Food & Drink in D.C. along with Senator Kennedy and more than a dozen House members.

President Bush attends a luncheon fundraiser and later meets with business leaders at the University of Chicago's business school in Chicago today. Later on, he goes to Cincinnati to attend a campaign fundraiser reception at a private residence. His aides continue to say he wants this Wilson matter dealt with.

Vice President Cheney speaks to the State of Commerce Luncheon during the National Minority Enterprise Development Week Conference today in D.C.

Governor Dean attends breakfast at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Los Angeles this morning. He also attends a "September to Remember" celebration at Union Station. He appears on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

General Clark is in D.C. today. He will do a one-on-one interview with Josh Marshall of the Talking Points Memo. He also will meet with members of Congress in closed meetings on Capitol Hill. Later, he will participate in a conference call with members of the anti-recall "Stand for California."

Congressman Gephardt takes part in "Gephardt Parties Across America" tonight in Philadelphia (see below for more on that).

Senator Lieberman attends breakfast fundraisers with "Lawyers for Lieberman" and "LieberWomen" in New York this morning. He has another fundraiser this evening at Smith & Wollensky in New York City.

Senator Edwards attends a meet-and-greet at Light in New York City tonight

Senator Graham is in San Jose, California. He will meet with the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group at the San Jose Mercury News and also attend a private fundraising reception.

Congressman Kucinich is in D.C. with no public events scheduled.

Reverend Sharpton is in New York City with no public events scheduled.

Ambassador Moseley Braun is in Chicago with no public events announced.

In the recall:

DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe will join Governor Davis today in Los Angeles to greet volunteers at a phone bank to get out the vote. He also will sign a comprehensive workers' compensation legislative package at Los Angeles International Airport later today. His administration will release the state's HMO report card this morning in Sacramento.

Lieutenant Governor Bustamante has no public events scheduled for today.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will call into the Steve Harvey radio show in Los Angeles in the morning, and later he'll hold a press availability at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. "Assemblywomen for Arnold" will hold a conference call today to discuss the effects of the car tax.

Maria Shriver will make brief remarks at the Hollenbeck Youth Center in Los Angeles today.

State Senator Tom McClintock holds a press conference in Burbank to announce an endorsement from Pepperdine Professor Bruce Herschenson. He also appears live on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and in a recorded interview on KTLA in Los Angeles.

The Conference Board report released this morning shows unexpectedly low consumer confidence. ABC's Schindelheim reports, "two employment components of the index were at their lowest levels in more than a decade: The "jobs plentiful" index fell 1.3 points to 10.0, the lowest level since December 1993. At the same time, the "jobs hard to get" index rose 1.2 points to 35.3, its highest level since December 1993."