Complicated Relationship with the Truth

George W. Bush, on February 11th, 2004:

"If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. "If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.

I want to know the truth," the president continued. "Leaks of classified information are bad things."

Court filing, today:

President Bush authorized the release of then-classified information in the summer of 2003 about Iraq's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons to help bolster the administration's case for the U.S.-led invasion, a former high-level White House aide has told federal prosecutors.

I'm sure he's going to hide behind some legalistic defense to the tune of "I declassified the information before I told Libby to leak it, so it wasn't a leak of classified information." Even so, this raises so many questions. Is Libby lying to save his own ass? Will Cheney contradict him? If he's not lying, did Bush and Cheney tell Fitzgerald in their meeting with him that they authorized the leak? Seems like this is a long way from over.

Of course our intrepid press corp didn't see fit to ask about it at today's white house breifing. Wouldn't want to upset the popular kids...