Karl Rove in the George W. Bush administration

Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...

's career in U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

's administration began shortly after the first inauguration of George W. Bush

First inauguration of George W. Bush

The first inauguration of George W. Bush as the 43rd President of the United States took place on January 20, 2001. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of George W. Bush as President and Dick Cheney as Vice President...

in January 2001. He was appointed Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President.

Rove was reassigned from his policy development role to one focusing on strategic and tactical planning in April 2006, the same month that Joshua Bolten replaced Andrew Card

Andrew Card

Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...

as White House Chief of Staff

White House Chief of Staff

The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...

White House Iraq Group

In 2002 and 2003 Rove chaired meetings of the White House Iraq Group

White House Iraq Group

The White House Iraq Group was the marketing arm of the White House whose purpose was to sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the public....

(WHIG), an internal White House working group

Working group

A working group is an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers working on new research activities that would be difficult to develop under traditional funding mechanisms . The lifespan of the WG can last anywhere between a few months and several years...

established in August 2002, eight months prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

. WHIG was charged with developing a strategy "for publicizing the White House's assertion that Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

posed a threat to the United States." WHIG's existence and membership was first identified in a Washington Post article by Barton Gellman

Barton Gellman

Barton David Gellman is a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist, blogger and bestselling author.-Career:After 21 years on the staff of The Washington Post, Gellman resigned in February 2010 to concentrate on book and magazine writing...

and Walter Pincus

Walter Pincus

Walter Haskell Pincus is a national security journalist for The Washington Post. He has won several prizes including a Polk Award in 1977, a television Emmy in 1981, the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in association with other Washington Post reporters, and the 2010 Arthur Ross Media...

on August 10, 2003; members of WHIG included Bush’s Chief of Staff

White House Chief of Staff

Andrew Card

, Rice, her deputy Stephen Hadley

Stephen Hadley

Stephen John Hadley was the 21st U.S. Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs , serving under President George W. Bush....

, Vice President Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....

’s Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby

Lewis Libby

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, later disbarred and convicted of a felony....

, legislative liaison Nicholas E. Calio

Nicholas E. Calio

Nicholas E. Calio is Citigroup’s Executive Vice-President for Global Government Affairs. He is responsible for government relations for Citigroup and all of its subsidiaries....

, and communication strategists Mary Matalin

Mary Matalin

Mary Joe Matalin is an American political consultant, well known for her work with the Republican Party. She was an assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney until 2003. Matalin has been chief editor of Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing imprint...

, Karen Hughes

Karen Hughes

Karen Parfitt Hughes is the Global Vice Chair of Burson-Marsteller. She served as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of State with the rank of ambassador. She resides in Austin, Texas.-Early life:Born in Paris, France, she is the daughter...

, and James R. Wilkinson.

Quoting one unnamed WHIG member, the Washington Post explained that the task force's mission was to “educate the public” about the threat posed by Saddam and (in the reporters' words) "[to] set strategy for each stage of the confrontation with Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

". Rove's "strategic communications" task force within WHIG helped write and coordinate speeches by senior Bush administration officials, emphasizing Iraq's purported nuclear threat.

The White House Iraq Group was “little known” until a subpoena

Subpoena

A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...

for its notes, email, and attendance records was issued by CIA leak

Plame affair

The Plame Affair involved the identification of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer. Mrs. Wilson's relationship with the CIA was formerly classified information...

investigator Patrick Fitzgerald

Patrick Fitzgerald

Patrick J. Fitzgerald is the current United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and a member of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel...

in January 2004.

2004 George W. Bush Presidential Re-election Campaign

Bush publicly thanked Rove and called him "the architect" in his 2004 victory speech, after defeating John Kerry

John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

in the 2004 presidential election.

Valerie Plame affair

On August 29, 2003, retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV claimed that Rove leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame

Valerie Plame

Valerie Elise Plame Wilson , known as Valerie Plame, Valerie E. Wilson, and Valerie Plame Wilson, is a former United States CIA Operations Officer and the author of a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA.-Early life :Valerie Elise Plame was born on...

, as a Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

(CIA) employee, in retaliation for Wilson's op-ed in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

in which he criticized the Bush administration's citation of the yellowcake documents among the justifications for the War in Iraq enumerated in Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address

State of the Union Address

The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and his national priorities.The practice arises...

.

In late August 2006 it became known that Richard L. Armitage was responsible for the leak. The investigation led to felony charges being filed against Lewis "Scooter" Libby

Lewis Libby

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, later disbarred and convicted of a felony....

for perjury

Perjury

Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

and obstruction of justice

Obstruction of justice

The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...

. Eventually, Libby was found guilty by a jury.

On June 13, 2006, prosecutors determined there was no cause to charge Rove with any wrongdoing. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated previously that "I can tell you that the substantial bulk of the work of this investigation is concluded."

On July 13, 2006, Plame unsuccessfully sued Cheney, Rove, Libby, and others, accusing them of conspiring to destroy her career.

On September 6, 2006, Washington Post columnist David Broder called on the more vocal members of the media who were publicizing Rove's involvement to apologize to him.

Scott McClellan's book

Scott McClellan

Scott McClellan is a former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush, and author of a controversial No. 1 New York Times bestseller about the Bush Administration titled What Happened. He replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in July 2003 and served until May 10, 2006...

claims in his book What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception
What Happened
What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception is the #1 New York Times bestseller of Scott McClellan, who served as White House Press Secretary from 2003 until 2006 under President George W. Bush. The book was scheduled to be released on June 2, 2008; however,...

, published in the spring of 2008 by Public Affairs Books, that the statements he made in 2003 about Rove's lack of involvement in the Valerie Plame affair

Plame affair

The Plame Affair involved the identification of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer. Mrs. Wilson's relationship with the CIA was formerly classified information...

were untrue, and that he had been encouraged to repeat such untruths. His book has been widely disputed, however, with many key members of McClellan's own staff telling a completely different story. Former CNN commentator Robert Novak has questioned if McClelland wrote the book himself. It was also revealed that the publisher was seeking a negative book to increase sales.

2006 Congressional elections and beyond

On October 24, 2006, two weeks before the Congressional election, in an interview with National Public Radio's Robert Siegel

Robert Siegel

Robert Siegel is an American radio journalist best known as host of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast All Things Considered.-Career:...

, Rove insisted that his insider polling data forecast Republican retention of both houses:

SIEGEL: I'm looking at all the same polls that you are looking at.

ROVE: No, you are not. I'm looking at 68 polls a week for candidates for the US House and US Senate, and Governor and you may be looking at 4-5 public polls a week that talk attitudes nationally.

SIEGEL: I don't want to have you to call races...

ROVE: I'm looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I'm entitled to the math.

In the election the Democrats

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

won both houses of Congress. The White House Bulletin, published by Bulletin News, cited rumors of Rove's impending departure from the White House staff: "'Karl represents the old style and he's got to go if the Democrats are going to believe Bush's talk of getting along', said a key Bush advisor." However, while allowing that many Republican members of Congress are "resentful of the way he and the White House conducted the losing campaign", the New York Times also stated that, "White House officials say President Bush has every intention of keeping Mr. Rove on through the rest of his term."

Prior to the election, Rove voiced impatience with the notion that his own reputation is on the ballot. He told the Washington Post, "I understand some will see the election as a judgment on me, but the fact of the matter is that, look what has been set in motion: a broader, deeper, strengthened Republican Party, and with an emphasis on grass-roots neighbor-to-neighbor politics, is going to continue." After the election, Rove continued to express optimism, telling the Post, "The Republican philosophy is alive and well and likely to reemerge in the majority in 2008." Rove also told the Post that the GOP election strategy was working until the Mark Foley scandal

Mark Foley scandal

The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centers on soliciting e-mails and sexually suggestive instant messages sent by Mark Foley, a Republican Congressman from Florida, to teenaged boys who had formerly served as congressional pages...

put the Republican campaign "back on its heels". Rove added "We were on a roll, and [the Foley scandal] stopped it.... It revived all the stuff about Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff is an American former lobbyist and businessman. Convicted in 2006 of mail fraud and conspiracy, he was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to the conviction of White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine...

and added to it."

In Rove's analysis, 10 of the 28 House seats Republicans lost were sacrificed because of various scandals. Another six, he said, were lost because incumbents did not recognize and react quickly enough to the threat. Rove argued that, without corruption and complacency, The Democrats would have gained around a dozen seats and Republicans could have kept narrow control of the House regardless of Bush's troubles and the war.

In analyzing the results of the 2006 midterm election, Rove told Time:

The profile of corruption in the exit polls was bigger than I'd expected ... Abramoff, lobbying, Foley

Mark Foley

Mark Adam Foley is a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He served from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida as a member of the Republican Party....

and Haggard

Ted Haggard

Ted Arthur Haggard is an American evangelical pastor. Known as Pastor Ted to the congregation he served, he was the founder and former pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado; a founder of the Association of Life-Giving Churches; and was leader of the National Association of...

added to the general distaste that people have for all things Washington, and it just reached critical mass... Iraq mattered, but it was more frustration than it was an explicit call for withdrawal. If this was a get-out-now call for withdrawal, then Lamont

Ned Lamont

Edward Miner "Ned" Lamont, Jr. is a businessman and heir and most recently an unsuccessful candidate for the 2010 Democratic nomination for Governor of Connecticut. On May 22, 2010, Lamont received more than fifteen percent of the vote at the state Democratic convention, and appeared on the...

would not have been beaten by Lieberman

Joe Lieberman

Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...

. Iraq does play a role, but not the critical, central role.

Rove defended the role of the Republican get-out-the-vote program he helped invent. He told Time:

I see this as much more of a transient, passing thing ... [T]he Republican Party remains at its core a small-government, low-tax, limit-spending, traditional-values, strong-defense party. I see the power of the ideas, even in a tough year ... People were talking 35, 40 or more and it didn't happen. There were a number of elections which were supposed to be close and ended up not being close.

He added that he has "fundamental confidence in the power of the underlying agenda of this President", and cited fighting the war on terror, tax cuts, immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

, welfare, and legal reform, reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, reducing trade barrier

Trade barrier

Trade barriers are government-induced restrictions on international trade. The barriers can take many forms, including the following:* Tariffs* Non-tariff barriers to trade** Import licenses** Export licenses** Import quotas** Subsidies...

s, restrained spending.

In the January 29, 2007 issue of Newsweek, GOP activist Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist

Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...

described how Rove showed up at a weekly meeting of influential D.C. conservatives early in the month, surprising attendees with his bubbly demeanor after weeks of rumors that he might be headed out. Norquist was quoted as saying "I think some people had given him up for dead, but he was good old Karl, upbeat and enthusiastic." At the meeting Rove previewed Bush's final two years in office, saying Social Security

Social Security (United States)

In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...

reform was likely off the table and that Iraq and the economy would be the biggest issues for 2008. "I don't know anyone who holds him personally responsible for what happened to us in the election", said a GOP national committee member, who declined to be named talking about the inner circle. "But his stature isn't quite the same." According to Newsweek,
"behind the scenes, according to administration officials (anonymous in order to discuss White House matters), Rove has been laying the groundwork for Bush's State of the Union address and mulling how the GOP can regain momentum in 2008 ... Rove has been busy trying to find common ground with Dems, organizing two meetings between Bush and the Blue Dog Democrats, a coalition of conservative lawmakers who offer the White House its best chance at compromise with the new Congress. Rove also sat in on many of Bush's meetings with members of Congress in recent weeks about Iraq."

Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys

Allen Weh

Allen Edward Weh was a Republican candidate for Governor of New Mexico in the 2010 election. He is the president and CEO of CSI Aviation Services, Inc., an international air charter and leasing services company he founded in 1979...

, chairman of the New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

Republican Party, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias

David Iglesias (attorney)

David Claudio Iglesias is an American attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico.He was appointed by President George W. Bush as the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico in August 2001 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2001. He served for 6 years. He was one of eight U.S...

to a White House aide for Rove, asking that Iglesias be removed. In 2006, Rove personally told Weh that Iglesias had been dismissed. Weh was dissatisfied with Iglesias due in part to his failure to indict New Mexico State Senator Manny Aragon on fraud and conspiracy charges. After Iglesias was dismissed, his replacement, Acting U.S. Attorney Larry Gomez brought a 26 count felony indictment against Aragon. In a plea bargain, Aragon plead guilty to three felony fraud counts. Weh followed up with, "There’s nothing we’ve done that's wrong. It wasn’t that Iglesias wasn’t looking out for Republicans. He just wasn’t doing his job, period.”" White House spokeswoman Dana Perino

Dana Perino

Dana Maria Perino is an American political commentator for Fox News. She served as the White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007 to January 20, 2009...

said that Rove "wasn’t involved in who was going to be fired or hired".

On July 30, 2009, after giving closed door testimony before Congress, Rove gave interviews to the New York Times and the Washington Post in which he revealed that he had suggested Timothy Griffin, his former aide, for a government post. He stated that if there was an available government post, Griffin should be hired. Griffin was subsequently given the U.S. Attorney post in Arkansas, replacing Henry Cummins, whom the Bush administration claimed had been planning on retiring. Cummins denied that.

On March 14, 2007 former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald said he believes Rove was trying to influence the selection in reaction to pressure from Rep. Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert

John Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...

, then Speaker of the House and a political ally of then-Gov. George Ryan

George Ryan

George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...

, who knew Fitzgerald was seeking someone from outside Illinois to attack political corruption.

On July 26, 2007 Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced that the committee was issuing a subpoena

Subpoena

for Rove to appear personally before the committee and testify, following Gonzales' testimony on the U.S. Attorney dismissal controversy and other matters.

On July 30, 2008, a U.S. Congressional panel voted 20-14 to hold Rove in Contempt of Congress

Contempt of Congress

Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically the bribery of a senator or representative was considered contempt of Congress...

for defying a subpoena to testify in its probe into suspected political interference at the Justice Department.

On March 4, 2009 Rove and former White House Counsel

White House Counsel

The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...

Harriet Miers

Harriet Ellan Miers is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel. In 2005, she was nominated by President George W. Bush to be an Associate Justice of the U.S...

agreed to testify under oath before Congress about the firings of U.S. attorneys.

On May 14, 2009 the New York Times reported that Rove would soon be interviewed by Federal Prosecutors investigating the firings of the US Attorneys, and by investigators for the House Judiciary Committee.
On July 30, 2009, after two days of in-camera testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Rove again told reporters, he had played only a "peripheral role" in the firings.
On August 11, 2009, the New York Times reported that previously classified White House emails, showed Rove had played a more central role than he had claimed.
The New York Times also reported that the emails detailed a lobbying effort by Rove to have a protege of his, Timothy Griffin

Timothy Griffin

John Timothy Griffin is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas from December 2006 to June 2007, appointed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.-Early life and education:Griffin was born in...

, appointed US Attorney for Arkansas, after the incumbent, Bud Cummins

Bud Cummins

Harry Earnest "Bud" Cummins III is a former United States Attorney of five years in the Eastern District of Arkansas.-Career:...

, had been pressured to resign.

E-mail scandal

Due to investigations into White House staffers' e-mail communication related to the controversy over the dismissal

Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...

of United States Attorneys, it was discovered that many White House staff members, including Rove, had exchanged documents using Republican National Committee

Republican National Committee

The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...

e-mail servers

Web server

Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....

such as gwb43.com and georgewbush.com or personal e-mail accounts with third party providers such as BlackBerry

BlackBerry

BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...

, considered a violation of the Presidential Records Act

Presidential Records Act

The Presidential Records Act of 1978, , is an Act of Congress of the United States governing the official records of Presidents and Vice Presidents created or received after January 20, 1981, and mandating the preservation of all presidential records...

. Over 500 of Rove's emails were mistakenly sent to a parody website, who forwarded them to an investigative reporter

Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

Resignation from the White House

In a Wall Street Journal interview published on August 13, 2007 Rove revealed that he would resign from the Administration effective August 31. Having originally floated the idea of resigning in mid-2006, Rove opted to stay with the White House through the 2006 mid-term elections

United States general elections, 2006

The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. All United States House of Representatives seats and one third of the United States Senate seats were contested in this election, as well as 36 state governorships, many state legislatures, four territorial...

and a number of policy debates in the first half of 2007. The resignation fell prior to the Labor Day

Labor Day

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...

deadline, set by White House Chief of Staff

White House Chief of Staff

Joshua Bolten, for any senior aides wishing to leave the administration prior to the end of Bush's second term. In a statement, he said, "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family".

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