Daily Briefing: The Spawn of Our Town
• Cooperspeaks out: "So didRoveleakPlame's name to me, or tell me she was covert? No. Was it through my conversation withRovethat I learned for the first time thatWilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. . . At this point, I'm as curious as anyone else to see whatPatrick Fitzgeraldhas." [ WP , NYT , USAT ]
•Attorney saysRovedid not have to namePlame: "The statute does not require that the name be disclosed, it just says that you cannot intentionally disclose any information identifying a covert agent." [ NYT ]
• Bushlikely to announce Supreme Court nominee this week; administration said to be "looking very carefully at a woman" for Supreme Court post. [ WP , NYT ]
• Bushapproved covert funding of select candidates in Iraq election, but apparently no money was distributed because of concerns. [ WP ]
•FBI has gathered "large volume" of information on leading organizations critical of the administration, including the ACLU and Greenpeace; groups have sued alleging a "pattern of political surveillance." [ NYT ]
•Potential nominees to Supreme Court "are a mix of old friends, adversaries and acquaintances that perhaps only Washington, that capital company town, could spawn." [ NYT ]
•Loyalty and solidarity fostered byRovecould backfire, saysBrownstein. [ LAT ]
•EPA paid $40,000 to the Weather Channel for informational "video capsules." Separately, agency is looking for a private firm to hold focus groups, redesign website, and ghostwrite scholarly articles. [ WP , NYT ]
•Critics attackRep. Barton(R-Texas) for undermining research findings on global warming. [ WP , WSJ , NYT ]
• Chertofftries to change Department of Homeland Security: "I feel like we are racing the clock. . . Every day we are not doing as much as we can, as fast as we can, is a day that we are falling behind." [ NYT ]
•White House will host formal dinner for India's Prime Minister. [ WT ]
• Patakitries Iowa on for size. [ NYT ]
•Atheists searching for their place in politics. [ LAT ]