WASHINGTON — The FBI began a full-scale criminalinvestigation Tuesday into whether White House officials illegallyleaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer, and PresidentBush ordered his staff to cooperate with the first major probe ofhis administration.
Democrats demanded the appointment of a special outside counselbut Bush resisted. ''I'm absolutely confident that the JusticeDepartment can do a good job,'' he said on a re-electionfund-raising stop in Chicago.
''If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to knowit and we'll take the appropriate action,'' Bush said. ''And thisinvestigation is a good thing.''
Democratic leaders said Attorney General John Ashcroft was tooclose to the White House to conduct an impartial investigation.''We don't have confidence in John Ashcroft ... and we know withouta doubt that somebody broke the federal law,'' Senate Democraticleader Tom Daschle said.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said, ''If there ever was acase for the appointment of a special counsel, this is it.''
With pressure building, the Justice Department alerted the WhiteHouse late Monday of the decision to move from a preliminaryinquiry into a full investigation, a step rarely taken withcomplaints involving leaks of classified information.
The investigation is aimed at finding who leaked the name of theCIA operative, possibly in an attempt to punish the officer'shusband, who had accused the administration of manipulatingintelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq.
Most White House employees discovered the probe was under waywhen they turned on their computers and found an e-mail timed at8:46 a.m. that said: PLEASE READ: Important Message From Counsel'sOffice.
''You must preserve all materials that might in any way berelated to the department's investigation,'' counsel AlbertoGonzales ordered. Officials indicated that would include telephonelogs, e-mails, notes and other documents.
''I want to know the truth,'' Bush said. Anyone withinformation, inside or outside the administration, should stepforward, he said.
Although Bush said he welcomed the investigation, it was anembarrassing development for a president who promised to bringintegrity and leadership to the White House after years ofRepublican criticism of the Clinton administration.
While the administration appeared cool toward naming a specialcounsel, Ashcroft has not ruled out that possibility, a senior lawenforcement official said.
That decision will depend on a number of factors, such aswhether a suspect is identified who presents a potential conflictfor the Justice Department. For now, the investigation is beingdone by FBI agents in the counterintelligence division, based atthe FBI Washington field office, and overseen by 11 careerprosecutors in the counterespionage section of the JusticeDepartment's criminal division.
Republicans said Democrats were playing politics. ''Surprise,surprise, they are calling for a special counsel. My goodness,''House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said. ''It must be in theirpolitical handbook, their campaign handbook.''
Democrats tried to attach a resolution calling for a specialcounsel to a spending bill for the District of Columbia butRepublicans ruled it was not relevant.
Federal law prohibits the unauthorized disclosure of a covertagent's name, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The CIAofficer's name was published by columnist Robert Novak, who said hebased his report on two senior administration officials.
Ashcroft, at a news conference, said the CIA also had beeninstructed to tell employees to preserve relevant information.
''Such requests are standard procedures in investigations ofthis type,'' Ashcroft said. He declined to say why he hadn't soughtan outside investigation. ''Because of an ongoing investigation ofcriminal violations, I will not be making any further comment atthis time,'' Ashcroft said.
News executives expressed concern that the investigation couldlead to subpoenas of reporters' notes and phone records -- and thejournalists themselves. ''The question really comes down to whetherthere are other ways to do this that do less damage to the idea ofthe First Amendment, said Bill Felber, editor of The Manhattan(Kan.) Mercury, who handles freedom of information issues for theAssociated Press Managing Editors. ''This ought to be a lastresort, not a first resort.''
Bush spent the day in Chicago and Cincinnati raising money forhis re-election campaign.
''Leaks of classified information are a bad thing ... There'stoo much leaking in Washington,'' he said. ''I want to know who theleakers are.''
A day earlier, spokesman Scott McClellan said it was''ridiculous'' to suggest Karl Rove, Bush's chief politicalstrategist, had played any role in disclosing the name of the CIAofficer, who is the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. WilsonIV.
It was Wilson who traveled to Niger in 2002 to investigateallegations of uranium sales to Iraq. He concluded the allegationswere not credible.
Wilson said Monday, referring to the leaking of his wife's name,that people in whom he had confidence have ''indicated to me thathe (Rove), at a minimum, condoned it and certainly did nothing toput a stop to it for a week after it was out there.''
The focus on Rove brought an odd twist to Bush's travels. Whenthe president boarded Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Baseoutside of Washington, he walked up the steps and waved -- and nota single camera followed. He looked perplexed. All lenses weretrained on Rove at the bottom of the steps.
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