"For the record, I have had no contact whatsoever with the Libby defense team or anyone connected to the case or the investigation."

The President said -- has always said that leaking classified information is a serious matter, and certainly no one wants to get to the bottom of this more than he does, so that we can find out the truth. And the President has said from early on that if anybody has information, they should come forward and share it with those who are leading this investigation. there is an ongoing investigation underway, and we want to do everything we can to help that investigation move forward. The sooner they get to the bottom of this, the better. That's our view. And I've said this in response to other questions about specific matters that career officials may be working on, as well, that you should direct those questions to the career officials at the Department of Justice who are leading the investigation. But the President has made it very clear that he expects the White House to cooperate fully in that --

A careful reading of the 39-page document filed last week by Fitzgerald underscores the crisis wracking the Bush administration. According to this account, as early as June 2003, only three months after launching the war with Iraq, White House aides were deeply divided over how to handle the growing military and political disaster, to the point that senior aides were keeping each other in the dark as they pursued efforts to contain the damage. Libby, after receiving his instructions from Cheney to leak the NIE material to certain journalists, notably Bob Woodward of the Washington Post and Judith Miller of the New York Times, kept his mandate secret from other top White House officials. He did not inform Rice or Hadley, even when attending meetings in mid-July where Hadley led discussions on the procedure for formally declassifying the executive summary of the NIE and releasing it to the press, which finally took place on July 18, 2003. Libby kept quiet about the fact that he had already made available far more of the document, on the orders of Cheney and Bush. ... At the time that Bush gave his testimony, White House press spokesman McClellan issued a statement declaring, "The leaking of classified information is a very serious matter," adding that Bush was "pleased to do his part" to aid the probe. "No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the president of the United States," McClellan continued. But now it is clear that at "the bottom of this matter" was Bush himself, as well as Cheney, carrying out actions which fit the constitutional definition of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" that warrant impeachment and removal from office.