Bush sidesteps questions about CIA leak
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-05 14:01

President Bush batted away questions about the CIA leak investigation Friday, unable at an Americas summit thousands of miles from Washington to escape the controversy that has ensnared a top White House official and weakened his own popularity.

U.S. President Bush pauses as he speaks to White House reporters on the sidelines of the fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Friday, Nov. 4, 2005. [AP]

Taking questions for the first time since the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Bush declined to answer calls from Democrats and some Republicans that he apologize for any administration official's involvement in the case.

Bush also wouldn't say if staff changes were in the works. He sidestepped a question about whether Karl Rove, his top political adviser who remains under investigation in the CIA leak case, should stay on the job. And the president wouldn't comment on whether Rove told him the truth about his role in the events that led up the investigation.

"You're trying to get me to comment on the investigation, which I'm not going to do," Bush told a small group of reporters after meeting with Latin American leaders on the sidelines of the 34-nation Summit of the Americas. "And I hope you understand that. It's a serious investigation, and it's an important investigation. But it's not yet over."

The questions about the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame shadowed Bush as he attended the two-day summit here which ends Saturday.

The summit's opening day was marked by energetic and mostly peaceful anti-American demonstrations that turned violent when hundreds of protesters hurled rocks, smashed storefronts and set bonfires less than a mile from the meetings. Police in riot gear responded with tear gas.