WASHINGTON - Caught in an unnerving waiting game with a grand jury, the White House is attempting to keep its focus on the governmental challenges of the day, with President Bush running a heavy schedule of meetings and speeches...
Before publication of Plame's name in a July 2003 newspaper column by Robert Novak, her identity had been so closely guarded that even neighbors living close to the Wilsons for five years in Washington had no clue that she worked for the CIA.
"It's true, none of us knew," said Marc Lefkowitz, who lives across the street and was interviewed by FBI agents apparently attempting to determine how secret Plame's identity had been. Lefkowitz thought she was a consultant. "We're all friends, it's a small neighborhood, we have Halloween every year, parties," Lefkowitz, a wood flooring dealer, said Wednesday. "Living in D.C., people always say, `Oh, former ambassadors, they've got to be this, they've got to be that.' Do you know who anybody is, honestly?"....
Asked about the anxiety level inside the White House on Wednesday, Press Secretary Scott McClellan said: "We've got a lot of work to do, and so we don't have a lot of time to sit back and think about those things....And Tuesday night, Bush appeared at a Republican Party fund-raiser celebrating the 30th anniversary of the party's "Eagles," supporters who donate $15,000 a year, at a dinner that reportedly raised more than $1 million for the Republican National Committee....
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