Another White House Rat Jumps Ship: This Time, Plame-Hater Dan Bartlett

June 1, 2007 (LPAC)--LPAC posed the question on why did data mining specialist Sara Taylor, who had the title "White House Political Director," quit the White House? Today, another top aide has jumped the sinking ship - White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett, who served George W. Bush for 13 years, since he was 23 years old, and who has been a big name in the Iraq war lies, and blowing the cover of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

Bartlett "oversaw" White House spokesmen Ari Fleischer, Scott McClellan, and Tony Snow, and was highlighted in the testimony of Fleischer, who was granted immunity by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, to testify against Cheney's chief of staff/consigliere, "Scooter" Libby.

According to the book "The United States vs. I. Lewis Libby," [New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2007], edited by Murray Waas, which contains transcripts of the Libby trial, on January 29, 2007, Fleischer, who identified Libby as the person from whom he first learned the identity of a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame, testified that Bartlett "was venting" against Plame on Air Force One, on July 11, 2003.

Fleischer said: "Dan Bartlett, who was at that time the communications director for the White House ... said ... 'I can't believe he or they are saying that the Vice President sent Ambassador Wilson to Niger. His wife sent him. She works for the CIA.' And he said this in front of me .... Dan was basically venting ...." Fleischer added that Barlett's revelation gave him "one more little nugget to back up what I said, that the CIA sent him, sent by his wife. Now, two people had just conveyed that to me."

When prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg then asked Fleischer, "Just so it's clear, the two people being?"

Fleischer replied, "Mr. Libby and Mr. Bartlett..." (page 154, The United States vs. I. Lewis Libby).