WASHINGTON (AP) - Karl Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief political strategist, plans to leave the White House at the end of August, Local news at 5:30 a.m. said all staff were told go now, or stay to the end. Rove chose now. The 6:00 a.m. national news said nothing about that, only that Rove was implicated in the PlameGame and Attorney Firing scandals.
"Obviously it's a big loss to us," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "He's a great colleague, a good friend, and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed, but we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this was the right time to be giving more to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends."
Rove is expected to write a book after he leaves. He disclosed his departure in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "I just think it's time," Rove said in an interview at this home on Saturday.
He first floated the idea of leaving to Bush a year ago, the newspaper said, and friends confirmed he'd been talking about it even earlier. However, he said he didn't want to depart right after the Democrats regained control of Congress and then got drawn into policy battles over the Iraq war and immigration. "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family," said Rove, who has been in the White House since Bush took office in 2001.
Rove's son attends college in San Antonio and he said he and his wife plan to spend much of their time at their nearby home in Ingram.
Rove, currently the deputy White House chief of staff, has been the president's political guru for years and worked with Bush since he first ran for governor of Texas in 1993.
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