'Utterly false'

You didn't expect her to admit it, did you? Only one person in the administration is dumb enough to admit leaking national security information.

Condoleezza Rice's spokesman on Saturday branded as "utterly false" a lawyer's claim the secretary of state leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist charged with receiving and disclosing such information.

The assertion came as a federal judge granted a defense request to issue subpoenas for Rice and three other government officials in the trial of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, the former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee charged in the case.

"The claims by these defense lawyers are utterly false," Rice's spokesman, Sean McCormack, told The Associated Press.

"The secretary is the most careful person in the handling of classified information and she absolutely did not convey classified information to either of these individuals," McCormack said.

Well, he sounds awfully certain. Let's see how long it takes Rice's lawyers to try to squash the subpoena, because, after all, the allegations are "utterly false."

And, on the off chance it's revealed that Condi did share classified national defense information, let's see if George Bush follows through on his statement that "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."