President George W. Bush refused to comment today on whether top White House aide Karl Rove will keep his job, saying he wanted to wait until an investigation is completed into his role in the leak of a CIA officer's name.
Questions on the leak scandal followed Mr Bush to Argentina, where protests over his free-trade push greeted the US president at the 34-nation Summit of the Americas.
Democrats have called on Mr Bush to fire Mr Rove, and Republican Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi has questioned whether Mr Rove should retain his policy-making role at the White House.
Lawyers involved in the case have said Mr Rove remained under investigation and may still be charged. A week ago a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted in the investigation.
Mr Bush has been buffeted by a series of tough developments over the past two months, including Hurricane Katrina, high US gasoline prices, a rising death toll in Iraq and the withdrawn nomination of loyalist Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court after a rebellion by conservatives against her.
Asked if there were White House discussions about whether Mr Rove will remain in his job, Mr Bush replied: "The investigation on Karl as you know is not completed. Therefore I will not comment about him and/or the investigation."
"I understand the anxiety and angst by the press corps to talk about this. On the other hand it's a serious investigation and we take it seriously, and we're cooperating to the extent that the special prosecutor wants us to cooperate," Bush told reporters on the fringes of the Summit of the Americas.
Bush also left hanging whether he would apologize for his administration having said that neither Rove nor Libby were involved in the leak.
The investigation by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald showed both Rove and Libby spoke to reporters about the CIA officer, Valerie Plame, despite initial denials by the White House. Plame is the wife of a Iraq war critic, former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson.
Mr Rove is Mr Bush's top political adviser and the architect of his two presidential election victories.
White House aides have made clear Mr Bush would be loath to surrender to demands that Mr Rove leave. But it has also been made clear that anyone indicted in the investigation would have to resign, as Mr Libby did.