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[Source link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mcclellan21-2008jun21,0,483067.story]
Joshua Roberts / Bloomberg News
McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee that he doesn't know if a
crime was committed. But he had harsh words for the White House, suggesting
that the administration is continuing to cover up.
The ex-press secretary who wrote a memoir of his White House days tells a
House panel he was 'reluctant' to back Cheney's chief of staff but that
Libby unequivocally denied exposing Valerie Plame.
WASHINGTON--Former White House
Press Secretary Scott McClellan, testifying before the House Judiciary
Committee today, said he was suspicious of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's denial
that he had leaked the name of a CIA agent but had no choice but to go along
with it.
Fresh from his author's tour for "What Happened," the memoir that created a
stir in Washington when it was published last month, McClellan said that
former White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. asked him to publicly
exonerate Libby from involvement in the case, as McClellan had done for
White House political guru Karl Rove. Libby was then chief of staff to Vice
President Dick Cheney.
"I was reluctant to do it," McClellan said. "I got on the phone with Scooter
Libby and asked him point-blank, 'Were you involved in this is any way?' And
he assured me in unequivocal terms that he was not."
Libby was later convicted of lying to investigators about his role in
leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame in an effort to
discredit her husband Joseph C. Wilson IV, a critic of the Bush
administration's reasons for invading Iraq. Libby was sentenced to 30 months
in prison, but his sentence was commuted by President Bush.
In opening remarks before the committee, McClellan repeated the charge in
his book that the White House had tilted the evidence to convince the public
of the need for war in Iraq. "It's public record that they were ignoring
caveats and ignoring contradictory intelligence," he said.
"I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the administration
officials who revealed Valerie Plame's identity to reporters," he said. "Nor
do I know if there was an attempt by any person or persons to engage in a
cover-up during the investigation. I do know that it was wrong to reveal her
identity, because it compromised the effectiveness of a covert official for
political reasons. I regret that I played a role, however unintentionally,
in relaying false information to the public about it."
He was particularly biting about Rove, saying that he doubted the former
White House counselor would tell the truth to the committee, which has asked
him to testify about his role in the Plame leak. "I would hope that he would
be willing to do so," said McClellan. "Based on my own experiences, I have
some doubts. He lied to me."
McClellan was lionized by some representatives -- chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.)
called his sentiments "noble" -- but attacked by others as a disgruntled
White House employee who was out to settle scores.
"Who is the real Scott McClellan?" asked the committee's ranking Republican,
Lamar Smith of Texas. "The one who actually wrote in his book that the
administration did not employ 'deception'? . . . Or the one who elsewhere in
the same book leveled self-serving accusations?"
Smith added, "While we may never know the answers, Scott McClellan alone
will have to wrestle with whether it was worth selling out the president and
his friends for a few pieces of silver."
McClellan hit back at former White House colleagues for "unsavory" reaction
to his book, saying some sought "to turn it into a game of 'gotcha,'
misrepresenting what I wrote and seeking to discredit me through inaccurate
personal attacks on my motives."
The attacks continued today as White House spokesman Tony Fratto told
reporters, "I think Scott has probably told everyone everything he doesn't
know, so I don't know if anyone should expect him to say anything new
today."
During an afternoon of questioning, McClellan was asked why Bush, who had a
reputation as governor of Texas for reaching out to Democrats, had become
such a partisan figure in Washington. Speculating that Bush succumbed to
"the way Washington works," McClellan said that while Bush was responsible
for the course of his own presidency, Cheney and Rove were "negative
influences on him."
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) asked McClellan whether he thought Cheney
authorized Libby to leak Plame's identity. "I can't rule it out," said
McClellan. Calling McClellan's testimony an "enormously important ...
glimpse into the truth," Wexler suggested impeachment proceedings. "Cheney
is the only likely suspect" for authorizing the leak, said Wexler.
Pressed on whether he had ever witnessed the president misrepresent facts,
McClellan repeated the accusation from his book that Bush himself
declassified a national intelligence estimate to promote the war in Iraq.
"We had decried the leaking of national security information for years," he
said. "This was a very disillusioning moment for me, to say the least."
Republicans expressed disdain for McClellan's motives, suggesting that he
had disclosed secrets for maximum book sales rather than policy goals. Rep.
Ric Keller (R-Fla.) questioned why McClellan had disclosed that Bush
pretended not to remember his cocaine use of 30 years before. McClellan
explained that Bush's willingness to fudge his memory on a personal issue
"later transferred over" into how the administration attempted to sell the
war.
Asked Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), "Could you not have taken some of this with
you to the grave?"
johanna.neuman@latimes.com
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