Scott McClellan to testify in CIA leak case

[Dos Equis]

This should make for good theater.

Scott McClellan to testify in CIA leak case
Posted: 05:59 PM ET
 
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush's former spokesman, Scott McClellan, will testify before a House committee next week about whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

McClellan will testify publicly and under oath before the House Judiciary Committee on June 20 about the White House's role in the leak and its response, his attorneys, Michael and Jane Tigar, said on Monday.

In his new book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan said he was misled by others, possibly including Cheney, about the role of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the leak. McClellan has said publicly that Bush and Cheney "directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby."

The statements prompted House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., to invite McClellan to the hearing "concerning reported attempts to cover up the involvement of White House officials in the leak of" Plame's identity.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

[War-Horse]

Hopefully mclellan holds his ground and this starts more investigations.  Cheney, rove, rumsfeld,rice and bush should be busy in the years to come.

[Straw Man]

Ex-White House Spokesman Agrees to Testify About CIA Leak

By James Rowley

June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Scott McClellan, the former presidential spokesman whose memoir says Vice President Dick Cheney may have misled him about the leak of a CIA agent's identity, has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

``He has agreed to testify in the same spirit that he wrote the book,'' Michael Tigar, a Duke University law professor who is representing McClellan, said in a telephone interview. ``Mr. McClellan is available to tell what he knows.''

McClellan's book, ``What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception,'' says ``top White House officials'' and ``possibly'' Cheney assured him that President George W. Bush's top political aide, Karl Rove, hadn't leaked the name of covert operative Valerie Plame. The CIA agent's husband had publicly questioned evidence cited by the Bush administration to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

McClellan also wrote that he publicly exonerated Rove and I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby after he was ``at best misled'' by them about their role in the leak of Plame's identity. Rove later acknowledged that he had discussed Plame with journalists. Libby was convicted of lying to investigators about his role in the leak. Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.

Michigan Democrat John Conyers, the Judiciary panel's chairman, said in a statement that he has asked McClellan to testify on June 20.

``In his book, Mr. McClellan suggests that senior White House officials may have obstructed justice and engaged in a cover-up regarding the Valerie Plame leak,'' Conyers said.

In a statement last month after the book was published, Conyers said he found ``particularly disturbing'' an assertion by McClellan that he had been directed by then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card to ``vouch'' for Libby after the start of a criminal investigation of the leak.

Tigar, who is representing McClellan along with his wife, Jane Tigar, said they have consulted with Judiciary Committee staff about plans for his testimony.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aX5jMNNR8Hek&refer=home#

[War-Horse]

This will be blended into BBums thread probably.    Scott must have a major branch to hold balls that big.

[Straw Man]

that's fine - I didn't even see his thread