WASHINGTON — President Bush has consulted with a private attorney in case he needed to retain a lawyer in connection with the grand jury investigation into whether anyone in the White House illegally leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent.
White House officials would not say what prompted Bush to seek the outside advice or whether he had been asked to appear before the grand jury, but a spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that the recent discussion with Washington attorney James Sharp was related to the leak inquiry and that "in the event the president needs his advice, he'd retain him."
"The president has said that leaking of classified information is a very serious matter, that everyone should cooperate, and the president would include himself in that," said spokeswoman Claire Buchan.
Buchan declined to say whether Bush met in person with Sharp or if the conversation took place over the phone.
Asked when the discussion had occurred, she said, "Recently," declining again to offer specifics.
There has been no indication that Bush is a target in the 5-month-old investigation into the alleged "outing" of CIA operative Valerie Plame, nor has anyone suggested that the president was privy to any plan to disseminate classified information.
But the move by Bush to reach out to an outside lawyer, first reported Wednesday on the "CBS Evening News," was the first indication that the probe could extend beyond White House staff to the highest levels, as prosecutors try to find who might have slipped Plame's name to news reporters.
Exposing the identity of an undercover CIA employee is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Buchan referred questions about any potential grand jury appearance by Bush to the Justice Department. A spokesman for Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor in Chicago handling the investigation, declined comment.
Attempts to reach Sharp, an Oklahoma native and former assistant U.S. attorney who has built a low-profile white-collar defense practice in Washington, were unsuccessful.
The case has been a sensitive topic for Bush, who campaigned in 2000 on restoring the "honor and dignity" of the presidency after years of investigations into President Clinton's land dealings and his affair with White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky. Democrats have sought to use the spy leak case to taint Bush's image.
