McClellan testifies he was wary of Libby's leak denial but went along
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 story that he had not 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 he had 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."
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."
johanna.neuman@latimes.com
