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.
ok man. whatever you say.
