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Prosecutor speaks to Bush in CIA leak
probe
June 25, 2004
By Tom Brune
June 25, 2004
WASHINGTON -- A special prosecutor interviewed President
George W. Bush for more than an hour in the Oval Office yesterday
morning in the probe of who leaked the identity of a covert CIA
operative to the news media, a White House spokesman said.
Bush was questioned for about 70 minutes by special prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney from Chicago appointed to
conduct the investigation, and members of his investigative team,
said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
With Bush at the session that began about 10:25 a.m. was his
private attorney, James Sharp, a Washington defense lawyer and
former federal prosecutor the president recently retained to
represent him in the leak investigation, McClellan said.
"The leaking of classified information is a very serious
matter. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully
with those in charge of the investigation. He was pleased to do
his part to help the investigation move forward," he said.
The interview with Bush - who was not placed under oath -
follows an appearance Friday by White House counsel Alberto
Gonzales before the Washington federal grand jury conducting the
probe and the questioning Tuesday of a Washington Post reporter
at his office.
McClellan revealed little about what transpired during the
session, declining to answer questions about whether Bush knew
anything about the leak of the identity of covert CIA operative
Valerie Plame last summer.
"That's just getting into questions that are best directed to
the officials in charge of the investigation," McClellan said.
"And I would not read anything into that one way or the
other."
Fitzgerald declined to comment through his spokesman, Randall
Samborn.
Fitzgerald was appointed six months ago to investigate who in
the Bush administration last summer leaked the identity of Plame
to syndicated columnist Robert Novak and reporters.
Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, has charged
Bush administration officials disclosed his wife's identity to
attack his credibility because he criticized the administration's
claims that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium from Niger, a
possibility he had earlier checked out for the CIA and determined
to be highly unlikely. It is illegal under federal law to
knowingly and purposely reveal the identity of a covert
intelligence operative.
In his book, "The Politics of Truth," Wilson said based on
information from unnamed sources he blamed the leak on Lewis I.
"Scooter" Libby, an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Last year, McClellan said Libby, White House aide Elliot
Abrams and political director Karl Rove had assured him they did
not leak Plame's name.
On Tuesday, Fitzgerald and his team questioned Washington Post
reporter Glenn Kessler in a tape-recorded session about two
conversations he had with Libby last summer. Kessler told them
Plame and Wilson did not come up in those conversations, the
Washington Post reported.
Cheney also was interviewed by Fitzgerald, according to
published reports.
Fitzgerald last month issued subpoenas to Time and NBC News to
compel reporter Matt Cooper and news show host Tim Russert to
answer questions. The magazine and news network are fighting to
quash the subpoenas.
Fitzgerald also sought to talk to another reporter at The
Washington Post and two reporters at Newsday.
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