The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed Attorney General Michael Mukasey for documents related to the outing of the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson after the White House refused to provide them.
The committee asked June 3 for FBI interview reports with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as other documents about the identification of Plame by presidential adviser I. Scooter Libby, but the White House, saying the request raised "serious separation of powers" issues, refused.
The late Tim Russert became a key figure in the investigation after Libby said it was Russert who told him of Plame's identity. Russert denied the allegation.
Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) began reviving an investigation into the incident after former White House press secretary Scott McClellan suggested in various media interviews for his new book that he had been part of a White House misinformation campaign.
"New revelations by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan raise additional questions about the actions of the president and the vice president," Waxman wrote earlier this month in seeking information from the FBI. "Mr. McClellan has stated that 'the president and vice president directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby.' He has also asserted that 'the top White House officials who knew the truth -- including Rove, Libby and possibly Vice President Cheney -- allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie.' It would be a major breach of trust if the vice president personally directed Mr. McClellan to mislead the public.”
The committee already received copies of McClellan's FBI interviews, but his discussions with the president and vice president were redacted (blacked out).
"There are no sound reasons for you to withhold the interviews with the president and the vice president from the committee or to redact passages like Mr. McClellan’s discussions with the president and the vice president," Waxman asserted, adding, "[Special counsel Patrick] Fitzgerald’s investigation is closed and he has indicated that it would be appropriate to share these records with the committee.”
