Waxman, Conyers: “What Happened” in Plame leak?

The release of Scott McClellan’s book has re-ignited calls by Congressional investigators to get to the bottom of who leaked the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. For months, Henry Waxman, chair of the House oversight committee, has been telling AG Mike Mukasey to turn over special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s interviews with George Bush and Dick Cheney. Waxman renewed these calls in a letter to Mukasey today. He also requested un-redacted copies of interviews with Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and Condoleezza Rice.

As Waxman’s letter points out, McClellan wrote that "the President and Vice President directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby." McClellan also revealed that "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."

Meanwhile, John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary committee, is discussing the possibility of having McClellan testify before his committee.

The leak of Plame’s identity is now almost five-years old. But the investigation by Congress into it has been halted by the Justice Dept’s refusal to turn over Fitzgerald’s interviews. In a redacted copy of Scooter Libby’s interview with Fitzgerald, Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff says it was "possible" the vice-president orchestrated the leak. Fitzgerald is fine handing over his interviews to Waxman and anyone else. The administration probably isn’t.