White House press secretary Scott McClellan confirmed that he had testified before a federal grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of an undercover CIA officer.
McClellan told reporters that he appeared before the panel in Washington last week. NBC News reported over the weekend that he testified Friday.
“I obviously want to do my part to cooperate,” McClellan said at a news briefing Tuesday afternoon. But he would not answer specific questions, referring reporters to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department is trying to determine who leaked the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak in July. The CIA’s request for an investigation was first reported in September by MSNBC.com and NBC News.
Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, contends that the disclosure may have been intended as action against him for his assertions that the Bush administration exaggerated Iraq’s nuclear capabilities to build a case for war.
Felony investigation
Whoever leaked Plame’s name could be charged with a felony.
Justice Department and White House officials have refused to discuss any aspect of the investigation other than to confirm that it is under way, but NBC’s Norah O’Donnell reported late Friday that two other administration officials in addition to McClellan had been called before the grand jury.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, who is overseeing the investigation, said he could not confirm or deny the identity of anyone who had appeared.
Fitzgerald was chosen to run the investigation in late December after Attorney General John Ashcroft disqualified himself from the politically sensitive case to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest.
A group of former CIA officers and several members of Congress are demanding a congressional investigation, as well. So far, however, Republican leaders of the House and the Senate have not initiated separate action.
