WASHINGTON — A House of Representatives committee on Monday subpoenaed records of the FBI’s interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into the leak of a covert CIA officer’s name.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform demanded the documents from Attorney General Michael Mukasey days before former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan is expected to testify about Cheney’s role in leaking CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity to the news media in 2003.
Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., asked for the transcripts late last year and renewed his request earlier this month after the committee received an unedited transcript of grand jury testimony in which former Cheney aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was quoted as saying it was “possible” that Cheney had told him to leak Plame’s name.
Waxman said McClellan’s book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” also raised additional questions about whether Cheney had directed McClellan to “mislead the public.”
Waxman also wants the unredacted transcripts of FBI interviews with McClellan, former White House political adviser Karl Rove, Libby and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the department was reviewing the subpoena to determine how to respond. The committee set a deadline of noon next Monday.
Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, has accused high-level White House officials of leaking his wife’s identity to retaliate for his criticism of the Iraq war.
