Should Bush worry about McClellan testimony?
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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
President Bush probably isn't looking forward to next Friday – that's when former White House Spokesman Scott McClellan is set to testify before Congress.
McClellan will appear before the House Judiciary Committee, publicly and under oath, concerning the White House's role in leaking the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame in 2003.
In his new book, McClellan writes that he was misled by administration officials, possibly including Vice President Dick Cheney, about the role of Scooter Libby in the leak. McClellan has said that both the president and vice president "directed me to go out there and exonerate" Libby. The Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Henry Waxman, is also trying to get his hands on more FBI documents about the leak.
Meanwhile, here's something else President Bush may want to keep his eye on: Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment against the president last night. Kucinich believes Mr. Bush deceived the country and violated his oath of office by taking the U.S. into war in Iraq. He introduced a similar resolution last year calling for the impeachment of Cheney – that measure was killed.
With so little time left in Bush's term it's highly unlikely the Democratic Congress will do anything with this new resolution either. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made it clear that impeachment is "off the table." I still wonder who authorized Nancy Pelosi to make that determination. Something else we'll probably never know.
Here’s my question to you: How concerned should the Bush administration be about Scott McClellan’s upcoming testimony before Congress?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Your questions for McClellan?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan is now talking, and everyone but the White House is listening.
McClellan strongly defended his critical memoir about the Bush Administration in a TV interview this morning. He said the president decided to go to war against Iraq shortly after the 9-11 attacks. He said Mr. Bush did not review all the evidence before making his decision and instead relied on his gut.
McClellan said he became "disillusioned" with the administration once he realized he was being used as a pawn in a much larger political game. He said the president and his aides operated in a "permanent campaign culture", which caused them to ignore the facts leading up to the war once those facts didn't fit their picture and advance their political agenda.
McClellan says the tipping point for him was the CIA leak case, particularly when he found out that it was the president himself who had secretly declassified parts of an intelligence report about Iraq, enabling Scooter Libby to leak classified information that bolstered the case for war to the media. These are damning revelations in light of Bush's repeatedly condemning the selective release of secret intelligence information.
McClellan says the low point of his job was being ordered to tell the press that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were not involved in leaking CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the press. A criminal investigation later revealed that they were.
Critics call McClellan a turncoat, a sellout and a disgruntled former employee. The White House has called his book puzzling and sad, and some former colleagues want to know why McClellan never voiced any of these doubts earlier. His former deputy, Trent Duffy, says McClellan owes his whole career to President Bush yet he's "stabbing him in the back... and dancing on his political grave for cash."
Scott McClellan will be a guest in the Situation Room tomorrow.
Here’s my question to you: What would you ask Scott McClellan?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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