Rep. Bill Pascrell called for hearings today into revelations in an upcoming book by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
In excerpts that were widely reported today, McClellan says the reason he told the press -- and the nation -- that the White House was not involved in leaking CIA agent Valerie Plame's name was because he'd been told that by "five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration," including President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
McClellan's publisher today issued a clarification that the former spokesman was not saying Bush lied to him, but that Bush said what he believed to be true at the time. Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, was later convicted of lying about telling reporters about Plame, then was pardoned by Bush.
Pascrell has frequently criticized the Republican-run Congress for not carrying out its duty to be a check on the power of the executive branch, and called today for hearings on the issue. Here's his statement:
“Scott McClellan’s admission that President Bush and the administration’s highest-ranking advisors directly provided him with false information to mislead America is a disturbing violation of the public trust.
"It is also a legitimate constitutional concern.
"The President’s premeditated plot to defraud America of the truth about weapons of mass destruction is no longer questionable. It is the absolute truth according to too many former administration insiders.
"The abuse of executive power in this White House has set a dangerous precedent that I believe can only be duly addressed through formal congressional hearings. It is one thing to share the troubling antics of the Bush Administration in a book; it is another to share them under oath and under the scrutiny of America’s public."
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