McClellan Late Show
Briefing | By Ben Giles | June 25, 2008
Former press secretary Scott McClellan remains concerned about what he calls “a cloud of suspicion over the White House,” particularly concerning the leak of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.
In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on June 19,
McClellan expressed his frustration over alleged leaks and cover-ups by
White House officials, and questioned the possible involvement of Vice
President Dick Cheney.
“I do not think the President had any knowledge,” said McClellan. “In terms of the Vice President, I do not know.”
The allegations at the time were that the administration released Plame’s identity as a backlash against husband Joseph Wilson’s critical op-ed in the New York Times, in which he chastised the White House for its Iraq policy.
However, McClellan provides no evidence to support his suspicions, either in his testimony or his new book, What Happened.
While there has been no conviction of the source of the leak that
jeopardized Plame’s undercover status, Bush administrative aide Scooter Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice following a Federal investigation of the incident.
A lawsuit brought to court by Plame’s family alleged further involvement by Cheney and White House aides Karl Rove and Richard Armitage, in addition to Libby. The case was dismissed.
Ranking committee member Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex) quickly raised concerns over McClellan’s motivation for writing
the book, intimating that money or dissatisfaction had soured
McClellan’s view.
“Mr. McClellan alone will have to wrestle with whether or not it was
worth it to sell out the President and his friends for a few pieces of
silver,” said Smith.
While questioning McClellan, Smith noted that McClellan had no actual
evidence or knowledge of any of the crimes alleged against the Bush
administration. He also challenged McClellan, asking that if these
crimes were committed, why the Press Secretary had never challenged the
actions of his fellow White House staff.
“The reason is clear,” said Smith. “There is nothing to object to.”
McClellan argued that the book was a service to the American people,
and his way of releasing all he knew during his time at the White House
to the general public.
“I made a commitment to share with the public what I knew as soon as possible,” said McClellan.
What McClellan’s book alleges is that the Bush administration used
misleading tactics on multiple occasions, be it the Valerie Plame
incident or the call for War in Iraq.
McClellan downplays his own part in the actions he condemns; during the
campaign for the War in Iraq, McClellan wrote that he “participated in,
though I didn’t play a major role in shaping it.”
Beyond the specific allegations that drew the concern of Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich) and other committee members, McClellan says his book has a
much broader message, one that chastises the current way politics are
managed in Washington.
“It is about restoring civility and bipartisanship and candor to our
national political discourse,” said McClellan. “It is about putting our
Nation’s interests above partisan goals.”
Ben Giles is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
7 Comments | Post a Comment
Kim, I guess that is what is so surprising about this?
You know it is odd that everyone is making it about Mr. McClellan - not about what is in the book.
Isn’t that amazing?
No discussion of the subject - no attempts to refute it - just attack the man.
The subject has already been discussed ad nauseum, and the leftist prosecutor kept going for three years after he knew the answer to the question, just to pump up his own resume’ and try his best to trick someone in the administration into making a conflicted statement. His big target was Cheney, and he would have settled for Rove, but the only one he tripped up was Libby.
McClellan’s book still refutes the findings of the multi-million dollar investigation that took so much of the oxygen out of the real business being conducted in Washington. It is only for the fame and fortune, some say, that McClellan wrote the book, which actually contradicts his own statements about many of the topics he discusses in it. McClellan would have been denied the fame and fortune, though, if he hadn’t had the backing of the Soros machine and invented facts or stretched them in order to attack the president he was sworn to serve. He is a despicable little weasel, and so is anyone who would defend this liberal practice.
Sure, you say McClellan was a Republican - He was raised in a strong Democrat family, and he has rejoined them; methinks he was only a Republican of convenience - It gave him a job for which he was poorly suited, and he lacked the common decency and honor expected of a public servant.
Just a thought—
Naturally, I have a far different take on the Libby case - or at least I have questions about it. I’m thinking the prosecutor was there to do a whitewash. I’m thinking he drew it out as long as he could, until the people had forgotten or just were sick and tired of it. Then Libby was ordered to ‘fall on his sword’. Maybe????
I felt the same way about the epic investigation on the Clintons. The prosecutor took years, tons of money, many investigators and litigators, and waded through the muck and mire that was the Clinton’s political and private past and came up with lying under oath about an affair???
Most people write a book for fame or fortune. I wouldn’t want the fame, but would love the fortune.
Mr. McClellan is not alone in being a ‘republican of convenience’. There’s a lot of that going around in Washington today. Quite a few came from Texas as well.
I think people like Kim should wake up. It is the like of her who has been deceived so many times by the MSM.
Given the MSM mishandling of every information, it is the task of the reader and listener to triangulate their information.
I myself read the book and checked the facts using the official websites and even reports from abroad.
If I enumerate here the half-truths and blatant lies, It would take a hundred book page to complete them.
I am glad to see someone actually mention the contents of the book rather than simply denouncing Mr. McClellan or praising Pres. Bush.
Kim, I still agree 100%, I don’t need a book, or a news media, or an expert to tell me anything. I see this country heading in a wrong and destructive direction. I see the results already.
The enemy is not Republican or Democrat - it is politicians - period.
June 26 at 12:23 pm | #1 | Link
It did not take Scott to help me see this gov lawlessness and big money , and lust for power. How many needed this book to know? wake up already