Bush aides 'may have broken law'

Mr McClellan criticised the way in which officials attacked his book
A former White House press secretary has said he does not know whether White House officials broke the law when they leaked a CIA agent's identity.

Scott McClellan's remarks came during testimony before a US congressional committee about the White House's role.

The agent, Valerie Plame, says her identity was revealed because her diplomat husband criticised the case being made for the war in Iraq.

Mr McClellan has also criticised aides' reaction to his controversial memoirs.

White House officials "sought to turn it into a game of 'gotcha,' misrepresenting what I wrote and seeking to discredit me though inaccurate personal attacks," he told the US House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee.

And he called on President George W Bush to embrace "openness and candour... and constantly strive to build trust across the aisle".

Leak inquiry

Mr McClellan's book caused a storm on publication last month for its revelations about the CIA leak case.

In it, Mr McClellan stated that he had "unknowingly passed along false information", when he had announced in a press conference that two White House officials - Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby - were "not involved" in leaking Ms Plame's identity.

And he alleged that "five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice-president, the president's chief-of-staff, and the president himself."

He later stressed that he was not suggesting Mr Bush deliberately lied.

Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief-of-staff, is the only person charged over the affair. He was sentenced to 30 months in jail for obstructing an inquiry into the leaking of the identity.

However, Mr Bush intervened in July 2007 to prevent Libby from serving a prison term.

Later that month, a judge dismissed a civil lawsuit brought by Ms Plame against Mr Cheney and other Bush administration officials.

She maintained her cover had been blown after her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador, said the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence on Iraq to back its case for war.