The Importance of Scott McClellan's Testimony Before the House Judiciary Committee --

Including Possible New Obstruction of Justice Charges for Scooter Libby and Karl Rove

Former Bush White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has agreed to testify before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on June 20. He was invited, of course, because of his revelatory new book What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception.

Florida congressman Robert Wexler, a member of the committee, has succinctly explained why he and many others expect McClellan’s appearance to be potentially highly significant: “The allegations made by McClellan that Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and possibly even Vice President Dick Cheney, together conspired to obstruct justice by lying about their role in the Plame case relates directly to the core of US executive power and the Constitution. If true, the allegations made by McClellan could amount to an obstruction of justice charge for Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.”

If McClellan’s testimony suggests that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, for any reason, gave Karl Rove and Dick Cheney a pass when, in fact, there was a conspiracy – which is still ongoing – to obstruct justice, then these hearings could trigger the reopening of the case. But this is a pretty large “If.”

The Evidence Necessary to Reopen the Plame Investigation: Though Special Counsel Fitzgerald Cannot Talk About the Grand Jury, Witness McClellan Can Share What His Testimony Was

Patrick Fitzgerald conducted his investigation behind closed doors. Other than Fitzgerald and his staff, no one knows what they found or did not find, because they conducted the investigation through a federal grand jury. Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure has sealed this information in secrecy, and cut off any ability of Fitzgerald and his staff to talk about what occurred.
No one believes that Fitzgerald (and his team) were anything less than vigorous in investigating the effort to discredit former Ambassador Joe Wilson by revealing that his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, was a CIA operative. Yet since no one knows what Fitzgerald learned, except those who cannot speak of what they know, it is not possible to determine whether he might have been outfoxed by the White House. As experienced a prosecutor as Fitzgerald is, he was playing in a very different league when investigating the Bush White House. These folks make Nixon’s White House look like Little Leaguers – and based on what is known about the Plame investigation, I have long suspected that Fitzgerald was playing out of his league. (See, for example, here and here.)

There is nothing under Rule 6(e) that prohibits Scott McClellan from discussing everything he told Fitzgerald and the grand jury. McClellan’s testimony can, in turn, create a wedge to peek inside the investigation.

The insights and information that McClellan might provide could lead to new pressure for witnesses like Rove and Libby to appear before the Congressional committee. It has never been clear to me why Libby was not previously called before the Congress, for he clearly possesses much relevant information. Of course, Rove and Libby will hide behind executive privilege when called before Congress. But McClellan is a different story.

Bush cannot force McClellan to invoke executive privilege, but McClellan will be exiled from the his former clan for failing to remain silent, for McClellan’s testimony has the potential of giving the House of Representatives the added information, if not the spine, needed to enforce its own contempt citations. To date, the Bush White House has made a mockery of Congress, openly defying its proceedings.

More from John Dean.

It is uncertain to what information that Fitzgerald knew or didn't know that lead to him to give Rove a free pass. Fitzgerald knew what he was up against: to bring down the White House. That is why he changed his focus on finding the leaker to a White House conspiracy. Yes, the White House is corrupted but so was within the DOJ. And we just don't have any idea who much corruption going on within the DOJ that were trying to put a halt into the leak case. We hope that Fitzgerald will shed some light to Congress on why he didn't charge Rove, whether he was pressured, what he knew about the alleged plot to fire him as U.S. Attorney, and the letter in which Rove's lawyer claimed to obtain by Fitzgerald stating that Rove was not being charged. I agree with John Dean that leak case and the players behind the case was way above Fitzgerald's league given the fact he was juggling two jobs. But, I disagree with Mr. Dean that Cheney was given a free pass. Fitzgerald was clever enough to implant in the public's mind and the court's mind [from the government exhibits in the Libby trial] the role of Cheney and Bush in the leak case. Libby's perjury case is closed but Fitzgerald left the leak investigation in the role of Cheney and Bush wide open for the case to be re-open. Fitzgerald left the dark cloud in the leak case under Cheney because Cheney was the mastermind in the campaign to discredit Joe Wilson.