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06/24/2004:
"Bush Interviewed in Gov't CIA Leak Probe"
By DEB RIECHMANN ap full articleWASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators questioned President Bush for more than an hour Thursday as the investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's name reached into the Oval Office.
The president was interviewed for 70 minutes by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the head of the Justice Department investigation, and by members of his team. The only other person in the room was Jim Sharp, a private trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor hired by Bush, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
"The leaking of classified information is a very serious matter," McClellan said, adding that the president repeatedly has said he wants his administration to cooperate with the investigation. "No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the president of the United States," the spokesman said.
Investigators want to know who leaked the name of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative, to syndicated columnist Robert Novak last July. Disclosure of an undercover officer's identity can be a federal crime.
