McClellan: I Only Know Part of the Story

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan backed off allegations made in his tell-all book Friday, saying that he does not know whether a crime was committed by any official within the Bush administration in leaking the identity of former CIA agent Valerie Plame and that he knows “only one part of the story.”

McClellan made the remarks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing following up on allegations made in his book.

McClellan says that White House adviser Karl Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice Preisdent Dick Cheney, lied to him about the Plame affair so that he would provide incorrect information to the press.

The longtime aide to President Bush also alleges that Bush approved the leak.

But McClellan backed off a bit from those statements Friday, saying he did not know the complete story.

Asked early on in the hearing about President Bush’s involvement in the Plame leak, McClellan said, “I do not think the president in any way had knowledge of it.”

“I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the administration officials who revealed Valerie Plame