US: President George W. Bush was interviewed yesterday by the US attorney investigating whether an administration official leaked a covert CIA officer's identity to retaliate for her husband's criticism of the Iraq war.
White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan said the meeting took place in the Oval Office, lasted just over an hour and was not formal testimony. Mr McClellan also said Mr Bush had retained a private lawyer, Mr Jim Sharp, to represent him.
"No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the president of the United States," Mr McClellan said.
A federal grand jury is investigating whether someone in the Bush administration illegally leaked the identity of CIA officer Ms Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. Revealing classified information is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Connecting the leak to any of Mr Bush's senior aides would be an embarrassment to the president in an election year.
Mr Bush met with the US attorney in charge of the case, Mr Pat Fitzgerald, and members of his investigative team. Mr Sharp was present but no White House staff members were there. Several administration officials have been questioned in the leak investigation, including Vice President Dick Cheney.
Ms Plame is married to Mr Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador and critic of the Iraq war.
Mr Wilson has accused the White House of having leaked Ms Plame's name in retaliation for his having publicly questioned Mr Bush's prewar claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger. The CIA sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to check a report that Iraq had tried to buy "yellowcake" uranium there.
He found no evidence to support the report. But in his 2003 State of the Union speech, Mr Bush cited an Iraq-Niger connection as evidence Saddam Hussein was trying to develop nuclear weapons. Novak, a conservative nationally syndicated columnist, disclosed Ms Plame's identity in a piece a year ago that attempted to make the case Mr Wilson's assignment to Niger came about because of Ms Plame's position at the CIA.