The husband of a CIA agent whose identity was exposed during the debate over the Iraq war accused the White House of being involved in a giant "cover-up" involving top aide Karl Rove.
Federal investigators are looking into who leaked the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose name appeared in a newspaper column by journalist Robert Novak two years ago, on July 14th, 2003.
Ms Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson
Mr Rove, who orchestrated Mr Bush's presidential campaigns, has emerged as a source for at least one other media report on the case.
"What this thing has been for the past two years has been a cover-up, a cover-up of the . . . web of lies that underpin the justification for going to war in Iraq," said Ms Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a career foreign service officer who served in the Clinton White House.
"And to a certain extent, this cover-up is becoming unravelled. That's why you see the White House stonewalling," Mr Wilson told NBC's Todayshow.
Mr Wilson charged in another interview that Mr Rove was actively promoting Mr Novak's story about Ms Plame in 2003, saying the White House deputy chief of staff declared Mr Wilson's wife "fair game" in a telephone conversation with Chris Matthews, the host of NBC's political affairs program, Hardball.
"He (Matthews) called me up as soon as he got off the phone," Mr Wilson told CNN. "He called me up and he said: 'I just got off the phone with Karl Rove. He says your wife is fair game'. I know that Karl Rove was, in fact, engaged in pushing the Novak story."
Mr Bush, whose approval ratings have fallen in recent months, has refused to comment on the matter. He said he would withhold judgment and ordered his staff to co-operate with investigators.