Waxman: White House Blocking Release of Plame Investigation Docs

Another test for Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

In a letter to Mukasey today, House sleuth Henry Waxman (D-CA) said that the White House has prevented former Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald from turning over records of his interviews during the Valeria Plame leak investigation of White House officials, including the President.

In July, Waxman said, Fitzgerald agreed to turn over the documents to Waxman’s House oversight committee, along with documents from his interviews with State Department and CIA officials. But though he’s turned those other documents over to the committee, the White House has prevented the release of his records of the White House interviews.

In the letter, Waxman urges Mukasey to ignore the White House’s position, saying that “the role of the Attorney General is to administer the laws with impartiality.” During the Clinton Administration, he writes, Janet Reno “made an independent judgment and provided numerous FBI interview reports to the Committee, including reports of interviews with President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and three White House Chiefs of Staff.” Apparently the Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales had agreed to the White House’s request to keep the documents from Congress. Waxman wants to know if things will change now that there’s a new boss.

Waxman had requested transcripts or other documents relating to Fitzgerald’s interviews of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Andrew Card, Stephen Hadley, Karl Rove, Dan Bartlett, and Scott McClellan. Fitzgerald is prepared to turn over at least some of these, Waxman writes, though it’s unclear which.