Honolulu, Hawaii -- Congressman Neil Abercrombie today said he will ask the U.S. Justice Department for a new investigation into the leaking of classified information about a former CIA officer by White House officials, following revelations about the case in an upcoming book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

“If what is being reported about Mr. McClellan’s book is true, then the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel must open a new investigation to see whether felonious offenses have been committed by White House officials, up to and including the President,” said Abercrombie.

An excerpt from McClellan’s book discloses that “five of the highest ranking officials in the (Bush) administration,” including the President, led him to “unknowingly” report “false information” to the news media and American public with the intent to exonerate “two of the President’s senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.”

“Mr. McClellan’s revelations clearly show how the President has failed, over and over again, to speak truthfully to the American people and, in this instance, to find and to identify the person or persons in his administration who exposed the classified identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame. The President has not been forthcoming about this entire scandal which ultimately speaks to the integrity of our national security,” said Abercrombie.

“These latest revelations demand that we get to the truth by asking, again, which person or persons in the Bush administration were responsible for leaking classified information.”

Plame has said that she was ‘outed’ through information leaks by the Bush administration as retribution because her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, was publicly critical of the war in Iraq.

Libby eventually became the only person to be sent to prison in the case, following an investigation by the Office of Special Counsel. He was convicted of lying about discussions he had with reporters regarding Plame and had his 30-month prison sentence commuted by the President last July.

“The country deserves the truth because this is about the honesty, integrity, and leadership our top leaders. And, it’s about obstruction of justice, lying to federal investigators and the American people, and whether criminal charges should be brought forward,” said Abercrombie.

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