McClellan to testify on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan says he will testify before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee about the leak of a CIA operative's identity.
The committee last month requested that McClellan testify, and the former press secretary told NBC News Monday he would appear before the panel June 20.
"They invited me to come testify and as I've said before I'm glad to share my views," he said.
McClellan said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., wanted him to testify about the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson's identity in 2003 "and the potential concerns that there might be a coverup" of the circumstances surrounding the leak.
The committee has subpoenaed former White House political adviser Karl Rove, but Rove's attorney has indicated he will not testify.
The committee expressed interest in McClellan's testimony after McClellan released a book claiming President George W. Bush told him he authorized leaking Plame Wilson's name. Plame Wilson is married to former Ambassador Joe Wilson, whose New York Times op-ed publicly questioned the administration's credibility on the rationale for the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Report: Abramoff had White House access
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- A proposed U.S. House report says disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff had shaped some White House actions.
The report, drafted by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Abramoff and his associates "had access and influenced some actions at the White House," The Hill reported Monday.
Abramoff is serving a 70-month prison term for his role in a fraudulent Florida casino deal. He faces sentencing in his scheme to bribe officials in Washington.
The committee said the report was "limited by potential Fifth Amendment claims by several White House officials and Abramoff lobbyists and the committee's accommodation of Justice Department concerns."
The report also says Abramoff had "personal contact" with President George W. Bush, and that high-level White House officials held Abramoff and his associates "in high regard and solicited recommendations from Mr. Abramoff on policy matters."
The report was issued by committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and ranking Republican Tom Davis of Virginia.
McCain: Obama runs for Carter 2nd term
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain told NBC Monday that presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama is "running for Jimmy Carter's" second term.
The remark is apparently intended to turn tables on Obama.
"Sen. Obama says that I'm running for (President George W. Bush's) third term," McCain said in an interview. "Seems to me he's running for Jimmy Carter's second."
In an interview with Fox News, McCain said Obama wants to return "to the failed policies of the '60's and '70's."
Carter is a handy Democratic bogeyman for the McCain campaign, the Politico said Monday.
The Capitol Hill newspaper said McCain is unlikely to throw barbs at Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, not only because Kennedy is suffering from brain cancer, but also because McCain and Kennedy are close friends who have worked together.
Hillary Clinton is not an inviting target, given that the GOP campaign is intent on attracting disaffected Clinton supporters, the newspaper said.
Carter, on the other hand, is seen by many conservatives as responsible for high gasoline prices and national security erosion. On the other hand, millions of voters are not old enough to remember Carter's presidency, which ended almost three decades ago, The Politico said.
Virginia governor commutes death sentence
RICHMOND, Va., June 9 (UPI) -- Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine Monday commuted death sentences for a mentally incompetent man convicted of killing three people.
In a statement, Kaine said for the past two years he has considered the question of whether the state could legally execute Percy Levar Walton.
"There is no doubt that Walton killed three innocent people over a two-week period in November 1996," the governor said. "The victims met a fate they did not deserve and the families of the victims have suffered greatly from the loss of their loved ones. I have no reason to question the prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty or the judge's decision that death was an appropriate sentence."
Kaine, a Democrat, said the courts have ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute a person who is mentally incompetent.
"Because one could not reasonably conclude that Walton was fully aware of the punishment he was about to suffer and why he was to suffer it, I decided that his execution could not proceed at that time," he said.
