McCain calls for White House leaks probe

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WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called Tuesday for an investigation into whether the White House was responsible for national security leaks.

McCain -- who was the Republican presidential nominee four years ago and is the ranking GOP member of the Armed Services Committee -- said he wants hearings and a special prosecutor named to determine whether the White House leaked information for political gain, Roll Call reported.

"Over the past few months, there's been a disturbing stream of articles in the media," McCain said. "In common among them is that they cite leaked classified or highly sensitive information in what appears to be a broader administration effort to paint a portrait of the president of the United States as a strong leader on national security issues.

"The fact that this administration would aggressively pursue leaks perpetrated by a 22-year-old Army private in the WikiLeaks matter, former CIA employees in other leaks cases, but apparently sanction leaks made by senior administration officials for political purposes is simply unacceptable."

McCain said committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told him the panel could hold a hearing on the matter, Roll Call said. A spokesman for Levin had not responded with confirmation on whether he had agreed to hold a hearing, the Washington publication reported.