US: Former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby has told a grand jury investigating the leaking of a CIA officer's identity that president George Bush authorised him to pass classified information to the New York Times, according to court papers filed by the special prosecutor investigating the leak. Denis Staunton reports from Washington
Mr Libby, who is charged with lying under oath and obstructing the CIA leak inquiry, testified that vice-president Dick Cheney told him that Mr Bush explicitly approved the leaking of information from the classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE).
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating the 2003 leak of Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA officer after her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote a newspaper article casting doubt on the administration's claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to import nuclear materials from Niger.
In the new court papers, Mr Fitzgerald said that Mr Libby, who was Mr Cheney's chief of staff, testified that he had been authorised to pass secret information to New York Times journalist Judith Miller.
"Defendant testified that he was specifically authorised in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified NIE to Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the NIE was 'pretty definitive' against what Ambassador Wilson had said, and that the vice-president thought that it was 'very important' for the key judgments of the NIE to come out," Mr Fitzgerald wrote.
Mr Libby testified that he questioned Mr Cheney's suggestion to release the information because the intelligence estimate was classified.
But he said that Mr Cheney subsequently said he got permission for the release directly from Mr Bush.
"Defendant testified that the vice-president later advised him that the president had authorised defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE," Mr Fitzgerald said.
Mr Libby told the grand jury that Mr Cheney's legal counsel, David Addington, told him that Mr Bush's permission to disclose the information "amounted to a declassification of the document".
Mr Fitzgerald does not suggest that Mr Bush broke any law or regulation in authorising the disclosure of classified information or that the president ordered the leak of Ms Plame's identity as a CIA officer.
Mr Libby's testimony is embarrassing for the president, however, because it links him directly for the first time to the chain of events that led to the leaking of Ms Plame's identity.
Mr Bush's alleged authorisation of the release of classified information also jars with the president's public declaration in the immediate aftermath of the CIA leak that he would fire anyone in the White House who leaked classified information.
Mr Fitzgerald and his staff have interviewed Mr Bush and Mr Cheney, but it is not clear how their accounts of events compare with Mr Libby's.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday that the administration would not comment on a continuing investigation.
Mr Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said all questions should be referred to Mr Fitzgerald's office.
Democratic senator Chuck Schumer said the latest revelations underscored the need for Mr Bush to come clean about the role of the White House in leaking classified information.
"The more we hear, the more it is clear this goes way beyond Scooter Libby.
"President Bush and vice-president Cheney should fully inform the American people of any role in allowing classified information to be leaked," he said.