Did These Walls Just Get Closer Together?

I think some White House lawyers got a phone call today.

President Bush's former spokesman, Scott McClellan, will testify before a House committee next week about whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

McClellan will testify publicly and under oath before the House Judiciary Committee on June 20 about the White House's role in the leak and its response, his attorneys, Michael and Jane Tigar, said on Monday.

In his new book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan said he was misled by others, possibly including Cheney, about the role of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the leak. McClellan has said publicly that Bush and Cheney "directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby."

The statements prompted House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., to invite McClellan to the hearing "concerning reported attempts to cover up the involvement of White House officials in the leak of" Plame's identity.

Village reporters are already leaking that the White House is freaked out by McClellan testifying, and the potential that Patrick Fitzgerald could follow him. The Press Secretary in particular has a lot of secrets, and the Plame case is one that Bush and company don't want reopened.

Nor does the Administration want to hear any more about Jack Abramoff, but that's rearing its ugly head today as well:

The White House had stronger ties to disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff than it has publicly admitted, according to a draft congressional report released Monday.

President Bush met Abramoff on at least four occasions the White House has yet to acknowledge, according to the draft report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

And White House officials appeared as comfortable going to Abramoff and his lobbyists seeking tickets to sporting and entertainment events, as they did seeking input on personnel picks for plum jobs, the report found.

President Bush himself met Abramoff on at least six occasions, the report said, citing White House documents; the White House had previously acknowledged only two.

Amusing that McClellan was the front man for those particular lies. That's conveniently left out of his book.

To the extent that any of this derails the late-term policy agenda of the Bush Administration - immunity, permanent bases in Iraq, and bombing Iran - it's very significant.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, and Dennis Kucinich is introducing articles of impeachment on the House floor as we speak. Anything we can do to throw these guys off their game.