Bush questioned over CIA leak

US President George W Bush was questioned for an hour today by a US attorney investigating the Bush administration's alleged …

US President George W Bush was questioned for an hour today by a US attorney investigating the Bush administration's alleged leak of the identity of a CIA operative, the White House announced.

Spokesman Scott McClellan also said Bush had retained an attorney, Jim Sharp, to represent him in all matters involving the case.

"No one wants to get to the bottom of this matter more than the president of the United States," McClellan said.

A federal grand jury is probing whether someone in the Bush administration illegally leaked the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak, a charge the White House has denied.

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An array of administration officials have been questioned as part of the investigation, including Vice President Dick Cheney.

Plame is married to Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador and critic of the Iraq war.

Wilson has accused the Bush administration of having leaked Plame's name in retaliation for his having publicly questioned the president's prewar State of the Union claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger.

Bush met with the US attorney in charge of the case, Pat Fitzgerald. White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales testified to the grand jury about the case on June 18.