In a scathing book titled "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture Of Deception" Scott McClellan takes on the Bush Administration criticizing everything from its handling of Katrina to the war in Iraq.
He called the Iraq War a "serious strategic blunder " that "was not necessary." He also takes aim at the press, calling them "complicit enablers" allowing the White House to manipulate public opinion.
But McClellan holds some of his strongest critiques for Karl Rove saying the 'jumping off point' for his book was the leaking of C.I.A. operative Valerie Plame's name to reporters. He claims Rove was deceptive at best, misleading him into denials like this one. "I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this, and that's where it stands," Scott McClellan stated in an October 2003 press conference regarding Valerie Plame.
McClellan now says he watched Rove and convicted felon Scooter Libby hold a closed door meeting, implying they may have been trying to get their stories straight during the investigation that led to Libby's conviction.
Tuesday night on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" show, Rove denied the allegations saying, "I think it's, frankly, maybe a sign of irresponsibility for Scott to sort of suggest that because he saw the two of us meet and he didn't happen to be in the meeting he somehow knows what the meeting was about"
Wednesday morning the White House issued a statement saying they now know McClellan is disgruntled about his experience at the White House, writing, "It is sad, this is not the Scott we knew."
McClellan's book goes on sale June 1st.
