by TChris

The grand jury investigating the source behind Robert Novak's story exposing Valerie Plame as a CIA officer issued subpoenas to the White House in January. The investigation arises out of concerns that Bush administration officials revealed Plame's identity in an attempt to discredit her husband's criticism of the administration's Iraq policy. Plame is married to former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. More background information can be found at TalkLeft posts here and here.

The subpoenas seek a number of White House documents:

• Records of Air Force One telephone calls from July 7 to 12, about a week before Novak's revelation. The President was visiting several African nations that week. The White House has not made public the identities of those on the plane with Bush.

• A transcript (missing from a White House website collecting press briefing transcripts) of an informal press briefing on July 12 by former press secretary Ari Fleischer, during which Fleischer discussed Wilson and his report that, contrary to White House assertions, Iraq did not try to buy uranium "yellow cake" in Niger.

• A list of attendees at a White House reception (closed to the press) on July 16 for Gerald Ford's 90th birthday. Again, the White House has declined to make that list public.

• Records created by the White House Iraq Group, "a little-known internal task force established in August 2002 to create a strategy to publicize the threat posed by Saddam Hussein."

• Records about White House staff contacts with Novak and a number of other journalists.

The subpoenas demanded the production of documents before the grand jury in January and February. However, the current press secretary, Scott McClellan, said today that the White House was "still in the process of complying fully."