WASHINGTON - The White House lied about its involvement in the leaking of a CIA agent's identity in 2003 and is still doing so, a former spokesman of US President George W. Bush said during a congressional hearing Friday. Scott McClellan told lawmakers that White House officials lied to him at the time about their involvement in the leak. Members of the House Judiciary Committee believe McClellan, who served as the president's spokesperson before leaving the White House in 2006, would be able to provide valuable insight into the leaking of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA undercover operative, as well as a number of issues that the committee is investigating. Ms Plame maintains the White House quietly outed her to reporters as retribution for criticism from her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, of Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq. "Back in 2005, I was prohibited from discussing it by the White House ostensibly because of the criminal investigation under way, but I made a commitment to share with the public what I knew as soon as possible. That commitment was one of the reasons I wrote my book," McClellan said in his opening statement. "Unfortunately, this matter continues to be investigated by Congress because of what the White House has chosen to conceal from the public," he said. "Despite assurances that the administration would discuss the matter once the Special Counsel had completed his work, the White House has sought to avoid public scrutiny and accountability." In his newly released book "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan say she was specifically lied to about White House staff members' involvement in the leaking of Wilson's identity - including former Bush adviser Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. The FBI and a federal grand jury later investigated the leaking of Wilson's identity as a CIA operative. No one was convicted for the actual leak, but Libby was convicted in 2007 for perjury, lying to federal investigators and obstruction of justice. Bush later commuted his prison sentence. However, the Democrat-controlled Congress is still looking into the use of pre-war intelligence to find out if the leaking of Wilson's identity was politically motivated.