Plame expected to testify at House hearing

Story Highlights

• Ex-CIA operative likely to speak to House committee
• Libby prosecutor also invited to testify but hasn't consented
• Chairman wants to know White House officials' role in leak
• Plame's outing at center of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Valerie Plame is expected to testify at a House committee hearing next week about how White House officials handled exposure of her CIA connection.

Plame, a former CIA agent, will appear March 16 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, its chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said Thursday.

Waxman also released a letter asking federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to meet with him to discuss testifying.

Fitzgerald on Tuesday won a conviction against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, in relation to the case. (Watch what bookies think about Libby's chances of a presidential pardon )

In the letter, Waxman noted that one juror expressed the view that Libby was a "fall guy" for the administration.

"This juror's views encapsulated questions that many in Congress and the public have about whether the ultimate responsibility for the outing of (Plame) rests with more senior officials in the White House," Waxman wrote.

Libby's trial raises questions about whether officials including Cheney and White House political adviser Karl Rove "complied with the requirements governing the handling of classified information," Waxman told Fitzgerald in the letter. (Watch former White House insiders assess the political damage )

Another question, he said, is whether the White House "took appropriate remedial action following the leak."

A spokesman for Fitzgerald said the prosecutor had received Waxman's request, but would not elaborate on any action he might take.

The Justice Department referred calls to Fitzgerald.

Libby was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing an investigation into the Bush administration's actions leading into the Iraq war. He was acquitted of a count of making false statements. (Full story)

Prosecutors argued Libby lied to protect his job and deliberately revealed Plame's CIA role in retribution for a newspaper column by her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, casting doubt on President Bush's reasons for going to war.

CNN's Terry Frieden contributed to this report.