WASHINGTON — Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, branded a "miserable creature" by ex-Sen. Bob Dole, could be headed for a congressional hearing examining his new book's account of Bush administration involvement in the disclosure of a CIA operative's identity.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said Friday he will talk to McClellan about the book's account of the possible White House cover-up of top aides' involvement in the leak of Valerie Plame's name.

Conyers said McClellan's revelations about the episode are "extremely troubling."

"I believe this issue may require closer examination, so I have instructed my counsels to begin discussions with Mr. McClellan to determine whether a hearing is necessary and to secure his possible cooperation," Conyers said.

McClellan wrote that former White House aides Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby lied to him by saying they were not involved in the leak. McClellan also wrote that he was very disturbed when President Bush acknowledged to him that he secretly declassified a portion of a National Intelligence Estimate so that Vice President Cheney could see it. McClellan believes information from that NIE was involved in the leak.

Plame is the wife of former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was among the first to challenge the administration's rationale - based on its stated proof of Iraqi efforts to procure weapons of mass destruction - for the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, asked Friday about another request for McClellan to testify, said the White House 'hypothetically" could block such an appearance.

"The law would allow for that," she said. "But by saying that I'm not suggesting that that's what would happen or not happen."

Perino also said White House lawyers routinely had reviewed the book before publication "for any possible classified information or any needs for executive privilege to be asserted."

"None of them were in this case," she said, adding, "So we've known for a little bit of time that this was coming."

Perino also said she "absolutely" has access to meetings and information she needs to do her job. McClellan complains in his book that he often was kept out of the loop, rendering him unable to adequately inform the press and public.

"It's been my experience as press secretary that you can be as in or out of the loop as you choose to be," Perino said.

Dole's stinging criticism of McClellan came in an e-mail to him.

"There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don't have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues," Dole told McClellan. "No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique."

Perino said Friday that Bush has not read the book.

"He's been regularly briefed. I think he's read a lot of the articles about it. ././. He may or may not read the book. I don't know," she said.

Asked if she planned to read the book, Perino said, "I don't have any plans to buy it."

The Salt Lake Tribune, quoting attendees at a closed-door GOP fund-raising event in Park City, Utah, on Wednesday night, said Bush told the audience he was disappointed by the book but would work to forgive McClellan. Bush said McClellan is "not the same guy" he has known for many years, according to the newspaper.

The Democratic National Committee moved quickly to take advantage of McClellan's words and turn them on probable GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

A DNC Web ad includes McClellan's appearance Thursday on the "Today" show, when he said the White House orchestrated a PR campaign to sell the war by making it "sound like the threat was more urgent and more grave and gathering than it really turned out to be."

It shows McCain, in March 2002, saying Hussein "presents a clear and present danger to the United States of America with his continued pursuit to acquire weapons of mass destruction."

The video closes with a screen showing an unflattering photo of McCain and the words "Marching in lockstep the whole way. John McCain: The Wrong Choice for America's Future."

McCain, like Bush, has acknowledged that his pre-war comments were based on faulty intelligence, but he still supports the decision to oust Hussein.

McClellan, who has always voted for GOP presidential candidates, said he is undecided this year but "intrigued" by Democratic candidate Barack Obama.