President George W. Bush on Sunday faced calls for him to apologise to the American people following the indictment of top White House aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby for lying to the Central Intelligence Agency’s leak investigation.

As a poll put Mr Bush’s ratings at a new low of 39 per cent, Harry Reid, the Senate Democrat minority leader, said the president and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, should “come clean” following the indictment of Mr Libby – who resigned as chief of staff to Mr Cheney on Friday – for obstructing the investigation into the unmasking of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative.