Former White House press secretary blames Bush for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA

November 19, 2007

Former White House press secretary blames Bush for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

Bush Spares Libby From 30-Month Prison Term

July 3, 2007
Bush Spares Libby From 30-Month Prison Term

WASHINGTON, July 2 — President Bush spared I. Lewis Libby Jr. from prison Monday, commuting his two-and-a-half-year sentence while leaving intact his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case.

Mr. Bush's action, announced hours after a panel of judges ruled that Mr. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, could not put off serving his sentence while he appealed his conviction, came as a surprise to all but a few members of the president's inner circle. It reignited the passions that have surrounded the case from the beginning.

Fitzgerald: Plame was covert agent

May 29, 2007
Fitzgerald: Plame was covert agent

May 29, 2007 - In new court filings, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has finally resolved one of the most disputed issues at the core of the long-running CIA leak controversy: Valerie Plame Wilson, he asserts, was a "covert" CIA officer who repeatedly traveled overseas using a "cover identity" in order to disguise her relationship with the agency.

Fitzgerald cites Wilson's covert status as part of his argument—advanced in two strongly worded memos filed in recent days—that I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, should be sentenced to up to three years in prison.

Wilson: Leak severely hurt U.S. intelligence

March 17, 2007
Wilson: Leak severely hurt U.S. intelligence

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Valerie Plame Wilson told Congress Friday the leak of her identity as a CIA covert operative "has jeopardized and even destroyed entire networks of foreign agents."

She told a House committee that Bush administration officials had "carelessly and recklessly" released her status as a CIA employee, which was first reported by columnist Robert Novak.

"I felt like I had been hit in the gut," Plame Wilson told the panel.

Dems look to expand congressional probe of CIA leak

March 16, 2007
Dems look to expand congressional probe of CIA leak

House Democrats on Friday vowed to expand their investigation into the Valerie Plame leak scandal in order to hold the Bush administration accountable and find out how "future abuses" can be prevented.

"We are going to continue this investigation," said Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as he called for recess at the end of the former CIA agent's testimony.

"It is not our job to determine criminal culpability. But it is our job to understand what went wrong, to insist on accountability and to make recommendations to prevent future abuses," said Waxman. The lawmaker described the committee's role as "fundamentally different" to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's criminal investigation into the leak.

Plame testifies, lashes out at White House

March 16, 2007
Plame testifies, lashes out at White House

WASHINGTON — Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer at the heart of a four-year political furor over the Bush administration's leak of her identity, lashed out Friday at the White House, testifying in Congress that the president's aides destroyed a career she loved and slipped her name to reporters for "purely political motives."

Plame, speaking publicly about the case for the first time, contended that her name and job "were carelessly and recklessly abused" by the government. Although she and her colleagues knew that "we might be exposed and threatened by foreign enemies," she said, "it was a terrible irony that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover."

Poll: 69 percent oppose pardon for Libby in CIA leak case

March 12, 2007
Poll: 69 percent oppose pardon for Libby in CIA leak case

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose a presidential pardon for former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby after his conviction on perjury and other charges related to a CIA agent's exposure, according to a CNN poll out Monday.

Just 18 percent said they would support a pardon for Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, while 69 percent said they opposed the idea. Meanwhile, a narrow majority said they believe Cheney was part of a cover-up in the case.

Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Trial

March 6, 2007
Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Trial

Once the closest adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing a leak investigation that shook the top levels of the Bush administration.

He is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since National Security Adviser John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago.

In the end, jurors said did not believe Libby's main defense: that he hadn't lied but merely had a bad memory.

Former Press Secretary Didn't Know What Was Going On

February 11, 2007
Former Press Secretary Didn't Know What Was Going On

What has emerged, instead, is:

• a vice president fixated on finding ways to debunk a former diplomat's claims that Bush misled the U.S. people in going to war and his suggestion Cheney might have played a role in suppressing contrary intelligence.
• a presidential press secretary kept in the dark on Iraq policy.
• top White House officials meeting daily to discuss the diplomat, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, and sometimes even his CIA-officer wife Valerie Plame.

News media cheer ruling on Libby tapes

February 5, 2007
News media cheer ruling on Libby tapes

WASHINGTON -- News organizations praised a judge's decision Monday to release tapes of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's grand jury testimony, saying it would open a window into court proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he would make the eight-hour recordings public even
though he was worried that jurors could be influenced by outside media buzz.

Federal law supports the public release of evidence presented to a jury. But judges in
high-profile cases occasionally have released only written transcripts or have delayed public
disclosure until the trial's end.

VP appeared eager to blunt criticism

February 5, 2007
VP appeared eager to blunt criticism

Washington -- Vice President Dick Cheney's press officer, Cathie Martin, approached his chief of
staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on Air Force Two on July 12, 2003, to ask how she should respond to journalists' questions about Joseph Wilson. Libby looked over one of the reporters' questions and told Martin: "Well, let me go talk to the boss and I'll be back."

On Libby's return, Martin testified in federal court last week, he brought a card with detailed
replies dictated by Cheney, including a highly partisan, incomplete summary of Wilson's
investigation into what was suspected to be Iraq's program for weapons of mass destruction.

Libby subsequently called a reporter, read him the statement, and said -- according to the
reporter -- he had heard that Wilson's investigation was instigated by his wife, an employee at
the CIA, later identified as Valerie Wilson. The reporter, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, was
one of five people with whom Libby discussed Valerie Wilson's CIA status during those critical
weeks that summer.