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Mid-1990s: Hezbollah Allegedly Trains Some Al-Qaeda Operativesin Explosives

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Profile: Patrick Fitzgerald

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Acquaintance of Ali Mohamed

Acquaintance of Jack Cloonan

Acquaintance of Judith Miller

Acquaintance of Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby

Acquaintance of David Margolis

Patrick Fitzgerald was a participant or observer in the following events:

of 3 (276 events)previous | 1, 2, 3 | next

In 2001, Jamal al-Fadl, a highly reliable al-Qaeda defector (see June 1996-April1997), will claim that numerous al-Qaeda operatives went to Lebanon andreceived training from the militant group Hezbollah. Double agent Ali Mohamedsets up a meeting between Osama bin Laden and Hezbollah leader ImadMugniyah in early 1994 (see Shortly After February 1994). After that meeting,al-Fadl will claim, the following al-Qaeda figures train with Hezbollah: Saif al-Islam al-Masri, a member of al-Qaeda’s military ruling council. Abu Talha al-Sudani, an al-Qaeda leader living in Somalia. Saif al Adel, al-Qaeda’s probable number three leader after the death of

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Patrick Fitzgerald http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=patrick_fitzgerald

1 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

Autumn 1992: Ali Mohamed Trains Top Al-Qaeda Leadership inAfghanistan; Detained in Italy

Mohammed Atef in 2001. Two others. One of them runs one of al-Qaeda’s training camps in Afghanistan.

Al-Fadl will add that some videotapes are brought back and he sees one ofthem. It teaches how to blow up “big buildings.” [UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. USAMA

BIN LADEN, ET AL., DAY 2, 2/6/2001] Ali Mohamed will also claim in court thatHezbollah subsequently provides explosives training for al-Qaeda and IslamicJihad. So will US prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who states, “in the middle of the1990s, al-Qaeda members received sophisticated explosives training fromHezbollah, despite the deep religious differences between the Sunni membersof al-Qaeda and the Shiite members of Hezbollah.” [9/11 COMMISSION, 6/16/2004]

However, it seems the links between al-Qaeda and Hezbollah decline after thistime.Entity Tags: Jamal al-Fadl, Abu Talha al-Sudani, Ali Mohamed, Osama bin Laden, ImadMugniyah, Saif al-Adel, Patrick Fitzgerald, Saif al-Islam al-MasriTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

Ali Mohamed returns to fight in Afghanistan, even though the Soviets have beendefeated and the country is now involved in civil war. He trains rebelcommanders in military tactics. This is just one of many such trips, as he laterwill confess spending several months out of each year training operativesoverseas for most of the 1990’s. [NEW YORK TIMES, 12/1/1998; SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE,

9/21/2001; SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 10/11/2001] US prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald willlater say of Mohamed’s visits to Afghanistan, “Mohamed did not [make a loyaltypledge] to al-Qaeda but he trained most of al-Qaeda’s top leadership—includingbin Laden and [Ayman] al-Zawahiri—and most of al-Qaeda’s top trainers.Mohamed taught surveillance, counter-surveillance, assassinations, kidnapping,codes, ciphers and other intelligence techniques.” [9/11 COMMISSION, 6/16/2004] FBIagent Jack Cloonan will later say that in addition to bin Laden, others whoattend Mohamed’s course are Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, al-Qaeda’s first militarycommander, and Mohammed Atef, its second military commander. [LANCE, 2006,

PP. 104-105] During this 1992 trip he teaches intelligence tradecraft, lateradmitting, “I taught my trainees how to create cell structures that could be

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2 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

Shortly After February 1994: Ali Mohamed Sets up Meetingbetween Bin Laden and Hezbollah

Imad Mugniyah.[Source: FBI]

used for operations.” Also around this time, he is detained by Italian authoritiesat the Rome airport when airport security discovers his luggage has falsecompartments. He is let go after convincing the Italians that he is fightingterrorists. [NEW YORK TIMES, 12/1/1998; SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 9/21/2001; SAN

FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 10/11/2001] Mohamed will regularly return to Afghanistan inyears to come, as part of at least 58 trips overseas leaving from the US. [CHICAGO

TRIBUNE, 12/11/2001] Nabil Sharef, a university professor and former Egyptianintelligence officer, will say, “For five years he was moving back and forthbetween the US and Afghanistan. It’s impossible the CIA thought he was goingthere as a tourist. If the CIA hadn’t caught on to him, it should be dissolved andits budget used for something worthwhile.” [WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/26/2001]

Entity Tags: Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, Al-Qaeda, Mohammed Atef, Osama bin Laden,Patrick Fitzgerald, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Italy, Nabil Sharef, Ali MohamedTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

In February 1994, double agent Ali Mohamed goes to Sudanand trains Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards (see February 4-5,1994 and Shortly Afterwards). While there, Mohamedarranges security for a meeting between bin Laden and ImadMugniyah, the security chief for the Lebanese militant groupHezbollah who is said to have directed the 1983 bombing ofthe US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon (see April18-October 23, 1983). Bin Laden and Mugniyah are said todiscuss upcoming operations. Mugniyah is believed to beinvolved in the hijacking of an Air India jet in 1999 wherepassengers will be exchanged for three militants in Indianprisons, including Saeed Sheikh, who will be the paymasterfor 9/11 (see December 24-31, 1999). Mohamed will later claim in court thatHezbollah subsequently provided explosives training for al-Qaeda and IslamicJihad. [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 10/21/2000; RALEIGH NEWS AND OBSERVER, 10/21/2001; CHICAGO

TRIBUNE, 12/11/2001; LA WEEKLY, 5/24/2002] A number of al-Qaeda operatives trainwith Hezbollah in Lebanon after this meeting (see Mid-1990s). Dan Benjamin and


3 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

February 1995: Secret Coconspirator List Proves US Knowledge ofAli Mohamed’s Al-Qaeda Criminal Activity

Sections of the unindicted co-consipratorlist for the “Landmarks” plot trial. Osamabin Laden is 95 and Ali Mohamed is 109.[Source: National Geographic]

Steve Simon, director and senior director of the National Security Council’scounterterrorism team, will later write that “The meeting between the twopreeminent terrorists of the era reportedly did take place, and there was anagreement to cooperate. But there the record ends; there is little evidence thata long-term bond between the Sunni and Shiite groups was ever formed.”[BENJAMIN AND SIMON, 2005, PP. 128] Mohamed will return to the US after an FBI agentphones him and asks to speak to him about an upcoming trial (see December 9,1994).Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Imad Mugniyah, Ali Mohamed, Daniel Benjamin,Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, Steve Simon, Osama bin LadenTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

In February 1995, the US government files aconfidential court document listing bin Ladenand scores of other people as possibleco-conspirators in the 1993 New York City“Landmarks” plot (see June 24, 1993). AliMohamed’s name is on the list, confirmingthat investigators are aware of hisinvolvement in al-Qaeda operations. Yet hecontinues to live openly in California.Mohamed obtains the document, though it isnot clear how he obtained it. [9/11 COMMISSION,

6/16/2004; 9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 472] USprosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will later statethat when Mohamed’s California residence isfinally searched in 1998 (see August 24,1998), investigators discover “a sensitivesealed document from the trial of Sheik Omar

Abdul Rahman with notations indicating that [he sent it] to the head of theKenyan al-Qaeda cell for delivery to bin Laden. I shudder to think of the peoplewho may read this statement and where it may be found some day.” [9/11


4 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

January 1996: Squad Uniting Prosecutors and FBI Agents BeginsFocusing on Bin Laden

Jack Cloonan. [Source:PBS]

COMMISSION, 6/16/2004] A later government indictment will say that Mohamed sentthe list to Wadih El-Hage in Kenya who was told to hand deliver it to bin Ladenin Afghanistan. [WASHINGTON POST, 8/1/1999] If that is not enough to proveMohamed’s duplicity, when El-Sayyid Nosair is defended in this trial, Nosair’slawyers will expose more evidence about Mohamed. They argue that Nosair’sactivities were part of a US-sponsored covert operation to train and arm themujaheddin. They argue that Mohamed was the key link in this operation, andpresent evidence and witnesses showing how Mohamed trained the bombplotters in 1989 (see July 1989). They mention the classified military manualsthat Mohamed stole and gave the group (see November 5, 1990). Mohamed’sname and role in these activities come out publicly during the trial, and theWashington Post reports in 1998 that after hearing this testimony,“the FBI beganto focus on Mohamed as a potential terrorism suspect.” Yet both US intelligenceand al-Qaeda apparently continue to work with him. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/30/1998;NEW YORK TIMES, 10/31/1998]Entity Tags: Wadih El-Hage, Patrick Fitzgerald, Osama bin Laden, United States, AliMohamed, Omar Abdul-RahmanTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

The Justice Department directs an existing unit calledSquad I-49 to begin building a legal case against binLaden. This unit is unusual because it combinesprosecutors from the Southern District of New York, whohave been working on bin Laden related cases, with theFBI’s New York office, which was the FBI branch officethat dealt the most with bin Laden -related intelligence.Patrick Fitzgerald effectively directs I-49 as the leadprosecutor. FBI agent Dan Coleman becomes a keymember while simultaneously representing the FBI atAlec Station, the CIA’s new bin Laden unit (February1996) where he has access to the CIA’s vast informational

database. [LANCE, 2006, PP. 218-219] The other initial members of I-49 are: Louis


5 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

June 1996-April 1997: Highly Trusted Informant ExposesAl-Qaeda Secrets to US

Napoli, John Anticev, Mike Anticev, Richard Karniewicz, Jack Cloonan, CarlSummerlin, Kevin Cruise, Mary Deborah Doran, and supervisor Tom Lang. All areFBI agents except for Napoli and Summerlin, a New York police detective and aNew York state trooper, respectively. The unit will end up working closely withFBI agent John O’Neill, who heads the New York FBI office. Unlike the CIA’s AlecStation, which is focused solely on bin Laden, I-49 has to work on other MiddleEast -related issues. For much of the next year or so, most members will workon the July 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800, because it crashed near New York andis suspected to have been carried out by Middle Eastern militants (July 17,1996-September 1996). However, in years to come, I-49 will grow considerablyand focus more on bin Laden. [WRIGHT, 2006, PP. 240-241] After 9/11, the “wall”between intelligence collection and criminal prosecution will often be cited forthe failure to stop the 9/11 attacks. But as author Peter Lance will later note,“Little more than ten months after the issuance of Jamie Gorelick’s ‘wallmemo,’ Fitzgerald and company were apparently disregarding her mandate thatcriminal investigation should be segregated from intelligence threat prevention.Squad I-49… was actively working both jobs.” Thanks to Coleman’s involvementin both I-49 and the CIA’s Alec Station, I-49 effectively avoids the so-called“wall” problem. [LANCE, 2006, PP. 220]

Entity Tags: Mike Anticev, Tom Lang, US Department of Justice, Patrick Fitzgerald,Kevin Cruise, Dan Coleman, Carl Summerlin, Alec Station, Louis Napoli, Mary DeborahDoran, John Anticev, Jack Cloonan, I-49, Federal Bureau of InvestigationTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

Jamal al-Fadl, an al-Qaeda operative from al-Qaeda’s first meeting in the late1980s until 1995, tells the US everything he knows about al-Qaeda. Beforeal-Fadl’s debriefings, US intelligence had amassed thick files on bin Laden andhis associates and contacts. However, they had had no idea how the many piecesfit together. But an official says. “After al-Fadl, everything fell into place.”[MILLER, STONE, AND MITCHELL, 2002, PP. 154-65] The New Yorker will later call al-Fadl“arguably the United States’ most valuable informant on al-Qaeda.” FBI agentDan Coleman will later say on al-Fadl, “He’s been very, very important to us.


6 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

Jamal al-Fadl testifying in a courtroom. Because hisidentity has been kept secret, his face has been blockedout. [Source: CNN]

When it comes to understandingal-Qaeda, he’s the RosettaStone.” FBI agent Mike Anticevwill similarly say, “He spoke to usin great detail, and everythingthat he told us panned out.” CIAofficials debrief al-Fadl for amonth and a half. Then the CIAhands him, and transcripts of alltheir interviews with him, over tothe FBI. [NEW YORKER, 9/11/2006]

Coleman and US prosecutorPatrick Fitzgerald interrogateal-Fadl at a US military base inGermany for months. [LANCE, 2006,

PP. 261] Roughly between November 1996 and April 1997, al-Fadl tells the FBIabout: The historical background of al-Qaeda. Al-Fadl was one of al-Qaeda’s founding

members (see August 11-20, 1988). The structure of al-Qaeda and its leadership composition. Al-Qaeda’s objectives and direction. Its financial infrastructure and networks. Al-Fadl has extensive knowledge of

this because he worked as an al-Qaeda financial officer (see December1996-January 1997). Its connections and collaboration with other terrorist groups and supporters. Its activities against US soldiers in Somalia (see October 3-4, 1993). Its activities in Bosnia. Al-Fadl was sent there on several missions (see Autumn

1992 and Autumn 1992). The Al-Kifah Refugee Center, al-Qaeda’s most important charity front in the

US. Al-Fadl worked there in the 1980s (see 1986-1993). Bin Laden’s efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Al-Fadl was

personally involved in an effort to buy uranium for al-Qaeda (see Late 1993).[9/11 COMMISSION, 7/24/2004, PP. 479]

Bin Laden’s plans to attack either inside the US or US embassies (see Late1996).


7 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

September 24, 1997: El-Hage Testifies before US Grand Jury

The Texas tire store where El-Hageworked in 1997. [Source: CNN]

Al-Fadl continues to help US intelligence until current day. For instance, in2000, he will help US officials capture his brother-in-law, Mohammed Sulimanal-Nalfi, who is said to be close to Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Nalfi will eventually besentenced to ten years in prison in the US. Al-Fadl will have no knowledge of the9/11 plot, but he will continue to identify captured al-Qaeda operatives after9/11. [NEW YORKER, 9/11/2006] Interestingly, al-Fadl, a Sudanese citizen, will laterclaim that he worked with the Sudanese intelligence agency with the directapproval of bin Laden. [DAY 2. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. USAMA BIN LADEN, ET AL.,2/6/2001]Entity Tags: Jamal al-Fadl, Mike Anticev, Federal Bureau of Investigation, CentralIntelligence Agency, Patrick Fitzgerald, Dan Coleman, Al-Kifah Refugee Center,Al-Qaeda, Osama bin LadenTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

In August 1997, US intelligence raids the homeof Wadih El-Hage, bin Laden’s former personalsecretary and a US citizen (see August 21,1997). With his cover blown, El-Hage decidesto return to the US. Arriving at a New YorkCity airport on September 23, he is servedwith a subpoena to testify before a grand jurythe next day. He testifies for several hoursand is questioned extensively. [UNITED STATE OFAMERICA V. USAMA BIN LADEN, ET AL., DAY 36,

4/30/2001] US prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald willlater claim that “El-Hage chose to lie

repeatedly to the grand jury, but even in his lies he provided some informationof potential use to the intelligence community—including potential leads” to thelocation of his confederates and wanted missing files. [NEW YORK TIMES, 1/9/1999; US

CONGRESS, 10/21/2003] But after this, El-Hage is not arrested. He moves back toTexas, where he had lived in the early 1990s, and works in a tire store. [ARIZONA

REPUBLIC, 9/28/2001] In October 1997, he is interviewed by agents in Texas [UNITED

STATE OF AMERICA V. USAMA BIN LADEN, ET AL., DAY 28, 4/12/2001] , and then left aloneuntil August 1998 when he will be interrogated again shortly after the bombings


8 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

October 1997: Ali Mohamed Details His Extensive Al-Qaeda Tiesto US Officials But Still Is Not Arrested

in Kenya and Tanzania (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998). He is ultimatelyarrested and found guilty for his role in those bombings.Entity Tags: Wadih El-Hage, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

US prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI agents Jack Cloonan and Harlan Bell,all members of the I-49 squad, take Ali Mohamed out for dinner at a restaurantin Sacramento, California (he has recently moved there from Santa Clara,California). Fitzgerald pays for Mohamed’s meal. Cloonan will later recall, “Thepurpose in us going to meet Ali at that point in time is that we wanted to gainhis cooperation. We knew of his long history having been connected toal-Qaeda, and what we desperately wanted was to convince Ali Mohamed tocooperate with us that night.” During the several-hour-long meeting, Mohamedsays the following: He “loved” bin Laden and “believes in him.” [SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 11/4/2001;

LANCE, 2006, PP. 274-276]

He organized bin Laden’s move from Afghanistan to Sudan in 1991 (see Summer1991). He was in Somalia training militants to fight US soldiers in 1993. He claims “bin

Laden’s people were responsible” for the killing of 18 US soldiers there (see1993). He trained bin Laden’s personal bodyguards in 1994 and he lived in bin Laden’s

house while doing so (see Shortly After February 1994). [LANCE, 2006, PP. 274-276]

He says he trained people in “war zones, and… war zones can be anywhere.”[WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/26/2001]

He asserts he doesn’t need a religious edict to make war on the US since it is“obvious” that the US is “the enemy.” Author Peter Lance will later note thesewords clearly “amounted to treason.” Cloonan will recall, “He said that he was in touch with hundreds of people he

could call on in a moment’s notice that could be, quote, ‘operational,’ andwage jihad against the United States. Very brazenly, he said, ‘I can get outanytime and you’ll never find me. I’ve got a whole network. You’ll never find


9 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

August 12-25, 1998: Suspect Claims ‘Extensive Network ofAl-Qaeda Sleeper Agents’ Is Planning ‘Big Attack’ Inside US

me.”After dinner, Cloonan will recall that Fitzgerald turned to him and said, “This isthe most dangerous man I have ever met. We cannot let this man out on thestreet.” But Lance will later note, “But that’s just what he did. PatrickFitzgerald allowed Ali Mohamed to go free”—even though Mohamed firmlyrejected the offer to cooperate. During the dinner, other agents break intoMohamed’s house and bug his computer (his phone is already tapped (see Late1994). Mohamed will continue to live in California for nearly a year and won’tbe arrested until after the August 1998 African embassy bombings (see10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998). The FBI apparently makes a report based onMohamed’s comments at this meeting (see After October 1997). But no evidencehas come to light that Mohamed’s confession is shared with top US officials orspread widely within US intelligence before 9/11. [LANCE, 2006, PP. 274-276] In2003, Fitzgerald will testify before a Senate committee and claim that when hehad to make the decision after the embassy bombings whether or not to arrestMohamed (see September 10, 1998), the “decision to arrest was made partly inthe dark” because prosecutors could “not learn what information [the FBI] hadgathered” on Mohamed. Fitzgerald will fail to mention that he was sitting withFBI agents when Mohamed gave this startling confession. [US CONGRESS, 10/21/2003]

Entity Tags: Jack Cloonan, Patrick Fitzgerald, Harlan Bell, I-49, Ali MohamedTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

Mohamed al-Owhali is arrested and immediately begins confessing his role in therecent al-Qaeda bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. He reveals to theFBI what an FBI agent will later call “blue-chip” information. [CNN, 1/19/2001] Hereveals to prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and others that when he was told by ahandler in Afghanistan that he would take part in an operation in Kenya, heinsisted “I want to attack inside the US” instead. But his handler tells him thatthe Kenya attack is important because it will keep the US distracted while thereal attack is being prepared. Al-Owhali futher explains to his interrogators,“We have a plan to attack the US, but we’re not ready yet. We need to hit yououtside the country in a couple of places so you won’t see what is going on


10 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

September 10, 1998: Ali Mohamed Secretly Arrested DespiteFailure to Share Information Between US Agencies

Patrick Fitzgerald[Source: Publicityphoto]

inside. The big attack is coming. There’s nothing you can do to stop it.” [USA

TODAY, 8/29/2002; WRIGHT, 2006, PP. 278-279] Presumably, al-Owhali is also the suspectat this time who “inform[s] the FBI that an extensive network of al-Qaeda‘sleeper agents’ currently exists in the US.” It is known that counterterrorism“tsar” Richard Clarke passes on this information to Condoleezza Rice when shebegins her position as National Security Adviser in January 2001 (see January 25,2001), but other details about this warning are not known. [9/11 COMMISSION,

7/24/2004, PP. 260] Al-Owhali also reveals the telephone number of a key al-Qaedacommunications hub in Yemen (see Late August 1998) and warns that anal-Qaeda attack is Yemen is being planned (see Mid-August 1998). [CNN, 1/19/2001]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Condoleezza Rice,Mohamed al-Owhali, Richard A. ClarkeTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Ali Mohamed is finally arrested after testifying at a grandjury hearing. The arrest is officially kept secret, but themedia will report it one month later. [NEW YORK TIMES,

10/30/1998] Patrick Fitzgerald is on the prosecutor team thatsubpoenaed Mohamed to appear, but apparently he and theother prosecutors know very little about Mohamed.Fitzgerald blames this on a legal “wall” betweenintelligence gathering and criminal prosecution. He laterwill relate what happened on the day Mohamed testified:“Ali Mohamed lied in that grand jury proceeding and leftthe courthouse to go to his hotel, followed by FBI agents,but not under arrest. He had imminent plans to fly to Egypt.

It was believed [by the prosecutors] at the time that Mohamed lied and that hewas involved with the al-Qaeda network but Mohamed had not by then been tiedto the [embassy] bombings. The decision had to be made at that momentwhether to charge Mohamed with false statements. If not, Mohamed wouldleave the country. That difficult decision had to be made without knowing orreviewing the intelligence information on the other side of the ‘wall.’ It was


11 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

July 12, 1999: Bin Laden’s Top Operatives in London Are AlmostReleased

ultimately decided to arrest Mohamed that night in his hotel room [and he wasarrested]. [The prosecution] team got lucky but we never should have had torely on luck. The prosecution team later obtained access to the intelligenceinformation, including documents obtained from an earlier search of Mohamed’shome by the intelligence team on the other side of ‘the wall.’ Those documentsincluded direct written communications with al-Qaeda members and a library ofal-Qaeda training materials that would have made the decision far less difficult.(We could only obtain that access after the arrest with the specific permissionof the Attorney General of the United States, based upon the fact that we hadobligations to provide the defendant with discovery materials and because theintelligence investigation of Mohamed had effectively ended.)… Mohamed[later] stated that had he not been arrested on that day in September 1998, hehad intended to travel to Afghanistan to rejoin Osama bin Laden. Thus, whilethe right decision to arrest was made partly in the dark, the ‘wall’ could easilyhave caused a different decision that September evening that would haveallowed a key player in the al-Qaeda network to escape justice for the embassybombing in Kenya and rejoin Osama bin Laden in a cave in Afghanistan, insteadof going to federal prison.” [US CONGRESS, 10/21/2003] Mohamed’s associate KhaledAbu el-Dahab, now living in Egypt, wil hear of Mohamed’s arrest and attempt toleave the country, but will be arrested in October 1998. He will be put on trialthere and sentenced to 15 years in prison (see 1999). [SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE,11/21/2001]Entity Tags: Ali Mohamed, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Khaled Abu el-Dahab,Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

The FBI is told that three arrested Islamist militants working for Osama binLaden are about to be released from prison in the UK. But the FBI works quicklyand prevents their release. Khalid al-Fawwaz, Ibrahim Eidarous, and Adel AbdelBary had been arrested in London on September 23, 1998, not long after the USembassy bombings in Africa (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998). Al-Fawwazis an al-Qaeda operative while Eidarous and Bary are Islamic Jihad operatives,


12 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

Late 1999-Early 2000: ’Wall’ Procedures Altered for ExpectedMillennium Attacks

but all three of them ran the Advice and Reformation Committee (ARC), a binLaden front in London (see September 23, 1998-July 12, 1999). The three ofthem had been arrested for a role in the embassy bombings, but in July 1999, aBritish judge says there is not enough evidence to keep them imprisoned. FBIagents Ali Soufan, Dan Coleman, Jack Cloonan, and US attorneys PatrickFitzgerald and Ken Karas work quickly and put together a request to have thethree men extradited to the US to stand trial there. (The US already hadrequested al-Fawwaz’s extradition shortly after his arrest in September (seeSeptember 23, 1998-July 12, 1999).) As a result, the three men are rearrestedon July 12, 1999, apparently without ever being released, and a long battle toextradite them begins. [NEW YORK TIMES, 7/13/1999; SOUFAN, 2011, PP. 97-104]

Entity Tags: Ibrahim Eidarous, Advice and Reformation Committee, Adel Abdel Bary, AliSoufan, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ken Karas, Dan Coleman, Patrick Fitzgerald,Khalid al-Fawwaz, Jack CloonanTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

Because of concerns that al-Qaeda will launch attacks during the millenniumcelebrations (see Early December 1999, December 15-31, 1999 and December14, 1999), the Justice Department and the Foreign Intelligence SurveillanceCourt alter the set of procedures known as the “wall,” which governs thesharing of intelligence inside the FBI and between the FBI and prosecutors. As aresult of these changes, it becomes easier for the FBI to obtain wiretap warrantsfrom the court, so the court itself becomes the wall with the authority todetermine what information can be released to prosecutors. [FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

SURVEILLANCE COURT, 5/17/2002; US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 11/2004, PP. 32, 149, 194 ]

Nonetheless, US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, working with the I-49 squad onal-Qaeda cases at the time, will later complain about the lack of informationprosecutors receive around the millennium, “Criminal prosecutors receivedinformation only in part and with lag time so as not to breach the ‘wall’. Thepersons who determined what could be shared with the prosecutors were on theother side of the ‘wall,’ making their best guess as to what would be helpful.This was no way to defend our country from imminent attack.” [US CONGRESS,


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Summer 2000: FBI Extracts Confession from Embassy BombingCell Member without Torture

10/21/2003] Fellow attorney Andrew McCarthy will say this change was not thatunusual, and that the “wall” “could be raised or lowered based on Justice’sperception of the threat environment at any given time.” [NATIONAL REVIEW,4/13/2004]Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Federal Bureauof Investigation, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Andrew McCarthyTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

The FBI extracts a full confession from L’Houssaine Kherchtou, also known as“Joe the Moroccan,” a member of the cell that bombed the US embassy inNairobi, Kenya (see Late 1993-Late 1994 and 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998).However, in contrast with methods used on al-Qaeda operatives after 9/11, he isnot tortured and the FBI is at pains to treat him well.Relaxing Surroundings, Respectful Treatment - FBI agent Jack Cloonan will latersay of the initial interrogation, which took place in Morocco, “The setting wasbeautiful, it was this grand house with stables out back, gazelles bouncing in thebackground, palm trees, three-course meals.” Kherchtou had a relationship withthe British intelligence service MI6 (see Mid-Summer 1998 and Shortly AfterAugust 7, 1998), but had broken off contact with it and has to be lured toMorocco, where his debriefing is headed by Patrick Fitzgerald. Cloonan will laterdescribe the questioning: “We advised [Kherchtou] of his rights. We told him hecould have a lawyer anytime, and that he could pray at any time he wanted. Wewere letting the Moroccans sit in on this, and they were dumbfounded.… TheMoroccans said he’d never talk. He never shut up for 10 days.” Fitzgerald deniesKherchtou a plea bargaining agreement, and says he must plead guilty toconspiracy to murder, for which he may receive a life sentence, thoughFitzgerald promises to ask the judge for leniency. However, Cloonan will latersay, “His wife needed money for medical treatment in Khartoum, and al-Qaedahad failed to provide it.” It is Cloonan’s “in” with Kherchtou, who is also surethat the US will not torture him. When Kherchtou wavers, Cloonan steps in. Ashe recalls: “I said, ‘Joe, you understand English, so I’d like you to go out andpray on this with your two Moroccan brothers.’ I thought Fitzy was going to give


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(September 2000): Informer Tells FBI Al-Qaeda Is Interested inAir Traffic Control Procedures

birth. Joe went out and prayed and came back and said yes.” He provides theFBI with details of the plot and becoming a star witness at the trial (seeSeptember 2000). [AMERICAN PROSPECT, 6/19/2005; VANITY FAIR, 12/16/2008]

Invaluable Information - Kherchtou’s information, provided at a time when theUS knows comparatively little about al-Qaeda, is, in Cloonan’s assessment,invaluable. “He told us about a lot of things,” Cloonan later says. “We learnedhow they recruited people, their front organizations, how they used NGOs[non-governmental organizations], false passports, what they thought aboutkidnapping, how they developed targets, did their surveillance, a day in the lifeof Osama bin Laden, what weapons they used, what vehicles they drove, whowas the principal liaison with the Sudanese government, that there was arelationship between al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, how they did their trainingexercises, their finances, and their membership.” After the trial, he enters thewitness protection program in the US. Four of his onetime associates willreceive life sentences as a direct result of his information. [VANITY FAIR,12/16/2008]

FBI Use Kherchtou as Example of Successful Interrogation Tacticss - FBI officialswill later compare this outcome favorably to procedures used by other USagencies after 9/11. For example, following the detainee abuse scandals after9/11, FBI manager Tom Harrington will write that the FBI has “been successfulfor many years obtaining confessions via non-confrontational interviewingtechniques.” Cloonan will later contrast Kherchtou’s treatment with that ofal-Qaeda training manager Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi in December 2001, when the USsent al-Libi to Egypt to be tortured and interrogated, but some of theinformation he provided there turned out to be false (see December 19, 2001and January 2002 and After). [AMERICAN PROSPECT, 6/19/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Jack Cloonan, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, Federal Bureau ofInvestigation, Al-Qaeda, Thomas J. Harrington, L’Houssaine KherchtouTimeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline

At the trial of al-Qaeda operatives accused of participating in the 1998 USAfrican embassy bombings, it is disclosed that an unnamed al-Qaeda operative


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September 10, 2001: Chief US Al-Qaeda Prosecutor Warns FriendAl-Qaeda Will Hit US Again

had requested information about air traffic control procedures. This informationis provided to the FBI by a co-operating witness, L’Houssaine Kherchtou (seeSummer 2000), and is mentioned by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who says thatKherchtou “observed an Egyptian person who was not a pilot debriefing a friendof his, Ihab Ali [Nawawi], about how air traffic control works and what peoplesay over the air traffic control system, and it was his belief that there mighthave been a plan to send a pilot to Saudi Arabia or someone familiar with thatto monitor the air traffic communications so they could possibly attack anairplane.” Nawawi is a Florida-based al-Qaeda operative and pilot who isarrested in 1999 (see May 18, 1999). The identity of the Egyptian is notdisclosed, although both Kherchtou and Nawawi are associates of formerEgyptian army officer Ali Mohamed, who used Kherchtou’s apartment to plot theNairobi embassy bombing (see Late 1993-Late 1994 and January 1998). [UNITED

STATES OF AMERICA V. USAMA BIN LADEN, ET AL., DAY 8, 2/21/2001] Mohamed alsoconducted surveillance of airports in the early 1980s with a view to hijacking anairliner, and subsequently worked as a security adviser to Egyptair, where he hadaccess to the latest anti-hijacking measures. [LANCE, 2006, PP. 11-12] Jack Cloonan,one of the FBI agents who debriefed Kherchtou, will later receive the PhoenixMemo (see July 27, 2001 or Shortly After), which states that an inordinateamount of bin Laden-related individuals are learning to fly in the US (see July10, 2001). [AMERICAN PROSPECT, 6/19/2005] However, he will not apparently makethe connection between the memo’s premise and the information fromKherchtou.Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, L’Houssaine Kherchtou, Federal Bureau of Investigation,Jack CloonanTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

Patrick Fitzgerald was involved in the prosecution of all the major al-Qaedalegal cases in the US before 9/11. Just before 9/11, he switched to prosecutingpolitical corruption cases and will later become known for prosecuting the leakof CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. On this day, he sends an e-mail to acolleague who is also switching from working on terrorism cases. He writes,


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December 3-14, 2001: Bush Administration Officials Tip OffReporters About Raids on Suspect Charities

“You can’t leave, they’re going to hit us again and someone has got to bearound to work it.” [OBSERVER, 2/12/2006]

Entity Tags: Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

On December 3, 2001, New York Times reporter Judith Miller telephones officialswith the Holy Land Foundation charity in Texas and asks them to comment aboutwhat she says is a government raid on the charity planned for the next day.Then in a December 4, 2001, New York Times article, Miller writes thatPresident Bush is about to announce that the US is freezing the assets of HolyLand and two other financial groups, all for supporting Hamas. US officials willlater argue that Miller’s phone call and article “increased the likelihood that thefoundation destroyed or hid records before a hastily organized raid by agentsthat day.” Later in the month, a similar incident occurs. On December 13, NewYork Times reporter Philip Shenon telephones officials at the Global ReliefFoundation in Illinois and asks them to comment about an imminent governmentcrackdown on that charity. The FBI learns that some Global Relief employeesmay be destroying documents. US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had beeninvestigating the charities. He had been wiretapping Global Relief and anothercharity in hopes of learning evidence of criminal activity, but after the leak hechanges plans and carries out a hastily arranged raid on the charity the next day(see December 14, 2001). Fitzgerald later seeks records from the New YorkTimes to find out who in the Bush administration leaked information about theupcoming raids to Miller and Shenon. However, in 2005 Fitzgerald will lose thecase. It is still not known who leaked the information to the New York Times norwhat their motives were. Ironically, Fitzgerald will succeed in forcing Miller toreveal information about her sources in another extremely similar legal case in2005 involving the leaking of the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame. [NEW YORKTIMES, 12/4/2001; NEW YORK TIMES, 12/15/2001; WASHINGTON POST, 9/10/2004; WASHINGTON

POST, 2/25/2005] The 9/11 Commission will later conclude that in addition to theabove cases, “press leaks plagued almost every [raid on Muslim charities] thattook place in the United States” after 9/11. [WASHINGTON POST, 9/10/2004]


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January-2002-December 2002: Prosecutors Not Allowed to IndictAl-Marabh

Entity Tags: Philip Shenon, Patrick Fitzgerald, Judith Miller, Hamas, Holy LandFoundation for Relief and Development, Federal Bureau of Investigation, George W.Bush, Global Relief Foundation, Bush administration (43)Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

In November 2001, US police called Nabil al-Marabh one of their top fivesuspects in the 9/11 attacks. [TORONTO SUN, 11/23/2001] In mid-January 2002,Canadian police call him “the real thing.” [TORONTO SUN, 11/23/2001] In lateJanuary 2002, it is reported that in Chicago, “Federal agents say criminalcharges spelling out his role [in 9/11 and other plots] are likely within a fewweeks.” [ABC NEWS 7 (CHICAGO), 1/31/2002] Yet, shortly after this, there seems to bea dramatic change of opinion at Justice Department headquarters aboutal-Marabh. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago drafts an indictmentagainst Nabil al-Marabh, charging him with multiple counts of making falsestatements in his interviews with FBI agents. Fitzgerald already has severalsuccessful al-Qaeda prosecutions. However, the indictments are rejected byJustice Department headquarters in the name of protecting intelligence. InDecember 2002, Fitzgerald tracks down a Jordanian informant who had spenttime with al-Marabh in a federal detention cell earlier in the year because ofminor immigration problems. Fitzgerald has the man flown to Chicago andoversees his debriefing. The man reveals numerous criminal acts that al-Marabhconfessed to him in prison, and the information fits with what is already knownof al-Marabh’s history (see December 2002). However, Fitzgerald is still notallowed to indict al-Marabh. Another prosecutor in Detroit, trying someassociates of al-Marabh in an ultimately unsuccessful case there, also expressesa desire to indict al-Marabh, but is not allowed to do so (see Early 2003).[ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/2004] Al-Marabh will ultimately be deported to Syria afterserving a short sentence on minor charges (see January 2004).Entity Tags: Nabil al-Marabh, US Department of Justice, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline


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December 2002: Informant Details Even More of Al-Marabh’sAl-Qaeda Ties

January 9, 2003: White Supremacist Church Leader Arrested for

Nabil al-Marabh is serving an eight-month prison sentence for illegally enteringthe US. A Jordanian in prison with al-Marabh earlier in 2002 informs against him,claiming that al-Marabh tells him many details of his terrorism ties. Theinformant, who shows “a highly detailed knowledge of his former cell-mate’sassociations and movements” [GLOBE AND MAIL, 6/4/2004] , claims that al-Marabh: admitted he sent money to a former roommate, Raed Hijazi, who is later

convicted of trying to blow up a hotel in Jordan (see November 30, 1999), andthat he aided Hijazi’s flight from authorities. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/2004]

planned to die a martyr by stealing a gasoline truck, driving it into either theLincoln or Holland tunnels in New York City, turning it sideways, opening its fuelvalves and having an al-Qaeda operative shoot a flare to ignite a massiveexplosion. The plan was cancelled when Hijazi was arrested in Jordan inOctober 2000. [TORONTO SUN, 10/16/2001; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/2004]

trained on rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at militant camps inAfghanistan. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/2004]

boasted about getting drunk with two 9/11 hijackers. [GLOBE AND MAIL, 6/4/2004]

asked his uncle to hide an important data CD from Canadian police. [GLOBE ANDMAIL, 6/4/2004]

claimed he took instructions from a mysterious figure in Chicago known as “alMosul” which means “boss” in Arabic. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/2004]

acknowledged he distributed as much as $200,000 a month to training camps inAfghanistan in the early 1990s. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/2004] FBI agents are able toconfirm portions of the informant’s claims. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, afterbeing denied permission to indict al-Marabh, uses the informant’s information topress again for an indictment. But the Justice Department continues to refuse toallow an indictment, and al-Marabh will eventually be deported to Syria (seeJanuary-2002-December 2002). [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/2004]

Entity Tags: Nabil al-Marabh, Patrick Fitzgerald, Raed Hijazi, US Department of Justice,Al-QaedaTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline


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Soliciting Murder of a Judge

Matthew Hale, the leader of the World Church of the Creator (WCOTC—see May1996 and After), shows up for a contempt of court hearing in a Chicagocourtroom based on his refusal to give up his group’s name after losing atrademark infringement lawsuit (see November 2002). When Hale appears, he isarrested for soliciting the murder of the judge who presided over the lawsuit,Federal District Court Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. Hale recently claimedLefkow was prejudiced against him because she is married to a Jew and haschildren who are biracial. Law enforcement officials with Chicago’s JointTerrorism Task Force say Hale asked another person to “forcibly assault andmurder” Lefkow. FBI spokesman Thomas Kneir says: “Certainly freedom ofspeech and freedom of religion are important in our society here in America.But the threat of physical violence will not be tolerated.” US Attorney PatrickFitzgerald adds, “Freedom of speech does not include the freedom to solicitmurder.” Hale is accompanied in the courtroom by about a dozen followers,many of whom raise their fists in what they call a Roman salute but that is morewidely known as a Nazi salute. One WCOTC member, Shawm Powers, says: “Thisis totally bogus—it’s in our constitutional rights to believe in a religion. We are abona fide religion, and they are trying to take that away from us. Matt Hale isnot a violent man, he doesn’t advocate violence.” Anti-Defamation Leagueofficial Richard Hirschhaut disagrees, saying: “Matt Hale has been allowed withimpunity to engage in terrorist-like activity for four years now. He has had bloodon his hands for more than four years. He is now where he should be.” RabbiAbraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center calls Hale “the most dangerousAmerican racist of his generation.” Attorney Glenn Greenwald, representingHale, says he believes the charge against Hale stems from what he calls amisinterpretation of Hale’s statement that “we are in a state of war with JudgeLefkow.” Greenwald says: “They are probably trying to take things he said alongthe lines of political advocacy and turn it into a crime. The FBI may haveinterpreted this protected speech as a threat against a federal judge, but it’sprobably nothing more than some heated rhetoric.” During Hale’s incarceration,special administrative measures will be imposed to reduce his ability tocommunicate with his followers. [CNN, 1/8/2003; NEW YORK TIMES, 1/9/2003;

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE, 2005] The press will later learn that Hale solicited themurder from FBI informant Anthony Evola, a Chicago area pizza delivery man


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12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003: State Department Official RevealsPlame Wilson’s Undercover Status to Libby

who was asked by Hale to distribute racist and anti-Semitic pamphlets toschoolchildren. Evola instead called the Chicago Public Schools to warn themabout the racist material, and was later asked to become an FBI informant. Inthe months that followed, Evola became chief of Hale’s “White Beret” securitysquad and frequently traveled with Hale. Evola provided FBI officials with anemail from Hale soliciting Lefkow’s home address, and a tape recording of adiscussion between the two about Lefkow’s murder. On the tape, Evola said,“We going to exterminate the rat?” Hale replied, “Well, whatever you want todo basically.” Evola said, “The Jew rat.” Hale then said: “You know, my positionhas always been that I, you know, I’m going to fight within the law… but thatinformation has been provided.… If you wish to do anything yourself, you can.”Evola replied, “Consider it done,” and Hale responded, “Good.” [SOUTHERN

POVERTY LAW CENTER, 4/2003; NEW YORK TIMES, 3/2/2005; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4/26/2005] Inaddition, former WCOTC leader Jon Fox will testify that Hale asked him inDecember 2002 to kill Lefkow and others involved in the legal dispute. [CHICAGOSUN-TIMES, 4/14/2004; CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/15/2004]Entity Tags: Joan Humphrey Lefkow, Chicago Public Schools, Anthony Evola, AbrahamCooper, Glenn Greenwald, World Church of the Creator, Shawm Powers, FederalBureau of Investigation, Thomas Kneir, Patrick Fitzgerald, Richard Hirschhaut, Jon Fox,Matthew HaleTimeline Tags: US Domestic Terrorism

According to the investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, VicePresident Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis Libby, learns from Undersecretary ofState Marc Grossman that former ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife, ValeriePlame Wilson, is an undercover CIA agent (see June 10, 2003). Grossman tellsLibby that “Joe Wilson’s wife works for the CIA,” and that State Departmentpersonnel are saying that Wilson’s wife was involved in planning Wilson’s trip toNiger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002). [DUBOSE AND BERNSTEIN, 2006, PP. 216;

MARCY WHEELER, 1/23/2007] Plame Wilson was working on counterproliferationissues for the CIA, and Grossman is allegedly involved in a nuclear smuggling ring(see (1997-2002) and Summer 2001). Grossman tipped the ring off to Plame


21 of 103 30.11.2012 22:07

7:00 a.m. June 14, 2003: Libby Discusses Plame Wilson with CIABriefer

July 7-8, 2003: Cheney Revises Talking Points to Indicate PlameWilson Sent Husband to Niger; Increases Chance that ReportersWill Learn Her Covert CIA Status

Wilson’s attempts to penetrate it in the summer of 2001 (see Summer-Autumn2001). Libby also receives the same information from an unnamed senior CIAofficial. [MSNBC, 2/21/2007] According to Libby’s 2005 indictment for perjury andobstruction of justice (see October 28, 2005), “Libby spoke with a senior officerof the CIA to ask about the origin and circumstances of Wilson’s trip (seeFebruary 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), and was advised by the CIA officer thatWilson’s wife worked at the CIA and was believed to be responsible for sendingWilson on the trip.” The next day, according to the indictment, Cheney will tellLibby that Plame Wilson works for the CIA’s counterproliferation division (see(June 12, 2003)). [NATIONAL JOURNAL, 2/2/2006]

Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, CentralIntelligence Agency, Joseph C. Wilson, Marc GrossmanTimeline Tags: A. Q. Khan's Nuclear Network, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

According to the investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, VicePresident Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis Libby, discusses former ambassadorJoseph Wilson (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002) and his wife, CIA agentValerie Plame Wilson (see 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003 and (June 12, 2003)), withhis CIA briefer, Craig Schmall. According to Schmall’s later testimony (see Badlink: a012407testifylibby), Libby is annoyed over Wilson’s 2002 trip to Niger(see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002). [DUBOSE AND BERNSTEIN, 2006, PP. 216; MSNBC,

2/21/2007] Libby asks Schmall why Wilson was told the trip originated fromquestions emanating from Cheney. Schmall’s handwritten notes indicate thatLibby refers to “Joe Wilson” and “Valerie Wilson.” [MARCY WHEELER, 1/24/2007; NEWYORK TIMES, 2/4/2007]Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Central Intelligence Agency,Joseph C. Wilson, Craig Schmall, Lewis (“Scooter”) LibbyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing


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Vice President Dick Cheney writes talking points for press secretary Ari Fleischerand other White House officials to use with the press to address the recent NewYork Times op-ed by former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who revealed thatduring a 2002 fact-finding mission to Africa, he found nothing to supportadministration claims that Iraq had attempted to purchase weapons-gradeuranium from Niger (see July 6, 2003). After Wilson’s op-ed, the White Housewas forced to back away from its claims about the uranium purchase (see July6-7, 2003, July 7, 2003, and July 8, 2003), a move that Cheney and other WhiteHouse officials believed damaged the administration’s credibility over itsjustifications for the Iraq invasion. Cheney then rewrites the talking points toprovide White House officials with more information that can be used todiscredit Wilson, and to maximize the chances that reporters will conclude thatWilson’s wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, sent her husband on a “junket”to Niger (see July 7, 2003 or Shortly After). The lead talking point changes fromthe original version as drafted by Cheney press aide Cathie Martin: “The vicepresident’s office did not request the mission to Niger,” to Cheney’s: “It is notclear who authorized Joe Wilson’s trip to Niger.” Cheney will admit that inrewriting the talking points to draw attention to Plame Wilson’s putative role inarranging for the Niger mission, reporters might find out that she was a CIAofficer. However, he will deny that he did anything on purpose to give reportersthat information. FBI investigators will not be convinced by Cheney’sexplanation.Telling Reporters Cheney, Aides Knew Nothing of Wilson Mission - Another reasonfor revising the talking points is to give the impression that Cheney had little tono role in Wilson’s mission to Niger, and knew nothing of the trip before theMarch 2003 invasion of Iraq (see March 5, 2002). Cheney will later admit to FBIinvestigators that he rewrote the talking points to lead reporters to thatconclusion—a conclusion that he hopes will paint Wilson’s trip to Niger as anepotistic jaunt envisioned to discredit the administration. That conclusion isfalse (see February 19, 2002, July 22, 2003, and October 17, 2003). Cheney’ssubsidiary talking points include: “The vice president’s office did not requestthe mission to Niger”; the “vice president’s office was not informed of JoeWilson’s mission”; Cheney’s office was not briefed about the mission until longafter it occurred; and Cheney and his aides, including his chief of staff, LewisLibby, only learned about the mission from reporters a year later. [WASHINGTON


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POST, 2/21/2007; MURRAY WAAS, 12/23/2008]

Talking Points Revised Just before Libby Outs Plame Wilson to Reporter - Cheneyrevises the talking points on July 8, hours before Libby reveals Plame Wilson’sCIA identity to reporter Judith Miller and tells Miller that Plame Wilson sent herhusband to Niger (see 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003). Both Cheney and Libby will latertestify that Libby’s purpose in meeting with Miller is to leak classifiedintelligence information that the White House hopes will discredit Wilson’sallegations that the White House manipulated intelligence to bolster itsjustification for the invasion (see July 12, 2003).Talking Points Used in Morning 'Press Gaggle' - In the July 8 morning briefing forthe White House press corps, informally known as the “press gaggle,” Fleischerreiterates the talking points, telling the reporters: “The vice president’s officedid not request the mission to Niger. The vice president’s office was notinformed of his mission and he was not aware of Mr. Wilson’s mission untilrecent press accounts… accounted for it. So this was something that the CIAundertook.… They sent him on their own volition.”'Growing Body of Evidence' that Cheney Directed Libby to Out Plame Wilson - In2008, reporter Murray Waas will write, “That Cheney, by his own admission, hadrevised the talking points in an effort to have the reporters examine who sentWilson on the very same day that his chief of staff was disclosing to Miller Plame[Wilson]‘s identity as a CIA officer may be the most compelling evidence to datethat Cheney himself might have directed Libby to disclose Plame [Wilson]‘sidentity to Miller and other reporters.” Waas will write that Cheney’s admissionadds to the “growing body of evidence that Cheney may have directed Libby todisclose Plame [Wilson]‘s identity to reporters and that Libby acted to protectCheney by lying to federal investigators and a federal grand jury about thematter.” Cheney’s admission is not, Waas will note, the “smoking gun” thatwould prove he directed Libby to leak Plame Wilson’s identity. Neither does itprove that Libby outed Plame Wilson on his own by acting “overzealously” tofollow Cheney’s “broader mandate” to besmirch and discredit Wilson. Waas willwrite that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald believes that Libby lied and placedhimself in criminal jeopardy in order to protect Cheney, perhaps to conceal thefact that Cheney had told him to leak Plame Wilson’s identity to the press.[MURRAY WAAS, 12/23/2008]Entity Tags: Murray Waas, Catherine (“Cathie”) Martin, Bush administration (43), AriFleischer, Joseph C. Wilson, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Judith


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8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003: Libby Again Tells New York TimesReporter that Plame Wilson Is CIA Officer

The Library Lounge of the St. Regis Hotel, whereLibby and Miller discussed the Wilsons. [Source:Starwood Hotels]

Miller, Patrick Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame WilsonTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lewis Libby, Vice President DickCheney’s chief of staff, meets with NewYork Times reporter Judith Miller forbreakfast at the St. Regis Hotel inWashington, DC. Libby has alreadylearned that Joseph Wilson’s wife,Valerie Plame Wilson, is an undercoverCIA agent (see 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003and (June 12, 2003)).Again Reveals Plame Wilson's CIAIdentity - During their two-hourmeeting, Libby again tells Miller, who

will testify to this conversation over two years hence (see September 30, 2005),that Wilson’s wife is a CIA agent (see June 23, 2003), and this time tells Millerthat she works with WINPAC, the CIA’s Weapons Intelligence, Non-Proliferation,and Arms Control bureau that deals with foreign countries’ WMD programs.Claims that Iraq Tried to Obtain African Uranium - Libby calls Wilson’s Timesop-ed (see July 14, 2003) inaccurate, and spends a considerable amount of timeand energy both blasting Wilson and insisting that credible evidence of anIraq-Niger uranium connection indeed exists. He also says that few in the CIAwere ever aware of Wilson’s 2002 trip to Niger to verify the uranium claims (seeFebruary 21, 2002-March 4, 2002). Miller will write: “Although I was interestedprimarily in my area of expertise—chemical and biological weapons—my notesshow that Mr. Libby consistently steered our conversation back to theadministration’s nuclear claims. His main theme echoed that of other seniorofficials: that contrary to Mr. Wilson’s criticism, the administration had hadample reason to be concerned about Iraq’s nuclear capabilities based on theregime’s history of weapons development, its use of unconventional weapons,and fresh intelligence reports.” Libby gives Miller selected information from the


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classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq (NIE—see October 1, 2002) thathe says backs up the administration’s claims about Iraqi WMD and the Iraq-Nigeruranium claim. That information will later be proven to be false: Cheney hasinstructed Libby to tell Miller that the uranium claim was part of the NIE’s “keyjudgments,” indicating that there was consensus on the claim’s validity. That isuntrue. The claim is not part of the NIE’s key judgments, but is containeddeeper in the document, surrounded by caveats such as the claims “cannot [be]confirm[ed]” and the evidence supporting the claim is “inconclusive.” Libbydoes not inform Miller about these caveats. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/16/2005; DUBOSE AND

BERNSTEIN, 2006, PP. 216-217; RICH, 2006, PP. 183-184; WASHINGTON POST, 4/9/2006] Insubsequent grand jury testimony (see March 24, 2004), Libby will admit to givingMiller a bulleted copy of the talking points from the NIE he wanted her toemphasize. He will tell prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he had it typed by hisassistant Jenny Mayfield. “It was less than what I had been authorized to sharewith her,” he will say, and describes it as about a third of a page in length. Thisdocument will either not be submitted into evidence in Libby’s trial (seeJanuary 16-23, 2007) or not be made publicly available. [MARCY WHEELER,2/22/2007]

Libby Identified as 'Former Hill Staffer' and Not White House Official - Milleragrees to refer to Libby as a “former Hill staffer” instead of a “senioradministration official” in any story she will write from this interview. Thoughtechnically accurate, that characterization, if it had been used, would misdirectpeople into believing the information came from someone with current orformer connections to Congress, and not from the White House. Miller will notwrite a story from this interview. In later testimony before a grand jury, Libbywill falsely claim that he learned of Plame Wilson’s CIA identity “fromreporters.” The reverse is actually true. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/16/2005; DUBOSE AND

BERNSTEIN, 2006, PP. 216-217; RICH, 2006, PP. 183-184] Libby is also apparently aware ofWilson’s 1999 trip to Niger to find out whether Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan hadtried to procure Nigerien uranium (see Late February 1999), as Libby’s notesinclude the notation “Khan + Wilson?” Cheney’s chief lawyer, David Addington,has also asked Libby about Wilson’s 1999 trip. [WILSON, 2007, PP. 361-362] Libby hasauthorization from Cheney to leak classified information to Miller, andunderstands that the authorization comes directly from President Bush (see 7:35a.m. July 8, 2003). It is unclear whether Libby has authorization from Cheney or


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3:20 a.m. July 12, 2003: Fleischer Implies that Wilson ReportProvides Evidence of Iraq-Niger Uranium Purchase

Bush to divulge Plame Wilson’s CIA identity.Miller Learned Plame Wilson Identity from Libby - Miller will later testify thatshe did not learn Plame Wilson’s identity specifically from Libby, but thattestimony will be undermined by the words “Valerie Flame” (an apparentmisspelling) written in her notes of this meeting. She will also testify that shepushed, without success, for her editors to approve an article about PlameWilson’s identity. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/16/2005]

Entity Tags: Jennifer Mayfield, Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and ArmsControl, Judith Miller, Central Intelligence Agency, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Bushadministration (43), Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Joseph C. Wilson, Lewis(“Scooter”) Libby, David S. AddingtonTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, in Nigeria with President Bush and hisentourage, hosts an early-morning press gaggle in which he discusses war criticJoseph Wilson and the Iraq-Niger uranium claims. (The gaggle takes place at8:20 a.m. local time; Eastern Daylight Savings Time in the US is five hoursbehind.) In light of recent admissions that the claims of Iraqi attempts to buyuranium from Niger were false (see July 11, 2003 and 3:09 p.m. July 11, 2003),Fleischer tries to steer the press’s attention onto Wilson, saying that he “alsosaid that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that theformer official, Wilson, meet an Iraqi delegation to discuss expandingcommercial relations between Iraq and Niger. The former official interpretedthe overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales. This is in Wilson’s reportback to the CIA. Wilson’s own report, the very man who was on television sayingNiger denies it, who never said anything about forged documents, reportshimself that officials in Niger said that Iraq was seeking to contact officials inNiger about sales.” Fleischer is referring in part to a 1999 trip by Wilson to Nigerto investigate earlier claims of Iraqi interest in Nigerien uranium (see Fall 1999).[WHITE HOUSE, 7/12/2003] In the CIA debriefing for his 2002 trip to Niger toinvestigate the uranium claims (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002 and March4-5, 2002), Wilson did not say that Iraqi officials were attempting to engage


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7:00 a.m. July 12, 2003: Cheney Receives Report on Wilson Tripto Niger

July 13, 2003: New York Times Columnist Lambasts Bush’s Lackof Transparency over Iraq Admissions

Nigerien officials in negotiations to buy uranium; in neither of his missions toNiger did any Nigeriens ask him to meet with Iraqi officials to discusscommercial ventures of any kind. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will latersubpoena the transcript of Fleischer’s press gaggle for his investigation into thePlame Wilson identity leak (see January 22, 2004). [MARCY WHEELER, 11/1/2005]

Entity Tags: George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer, Central Intelligence Agency, Joseph C.Wilson, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

In his morning briefing by the CIA, Vice President Dick Cheney, aboard Air ForceTwo in Virginia, receives a CIA document that refers to Joseph Wilson’s missionto Niger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002). The document does not directlyname Wilson. [FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, 5/8/2004 ; US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 9/27/2004 ] In an interview with special prosecutor PatrickFitzgerald, Cheney will later confirm that he received the report (see May 8,2004).Entity Tags: Joseph C. Wilson, Central Intelligence Agency, Patrick Fitzgerald, Richard(“Dick”) CheneyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd writes an op-ed calling on PresidentBush to stick to his campaign promise of truthfulness and transparency,particularly in regards to the allegations that his administration manipulatedintelligence to build a case for war with Iraq (see July 6, 2003 and 3:09 p.m.July 11, 2003). Bush is “presiding over a [White House] where truth iscamouflaged by word games and responsibility is obscured by shell games,” shewrites, and allowing the CIA to take blame for the fallacious representation ofintelligence amounts to little more than “mendacity.” According to Dowd, Bushshould have said of the “sixteen words” in his State of the Union address (see


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September 2003: Libby to Addington: ‘I Didn’t Do It’

October 21, 2003: Patrick Fitzgerald Blames ‘Wall’ forIntelligence Problems

Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003): “The information I gave you inthe State of the Union about Iraq seeking nuclear material from Africa has beenrevealed to be false. I’m deeply angry and I’m going to get to the bottom ofthis.” But, Dowd writes, he did not. Dowd pins much of the blame on VicePresident Dick Cheney and the Office of the Vice President. [NEW YORK TIMES,

7/13/2003] Almost four years later, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will enter aclipping of Dowd’s column, annotated by Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis Libby,into evidence in Libby’s perjury trial (see Late January 2007).Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Bush administration (43), George W. Bush, MaureenDowd, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Office of the Vice PresidentTimeline Tags: Events Leading to Iraq Invasion, Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uraniumand Plame Outing

Lewis Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, approachesCheney’s chief counsel David Addington with two questions. Libby, according toAddington’s testimony at Libby’s perjury and obstruction trial (see January 30,2007), asks Addington whether the president has the authority to declassifygovernment secrets and whether the CIA keeps paperwork documenting itswork. Addington replies yes to both questions. Libby then says, “I just want totell you, I didn’t do it.” Addington later testifies that he does not ask Libbywhat “it” is, but he surmises that Libby may be referring to Joseph Wilson’scriticism of the Iraq war. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald later says he believesLibby is denying his involvement in the leak of CIA official Valerie PlameWilson’s identity to the press (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, 2:24p.m. July 12, 2003, Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003, and July 10 or 11, 2003).[WASHINGTON POST, 1/30/2007; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 1/30/2007]Entity Tags: Joseph C. Wilson, David S. Addington, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Lewis(“Scooter”) Libby, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing


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Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald testifies before the Senate Committee on theJudiciary about post-9/11 legislative changes, and says that the removal of the“wall” was a significant step forward for US counterintelligence. The wall was aset of procedures which regulated the passage of intelligence information withinthe FBI and from the FBI to prosecutors (see July 19, 1995). Fitzgerald says theremoval of the wall represented “the single greatest change that could be madeto protect our country.” He cites four cases that he says are examples of howthe wall and other such obstacles have hampered counterterrorism efforts: The arrest of Ali Mohamed. Fitzgerald claims it would have been “far less

difficult” to arrest al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed for his involvement in theattacks on US embassies in East Africa (see September 10, 1998) had it not beenfor the wall. [US CONGRESS, 10/21/2003] However, author Peter Lance will point out,“But Fitzgerald neglected to tell the senators that… prosecutors and FBI agentshad been monitoring the bombing cell members for two years or that they’d hadmultiple face-to-face meetings with Mohamed himself.” Mohamed, who wascalled a “key figure” in the Day of Terror plot in the US press in early 1995 (seeFebruary 3, 1995), had actually met Fitzgerald a year before the arrest and toldhim that he had trained bin Laden’s bodyguards, lived in bin Laden’s house,loved and believed in bin Laden, and that he didn’t need a fatwa to attack theUS, as it was obvious the US was the enemy (see After October 1997). [LANCE,2006, PP. 274-6, 299-300]

The Day of Terror conspiracy. After the partial success of the World TradeCenter bombing (see February 26, 1993), the conspirators planned to attackother targets in New York, but were arrested by the FBI, which had penetratedtheir cell. All of the arrested plotters were successfully convicted. However,Fitzgerald tells the committee, “Prosecutors were in the dark about the detailsof the plot until very late in the day.” [US CONGRESS, 10/21/2003; LANCE, 2006, PP.118-9]

The Millennium Alert. Fitzgerald says that in 1999, investigations intosuspected millennium plots were hampered because “criminal prosecutorsreceived information only in part and with lag time so as not to breach thewall.” All attacks planned for the millennium failed, including one plot to bombthe Los Angeles airport (see December 31, 1999-January 1, 2000). Sharing Wadih El-Hage’s grand jury interview. In 1997, Al-Qaeda operative

El-Hage provided information about bin Laden and his associates to a grand jury.


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December 30, 2003: Justice Department Names PatrickFitzgerald as Special Counsel for Plame Wilson Leak Investigation

Patrick Fitzgerald. [Source: USDepartment of Justice]

Fitzgerald wanted to pass some of this information along to intelligenceinvestigators (see September 24, 1997) but was unable to because grand juryinformation cannot be shared with intelligence investigators. To get around thisrestriction, an FBI agent had to get El-Hage to repeat the information outsidethe grand jury room. (Note: this example is not directly related to the “wall”under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but rather to a similar obstaclegoverning the passage of information in the opposite direction—from criminalagents to intelligence agents). [US CONGRESS, 10/21/2003]

Entity Tags: Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Fitzgerald, Federal Bureau ofInvestigation, Ali Mohamed, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Peter LanceTimeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

Citing potential conflicts of interest, AttorneyGeneral John Ashcroft formally recuses himself fromany further involvement in the investigation of theValerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see September26, 2003 and September 30, 2003). The JusticeDepartment names Patrick Fitzgerald, the USattorney for the Chicago region, to handle theinvestigation. In a letter to Fitzgerald authorizing theposition, Deputy Attorney General James Comeywrites: “I hereby delegate to you all the authority ofthe attorney general with respect to thedepartment’s investigation into the allegedunauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee’s identity,and I direct you to exercise that authority as specialcounsel independent of the supervision or control of

any officer of the department.” Many believe that Ashcroft’s continuedinvolvement has become politically untenable, and that the investigation hasreached a point where his potential conflicts of interest can no longer beignored. The White House steadfastly denies that any of its officials leakedPlame Wilson’s name to conservative columnist Robert Novak, who first outed


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Plame Wilson in his column (see July 14, 2003), or any other member of thepress. The FBI has already spoken to White House political adviser Karl Rove,suspected of being one of Novak’s sources; Rove has close political ties toAshcroft. Upon Ashcroft’s recusal, the investigation was given over to Comey,who immediately named Fitzgerald to head the investigation. Fitzgerald andComey, himself a former Manhattan prosecutor, are close friends and colleagues.[OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL, 12/30/2003 ; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 12/30/2003; NEWYORK TIMES, 12/31/2003]

Appearance of Conflict of Interest - Comey tells the press: “The attorneygeneral, in an abundance of caution, believed that his recusal was appropriatebased on the totality of the circumstances and the facts and evidencedeveloped at this stage of the investigation. I agree with that judgment. And Ialso agree that he made it at the appropriate time, the appropriate point in thisinvestigation.” Comey says that while Ashcroft denies an actual conflict ofinterest exists, “The issue that he was concerned about was one ofappearance.” White House officials say that President Bush had no role in thedecision; some White House and law enforcement officials were surprised uponlearning of Comey’s decision.Investigation Reaching into White House? - Some Democrats believe thatAshcroft’s recusal is an indication that the investigation is moving into the WhiteHouse itself. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) says of Comey’s decision, “Thisisn’t everything that I asked for, but it’s close.” In regards to Fitzgerald,Schumer says, “I would have preferred to have someone outside the governmentaltogether, but given Fitzgerald’s reputation for integrity and ability—similar toComey’s—the glass is three-quarters full.” Governor Howard Dean (D-VT), aleading Democratic contender for the presidency, says Ashcroft’s decision “is toolittle, too late.” For the last three months, the investigation has been run byJohn Dion, the Justice Department’s chief of counterespionage. WhetherFitzgerald will ask Dion or other Justice Department investigators to remain onthe case remains to be seen. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought maybe heought to keep some or all of the career folks involved,” says Comey. Fitzgeraldhas the authority to issue subpoenas and grant immunity on his own authority,Comey confirms. “I told him that my mandate to him was very simple. Followthe facts wherever they lead, and do the right thing at all times. And that’ssomething, if you know this guy, is not something I even needed to tell him.”[NEW YORK TIMES, 12/31/2003]


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January 2004: Fitzgerald Seats Grand Jury

Fitzgerald's 'Impressive Reputation' - Fitzgerald has earned an “impressivereputation,” in Plame Wilson’s words, as a government prosecutor. In 1993, hewon a guilty plea from Mafia capo John Gambino, and a conviction againstSheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing(see July 3, 1993). He put together the first criminal indictment against Osamabin Laden. In 2003 he indicted former Illinois Republican governor George Ryanon fraud and conspiracy charges; in 2005, he indicted several aides of ChicagoDemocratic mayor Richard Daley on mail fraud. He brought charges of criminalfraud against Canadian media tycoon Conrad Black. As Plame Wilson will write,“Fitzgerald was not easily intimidated by wealth, status, or threats.”'Belated Christmas Present' - In 2007, Plame Wilson will write: “It was a belatedbut welcome Christmas present. Ashcroft had clearly given some thought to hisextensive financial and personal ties to Karl Rove, who even then was believedto have had a significant role in the leak, and made the right decision.” She willalso add that several years after the recusal, she hears secondhand from afriend of Ashcroft’s that Ashcroft was “troubled” and “lost sleep” over theadministration’s action. [WILSON, 2007, PP. 174-175]

Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Karl Rove, US Department of Justice, John Dion,Patrick Fitzgerald, James B. Comey Jr., Bush administration (43), Charles Schumer,Howard Dean, George W. Bush, John AshcroftTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating the Valerie Plame Wilsonidentity leak (see December 30, 2003), empanels a grand jury. Among the WhiteHouse officials testifying before the jury will be President Bush, Vice PresidentDick Cheney, chief of staff Andrew Card, deputy chief of staff Karl Rove,National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Bush’s communications assistants DanBartlett and Karen Hughes, former Cheney chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby,former press secretary Ari Fleischer, and current press secretary Scott McClellan(see January 2004). [MSNBC, 2/21/2007; WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007]

Entity Tags: Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing


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January 1, 2004: Critics Worry about Fitzgerald’s Objectivity

January 2-5, 2004: Fitzgerald Investigators to Ask for BlanketWaivers of Confidentiality from White House Officials

The Washington Post, in a laudatory profile of newly named special counselPatrick Fitzgerald (see December 30, 2003), notes that some administrationcritics worry about Fitzgerald’s objectivity. Fitzgerald is close friends with theman who named him to the post, Deputy Attorney General James Comey, and isthe godfather of one of Comey’s children. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)calls on Comey to “relinquish his authority to limit or interfere with theinvestigation.” Lieberman says Fitzgerald’s appointment means “there is still noreal independence and autonomy.” [WASHINGTON POST, 1/1/2004]

Entity Tags: Washington Post, Joseph Lieberman, Patrick Fitzgerald, James B. Comey Jr.Timeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Federal investigators working with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in thePlame Wilson identity leak investigation (see December 30, 2003) will ask WhiteHouse officials to sign waivers freeing journalists from any pledges ofconfidentiality they may have granted during discussions about CIA officialValerie Plame Wilson. A senior administration official says that a number of topaides to President Bush will be asked to sign a one-page form giving permissionfor journalists to describe any such conversations to investigators, even if thejournalists promised not to reveal the source. Bush’s promises of fullcooperation will put “tremendous pressure” on the aides to comply, the officialsays. However, some investigators believe that many journalists will not respectsuch “blanket waivers,” and will refuse to reveal sources regardless of whetherthe White House aides sign them or not. The form reads that it is the wish of theWhite House official that “no member of the media assert any privilege orrefuse to answer any questions” about the leak, according to a copy of the formobtained by the press. One aide sent a copy of the form is White House politicalstrategist Karl Rove. [WASHINGTON POST, 1/2/2004] By January 5, Bush has notpublicly stated that White House officials should, or should not, sign thewaivers, according to press secretary Scott McClellan, who directs journalists tosteer questions about the forms to the Justice Department. One unnamedgovernment official is more forthcoming, however, calling the forms a


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January 12, 2004: Fitzgerald Informs Novak of Waivers fromSources

January 14, 2004: Novak Discloses Sources to Fitzgerald

“quintessential cover-your-rear-end” move by investigators. “It providespolitical cover, because you can say you tried everything, and this is a verypolitically charged environment,” the official says. “There’s no other value toit.” [WASHINGTON POST, 1/6/2004]

Entity Tags: Scott McClellan, Bush administration (43), George W. Bush, PatrickFitzgerald, US Department of Justice, Valerie Plame Wilson, Karl RoveTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald informs conservative columnist Robert Novak,the author of the column that exposed the CIA identity of Valerie Plame Wilson(see July 14, 2003), that he intends to bring waivers of journalisticconfidentiality (see January 2-5, 2004) from Novak’s sources for the column,Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (see July 8 or 9, 2003) and WhiteHouse political strategist Karl Rove (see July 8, 2003), to a meeting with Novak.Novak will later write, “In other words, the special prosecutor knew the namesof my sources.” [HUMAN EVENTS, 7/12/2006] Novak will speak three times toFitzgerald’s investigators (see January 14, 2004, February 5, 2004, andSeptember 14, 2004).Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Karl Rove, Valerie Plame Wilson, Robert Novak, RichardArmitageTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Columnist Robert Novak, who outed Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert CIA status in acolumn in July 2003 (see July 14, 2003), is questioned by Patrick Fitzgerald, thespecial prosecutor investigating the Plame Wilson leak (see December 30, 2003).Novak has already discussed some of his knowledge of Plame Wilson’s covert CIAstatus with FBI investigators (see October 7, 2003). As with the FBI session, theFitzgerald interview takes place at the law offices of Swidler Berlin, the firmrepresenting Novak. Fitzgerald comes to the interview with waivers (seeJanuary 2-5, 2004) from Novak’s sources (see January 12, 2004) for his column


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February 2004: Fitzgerald Requests Information from NewsdayReporters

outing Plame Wilson—White House political strategist Karl Rove and DeputySecretary of State Richard Armitage (see July 8, 2003), as well as a waiver fromCIA official Bill Harlow, who asked Novak not to divulge Plame Wilson’s identitywhen Novak called him with the information from his other sources that PlameWilson was a CIA official (see Before July 14, 2003). Novak is uncomfortable inaccepting that Fitzgerald’s waivers make it ethically acceptable for him todisclose the three men as his sources, but his lawyer, James Hamilton, says hewill almost certainly lose a court challenge as to their propriety. Novak will laterwrite, “I answered questions using the names of Rove, Harlow, and my primarysource,” which at the time of his writing had not yet been revealed as Armitage.[HUMAN EVENTS, 7/12/2006] Novak will be questioned again several weeks later (seeFebruary 5, 2004).Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Bill Harlow, James Hamilton, Karl Rove, Robert Novak,Valerie Plame Wilson, Swidler Berlin, Richard ArmitageTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Newsday reporters Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps, who co-authored a July 2003article that confirmed the CIA status of Valerie Plame Wilson (see July 21,2003), are both contacted by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Their articlequoted “intelligence officials” who confirmed that Plame Wilson was at thetime an undercover official working on WMD issues. And Robert Novak, thecolumnist who outed Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2003), told Royce and Phelpsthat he was “given” the information about Plame Wilson by White Houseofficials, who “thought it was significant.” Because the White House includedRoyce and Phelps as persons whose contacts with White House staffers should bedisclosed (see September 30, 2003), Newsday removed both reporters fromfurther coverage of the Plame Wilson story. Now Fitzgerald says he doesn’t wantthem to name the sources of their story, but he does want some informationabout their discussions with their sources. (Phelps later writes that in hisestimation, he and Royce are the first reporters contacted by Fitzgerald, withthe exception of Novak—see January 14, 2004). Lawyers for the reporters andNewsday wrangle the question, and Newsday publisher Raymond Jansen asks the


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February 5, 2004: Novak Quizzed Again by Fitzgerald

February 6, 2004: Acting Attorney General Confirms Fitzgerald’sBroad Powers of Investigation, Prosecution

reporters to cooperate as best they can without violating journalistic principles.Phelps later describes Fitzgerald’s request: “What Fitzgerald wanted us to do,among other things, was to differentiate between Source A, B, or C. Withoutgiving up any names, would we simply outline which source had said what in ourstory?” Both reporters flatly refuse to cooperate. Fitzgerald threatens thereporters with a subpoena, but never actually serves them with a legalsummons. [COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW, 1/1/2006]

Entity Tags: Robert Novak, Bush administration (43), Knut Royce, Patrick Fitzgerald,Newsday, Timothy Phelps, Raymond Jansen, Valerie Plame WilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Columnist Robert Novak, who outed Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert CIA status in acolumn in July 2003 (see July 14, 2003), is questioned for a second time (seeJanuary 14, 2004) by Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor investigating thePlame Wilson leak (see December 30, 2003). As with the earlier interview,Fitzgerald interviews Novak at the law offices of Swidler Berlin, the firmrepresenting him. In writing about this interview, Novak will not go into thespecifics of his interrogation, but will state: “I declined to answer when thequestioning touched on matters beyond the CIA leak case. Neither the FBI northe special prosecutor pressed me.” [HUMAN EVENTS, 7/12/2006]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Swidler Berlin, Valerie Plame Wilson, Robert NovakTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Acting Attorney General James Comey, who appointed US Attorney PatrickFitzgerald as the special counsel in charge of investigating the Plame Wilsonidentity leak (see December 30, 2003), writes a letter to Fitzgerald confirmingthat he has “plenary power” in the investigation, and the authority toinvestigate crimes including “perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction ofevidence, and intimidation of witnesses.” In essence, Comey is confirming thatFitzgerald has near-unlimited powers of investigation and prosecution, and is


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February 13, 2004: Fitzgerald Grants Former White House PressSecretary Immunity in Return for Testimony

February 25, 2004: Novak Testifies before Fitzgerald Grand Jury

not limited to merely filing charges of violation of the Intelligence IdentitiesProtection Act if he determines who leaked Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity tothe press. [US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 2/6/2004 ]

Entity Tags: James B. Comey Jr., Patrick Fitzgerald, Intelligence Identities ProtectionActTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald grants former White House press secretary AriFleischer immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony in the PlameWilson leak investigation. Fleischer is granted immunity from any criminalcharge related to his involvement in the Plame Wilson identity leak (see July 7,2003, 8:00 a.m. July 11, 2003, and 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003) except “againstcharges of perjury, giving false statement, or otherwise failing to comply withthe Order of the Court.” Fleischer will testify to the FBI several days later. [US

DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 2/13/2004] In 2007, during the LewisLibby trial, Fitzgerald will tell presiding Judge Reggie Walton (see January25-27, 2007) that he opposed granting immunity to Fleischer because Fleischer’slawyers refused to give a detailed “proffer” of what Fleischer would reveal.“They refused to give us a proffer,” Fitzgerald will say. “It wasn’t as if someonesaid ‘here’s what we’ll give you.’ It wasn’t something that we had laid outbefore us.… We were told he had relevant information. Frankly, I didn’t want togive him immunity, I was buying a pig in a poke. I did not know what we weregoing to get other than I knew it was going to be relevant to the case.” [MARCYWHEELER, 1/25/2007]Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Reggie B. Walton, Bushadministration (43), Ari FleischerTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Columnist Robert Novak, who outed Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert CIA status in acolumn in July 2003 (see July 14, 2003), testifies before the grand jury


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March 1, 2004: Rove Finds Documentation Proving July 2003Conversation with Time Reporter

March 5, 2004: Libby Lies to Grand Jury

investigating the Plame Wilson leak. Novak has already spoken to FBIinvestigators (see December 30, 2003) and to special prosecutor PatrickFitzgerald (see January 14, 2004 and February 5, 2004), and disclosed the namesof his three sources in the leak (see July 8, 2003 and Before July 14, 2003). Ofhis four appearances, Novak will later write: “I declined to answer when thequestioning touched on matters beyond the CIA leak case. Neither the FBI northe special prosecutor pressed me.” [HUMAN EVENTS, 7/12/2006]

Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Valerie Plame Wilson, Robert Novak,Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Robert Luskin, the lawyer for White House political strategist Karl Rove, has hisclient search White House records immediately after speaking with reporterViveca Novak (see March 1, 2004). Luskin wants Rove to find any potentialdocumentation of a July 2003 conversation between himself and Cooper. Rovefinds an e-mail message from himself to Deputy National Security AdviserStephen Hadley recounting the conversation between himself and Cooper (seeAfter 11:07 a.m. July 11, 2003). Rove will later admit to the grand jury hearingevidence in the investigation that he had indeed spoken to Cooper about PlameWilson (see October 15, 2004 and October 14, 2005). [NEW YORK TIMES, 12/2/2005;

COUNTERPUNCH, 12/9/2005] (The Washington Post will later report that it wasLuskin, not Rove, who actually found the e-mail, and that Luskin first shared itwith Rove and then with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. [WASHINGTON POST,

12/3/2005] )Entity Tags: Robert Luskin, Karl Rove, Bush administration (43), Patrick Fitzgerald,Stephen J. Hadley, Viveca NovakTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney,testifies under oath before the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA agent


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Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity (see December 30, 2003 and January 2004).According to the indictment that will later be issued against Libby (see October28, 2005), he commits perjury during his testimony. [US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

3/5/2004 ; MSNBC, 2/21/2007; WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007] Libby is questioned byspecial prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who is aided by deputy special counselsRon Roos, Peter Zeidenberg, and Kathleen Kedian. At the beginning of thequestioning, Fitzgerald ensures that Libby understands the circumstances thatconstitute perjury.Denies Being Source for Columnist - Fitzgerald asks Libby about his involvementas a source for columnist Robert Novak, who revealed Plame Wilson’s secret CIAstatus in a column (see July 14, 2003). Libby denies being a source for Novak.Admits Learning about Plame Wilson's CIA Status from Cheney - He admits thatCheney told him that Joseph Wilson’s wife was a CIA officer: while discussingWilson’s trip to Niger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), Libby says ofCheney: “And in the course of describing this he also said to me in sort of anoff-hand manner, as a curiosity, that his wife worked at the CIA, the personwho—whoever this person was. There were no names at that stage so I didn’tknow Ambassador Wilson’s name at that point, or the wife’s name.” Libby alsoadmits that he knew Plame Wilson worked at the “functional office” of the CIAthat handled the Iraq WMD issue.Libby 'Forgot' He Already Knew about Plame Wilson - Later in the interview,Fitzgerald asks again if it is “fair to say that [Cheney] had told you back in June,June 12 or before… that his wife worked in the functional office ofcounterproliferation of the CIA (see (June 12, 2003)). Correct?” Libby answers,“Yes, sir.” Fitzgerald then asks: “So when you say, that after we learned that hiswife worked at the agency, that became a question. Isn’t it fair to say that youalready knew it from June 12 or earlier?” Libby then answers: “I believe by, bythis week I no longer remembered that. I had forgotten it. And I believe thatbecause when it was told to me on July 10, a few days after this article, itseemed to me as if I was learning it for the first time. When I heard it, I did notthink I knew it when I heard.” Libby is referring to his claim that he originallylearned of Plame Wilson’s identity from NBC reporter Tim Russert (see July 10 or11, 2003), a claim that Russert will strongly deny (see February 7-8, 2007). [USDEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 3/5/2004 ]

Claims Not to Have Discussed Plame Wilson until after Novak's Column Published


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- Fitzgerald asks Libby if he recalls the question of whether the possibility thatPlame Wilson sent her “husband on a junket” (see July 7, 2003 or Shortly After),and whether he discussed it with Cheney. Libby replies: “I don’t recall theconversation until after the Novak piece. I don’t recall it during the week ofJuly 6. I recall it after the Novak… after the Novak article appeared.”Fitzgerald, obviously unconvinced by Libby’s claim, asks, “And are you telling usunder oath that from July 6 to July 14 you never discussed with Vice PresidentCheney whether Mr. Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA?” Libby responds: “No, no,I’m not saying that. On July 10 or 11 I learned, I thought anew, that thewife—that the reporters were telling us that the wife worked at the CIA. And Imay have had a conversation with the vice president either late on the 11th oron the 12th in which I relayed that reporters were saying that.” Libby is lying byclaiming he never discussed Plame Wilson with Cheney or other White Houseofficials between July 6 and July 14 (see July 7, 2003 or Shortly After, July 7-8,2003, July 8, 2003, 12:00 p.m. July 7, 2003, and July 10 or 11, 2003). [USDEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 3/5/2004 ; NATIONAL JOURNAL, 1/12/2007]

Denies Learning of State Department Memo until Late September 2003 - Libbyalso denies learning of the State Department’s interest in the Wilson trip and inWilson’s wife until after the investigation into Plame Wilson’s identity becamepublic on September 28, 2003, “a couple days after that,” he says. “I don’t haveany recollection of an INR [Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the StateDepartment’s intelligence bureau] document prior to that date.” Libby is lying;he learned about the State Department’s inquiry into the Wilson trip, and PlameWilson’s CIA status, much earlier (see 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003). He also deniesasking the State Department’s Marc Grossman for information on Wilson’s Nigertrip, which is most likely another lie (see May 29, 2003). And he claims not toremember if he learned from Grossman that Plame Wilson was a CIA official.Denies Talking to CIA Official - Libby also claims not to remember discussingPlame Wilson with Robert Grenier, the CIA’s Iraq mission manager. “I don’t thinkI discussed Wilson’s wife’s employment with, with Mr. Grenier,” he testifies. “Ithink if I discussed something it was what they knew about the request aboutMr., about Mr. Wilson. I don’t recall the content of the discussion.” Asked “ifthere was an urgency to the conversation” with Grenier, Libby replies, “I recallthat I was reaching Mr. Grenier—I was trying to reach Mr. McLaughlin [JohnMcLaughlin, then the CIA’s deputy director, who spoke to Cheney the day before


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about Plame Wilson—see 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003) and couldn’t, and spokeinstead to Mr. Grenier. And so if I did that instead of just waiting for Mr.McLaughlin, it was probably something that was urgent in the sense that myboss, the vice president, wanted, wanted to find something out. Not, notnecessarily in the real world, but he wanted an answer and usually we try andget him the answer when we can.” Libby did indeed meet with Grenier, andquizzed him about Plame Wilson (see 2:00 p.m. June 11, 2003).Denies Leaking Name to Post Reporter - Libby claims not to be sure if he was asource for a June 2003 article by Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus (seeJune 12, 2003), but says he is sure he did not divulge Plame Wilson’s identity tohim. “I have no recollection of having discussed it with Mr. Pincus and I don’tthink I did,” Libby testifies. He acknowledges that his own notes, entered intoevidence by Fitzgerald, show that he discussed the Pincus article with Cheneybefore it was published. Libby also denies revealing Plame Wilson’s identity totwo New York Times reporters, David Sanger and James Risen.Challenges Wilson's Characterization of Iraq-Niger Claims - Using languagesimilar to that he and other members of Cheney’s staff have used in pressconferences and to individual reporters, Libby says that Joseph Wilson’squestioning of the Iraq-Niger claims were ill-informed, and that Wilson waswrong to speculate that Cheney had deliberately ignored the evidence thatthose claims were false to insist that Iraq had an active nuclear weaponsprogram and therefore constituted a danger to the US (see March 24, 2002,August 2002, March 16, 2003, and July 6-10, 2003). Libby says of Wilson’s op-edin the New York Times (see July 6, 2003), “It’s a, it’s a bad article.” He admitsto being angry over the article, then changes it to being “concerned because itdidn’t seem to me an accurate portrayal of the facts.… Upset’s a fair word, Iguess.” He admits to discussing the Wilson op-ed with Cheney shortly after itspublication, though he is unsure of the exact date of that discussion (see July6-10, 2003, July 7-8, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12,2003). Libby acknowledges that notations on a copy of the Wilson op-ed are inCheney’s handwriting (see July 7, 2003 or Shortly After). [US DEPARTMENT OFJUSTICE, 3/5/2004 ]Entity Tags: Robert Grenier, Robert Novak, Walter Pincus, Valerie Plame Wilson, USDepartment of State, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Ron Roos, Peter Zeidenberg, TimRussert, Marc Grossman, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, David Sanger, John E.


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March 24, 2004: Libby Lies to Grand Jury Again

McLaughlin, James Risen, Patrick Fitzgerald, Kathleen Kedian, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby,Joseph C. WilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney,testifies under oath a second time (see March 5, 2004) before the grand juryinvestigating the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity (seeDecember 30, 2003 and January 2004). According to his later indictment (seeOctober 28, 2005), Libby commits perjury during his testimony. [UNITED STATESDISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 3/24/2004 ; MSNBC, 2/21/2007; WASHINGTON

POST, 7/3/2007] There is a certain amount of overlap in the subjects discussed inthe two interviews.Claims to Have Learned Identity from Reporter - Libby tells the jury that helearned of Plame Wilson’s CIA status from NBC reporter Tim Russert (see July 10or 11, 2003). According to prosecutors’ later filings, Libby says: “Russert askedLibby if Libby was aware that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. Libby respondedto Russert that he did not know that, and Russert replied that all the reportersknew it.” Russert will deny that he ever said anything of the kind to Libby (seeFebruary 7-8, 2007). [UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

3/24/2004 ; VANITY FAIR, 4/2006] Libby testifies about a conversation he had withCheney in the fall of 2003, when he complained that the White House was notmaking public statements exonerating him of responsibility for the leak (seeLate September or Early October, 2003). Asked by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgeraldif he had told Cheney about speaking to reporters regarding Plame Wilson, Libbyresponds: “I think I did. Let me bring you back to that period. I think I did inthat there was a conversation I had with the vice president when all this startedcoming out and it was this issue as to, you now, who spoke to [columnist Robert]Novak (see July 14, 2003). I told the vice—you know, there was—the presidentsaid anybody who knows anything should come forward or something like that.…I went to the vice president and said, you know, ‘I was not the person whotalked to Novak.’ And he [said] something like, ‘I know that.’ And I said, youknow, ‘I learned this from Tim Russert.’ And he sort of tilted his head to the sidea little bit and then I may have in that conversation said, ‘I talked to other—I


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talked to people about it on the weekend.’” Libby is most likely referring to hisconversations with reporters Matthew Cooper (see 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003) andJudith Miller (see 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003 and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003).Fitzgerald asks of the conversation with Cheney, “What did you understand fromhis gesture or reaction in tilting his head?” Libby replies: “That the Tim Russertpart caught his attention. You know, that he—he reacted as if he didn’t knowabout the Tim Russert thing or he was rehearing it, or reconsidering it, orsomething like that.… New, new sort of information. Not something he had beenthinking about.” Fitzgerald asks: “And did he at any time tell you, ‘Well, youdidn’t learn it from Tim Russert, you learned it from me? Back in June you and Italked about the wife working at the CIA?’” Libby responds, “No.” Cheneyconfirmed Plame Wilson’s CIA status to Libby in June 2003 (see (June 12, 2003)).Fitzgerald asks, “Did he indicate any concern that you had done anything wrongby telling reporters what you had learned?” and Libby again responds, “No.”Libby tells Fitzgerald that he isn’t sure if he mentioned the Cooper and Millerleaks to Cheney. “I did tell him, of course, that we had spoken to the peoplewho he had told us to speak to on the weekend. I think at some point I told himthat.” [UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 3/24/2004 ;NATIONAL JOURNAL, 2/19/2007]

Fails to Disclose Leak to Reporter - In neither appearance before the grand jurydoes Libby disclose that he discussed Plame Wilson’s identity with New YorkTimes reporter Judith Miller (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, andLate Afternoon, July 12, 2003). Instead, he testifies that he told Miller that heknew Plame Wilson had had some involvement in sending her husband to Niger(see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), but did not reveal her as a CIA agentbecause he was not aware of her CIA status. Libby is lying (see 12:00 p.m. June11, 2003 and August 6, 2005). Libby also failed to disclose the conversations hehad with Miller when he was twice interviewed by FBI agents working on theleak, in October and November 2003. Fitzgerald will not learn of Libby’s failureto disclose the conversations until late 2005, after Miller’s testimony before thecourt (see October 7, 2005). [UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OFCOLUMBIA, 3/24/2004 ; NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/11/2005; NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/18/2005]

Libby 'Authorized' to Disclose Classified Information by Bush, Cheney - Libby alsotells the grand jury that he had been “authorized” by President Bush, Cheney,and other White House “superiors” in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified


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information to journalists to defend the Bush administration’s use of prewarintelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq. According to Libby’stestimony, Cheney authorized him to release classified information, includingdetails of the October 2, 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE—see October1, 2002), to defend the administration’s use of prewar intelligence in makingthe case for war; Libby tells the jury that he had received “approval from thepresident through the vice president” to divulge material from the NIE. Hetestifies that one portion of the NIE he was authorized to divulge concernedIraq’s purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Libby says thatauthorization from the president and vice president was “unique in hisrecollection.” According to court papers filed in regards to his indictment, Libbytells the jury “that he was specifically authorized in advance… to disclose thekey judgments of the classified NIE to Miller” because Cheney believed it to be“very important” to do so. Libby adds “that he at first advised the vicepresident that he could not have this conversation with reporter Miller becauseof the classified nature of the NIE.” It was then, he says, that Cheney advisedhim that Bush authorized the disclosure. Cheney told Libby that he, and notCheney’s press spokeswoman Cathie Martin, should leak the classifiedinformation to the press. At the time of the disclosure, Libby says, he knew thatonly himself, Bush, and Cheney knew that portions of the NIE had beendeclassified; other senior Cabinet-level officials were not informed of thedecision. Libby adds that an administration lawyer, David Addington, told himthat Bush, by authorizing the disclosure of classified information, had in effectdeclassified that information. Many legal experts will disagree with thatassessment. Libby considers Addington an expert on national security law.[UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 3/24/2004 ; NATIONALJOURNAL, 2/6/2006; NATIONAL JOURNAL, 4/6/2006]

Libby's Testimony Met with Disbelief - The prosecutors interrogating Libby areincredulous and disbelieving of many of Libby’s claims. They do not believe hiscontention that he and Cheney never discussed Plame Wilson between July 6and July 14—the dates of Wilson’s op-ed (see July 6, 2003) and Novak’s outing ofPlame Wilson (see July 14, 2003), respectively. (Libby did indeed discuss PlameWilson with Cheney and other White House officials during that time period—seeJuly 7, 2003 or Shortly After, July 7-8, 2003, 12:00 p.m. July 7, 2003, July 8,2003, and July 10 or 11, 2003). They do not believe Libby’s claim that he had


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April 26, 2004: White Supremacist Church Leader Convicted ofSolicitation of Murder

A courtroom illustration of Matthew

“forgotten” about knowing Plame Wilson was a CIA official as early as June 2003(see 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003, 2:00 p.m. June 11, 2003, and (June 12, 2003)).And they do not believe Libby’s claim that he had merely passed to Cheney arumor he had heard from reporter Tim Russert about Plame Wilson’s CIA status(see July 10 or 11, 2003). [UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,3/24/2004 ; NATIONAL JOURNAL, 1/12/2007]

Drastic Change in Behavior - Steven Aftergood, a senior analyst with theFederation of American Scientists and an expert on government secrecy andclassification issues, says that in disclosing the classified information, Libby“presents himself in this instance and others as being very scrupulous inadhering to the rules. He is not someone carried on by the rush of events. If youtake his account before the grand jury on face value, he is cautious anddeliberative in his behavior. That is almost the exact opposite as to how hebehaves when it comes to disclosing Plame [Wilson]‘s identity. All of a suddenhe doesn’t play within the rules. He doesn’t seek authorization. If you believehis account, he almost acts capriciously. You have to ask yourself why hisbehavior changes so dramatically, if he is telling the truth that this was notauthorized and that he did not talk to higher-ups.” [NATIONAL JOURNAL, 6/14/2006]

Entity Tags: Catherine (“Cathie”) Martin, David S. Addington, George W. Bush, ValeriePlame Wilson, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Steven Aftergood, Matthew Cooper, TimRussert, Judith Miller, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Matthew Hale, the leader of the World Churchof the Creator (WCOTC—see May 1996 andAfter), is convicted of one count of solicitationof murder and three counts of obstruction ofjustice in regards to his attempt to solicit themurder of a judge (see January 9, 2003). Halenever testified on his own behalf. Defensecounsel Thomas Anthony Durkin called nowitnesses, saying the prosecution’s evidence


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Hale listening to instructions fromJudge John Moody. [Source: VernaSadock / Getty Images]

May 8, 2004: Cheney Interviewed by Plame Leak Investigators,Evades Questions

was the weakest he had seen in a major case,arguing that Hale was set up by an FBIinformant. Durkin says he will appeal, and will

prove that prosecutors have been “out to get Hale” because of his suspectedinvolvement in a shooting spree by WCOTC member Benjamin Smith five yearsago (see July 2-4, 1999; the jury heard audiotapes of Hale laughing aboutSmith’s murders and mocking the victims). US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, thelead prosecutor in the case, says the trial’s outcome proves “that we will notwait for the trigger to be pulled” before taking action. [ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE,2005; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4/26/2005]Entity Tags: Matthew Hale, Benjamin Smith, World Church of the Creator, ThomasAnthony Durkin, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: US Domestic Terrorism

Vice President Dick Cheney is interviewed in his office by federal prosecutors aspart of the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see December 30,2003). Cheney is asked if he knows who, if anyone, in the White House mighthave leaked Plame Wilson’s identity to the press. He is asked aboutconversations with his senior aides, including his chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter”Libby. He is also asked whether he knows of any concerted effort by WhiteHouse officials to leak Plame Wilson’s identity. Cheney is not questioned underoath, and has not been asked to testify before the grand jury. He is representedby two lawyers, Terrence O’Donnell and Emmet Flood. [FEDERAL BUREAU OFINVESTIGATION, 5/8/2004 ; NEW YORK TIMES, 6/5/2004]

Cheney Evades, Refuses to Answer Questions - In October 2009, an FBI interviewsummary regarding Cheney’s testimony will be released (see October 1, 2009).According to the document, Cheney equivocates or refuses to answer 72 timesduring his interview, either saying he cannot be certain about the informationrequested, or that he does not know.Denies Informing Libby about Plame Wilson's CIA Status - One of the mostfundamental questions Cheney is asked is about how Libby learned about PlameWilson’s identity. Libby’s own notes indicate that he learned it from Cheney, and


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that he had shared his notes with Cheney in late 2003 (see Late September orEarly October, 2003), in defiance of instructions from the FBI and the WhiteHouse counsel’s office not to share information with colleagues (see September29-30, 2003). But in his testimony, Cheney “cannot recall Scooter Libby tellinghim how he first heard of Valerie Wilson. It is possible Libby may have learnedabout Valerie Wilson’s employment from the vice president… but the vicepresident has no specific recollection of such a conversation.” [FEDERAL BUREAU OF

INVESTIGATION, 5/8/2004 ; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 11/2/2009] Cheney testifies that contraryto the evidence, he learned of Plame Wilson’s CIA status from Libby, whoinformed him that a number of reporters had contacted Libby in July 2003 tosay that Plame Wilson had been responsible for arranging her husband’s trip toNiger to investigate the Niger uranium claims. Cheney says that the next timehe heard about Plame Wilson and her connection to her husband was when heread Robert Novak’s article outing her as a CIA officer (see July 14, 2003).Cheney is lying; he informed Libby of Plame Wilson’s identity (see (June 12,2003)).Denies Knowledge of Wilson Trip to Niger - He also denies knowing that PlameWilson’s husband, war critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was sent toNiger to investigate claims that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium from thatcountry (see (February 13, 2002) and February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), andsays the CIA never briefed him about Wilson’s trip (see March 5, 2002). Futuretestimony will challenge Cheney’s claims, as witnesses will testify that Cheney,Libby, Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, the DefenseDepartment, the State Department, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the JointChiefs of Staff, the National Security Council, and President Bush were all givencopies of a CIA cable sent to Cheney’s office that debunked the Niger claims(see December 2001, Shortly after February 12, 2002, March 5, 2002, February12, 2002, March 8, 2002, October 15, 2002, Mid-October 2002, October 18,2002, January 2003, and March 8, 2003). [FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, 5/8/2004

; TRUTHOUT (.ORG), 2/15/2006]

Refuses to Answer about WMD NIE - Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, leading theinterview, presses Cheney to discuss evidence that shows he pressured Bush toquickly declassify portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate onIraqi WMD (see October 1, 2002) for the purpose of making the case for invadingIraq. Libby provided selected NIE information to New York Times reporter Judith


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Miller while simultaneously leaking Plame Wilson’s identity to her (see June 23,2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003) and otherreporters. Cheney refuses to confirm that he discussed anything regarding theNIE with Bush, saying that he could not comment on any private or privilegedconversations he may have had with the president. Libby has already testified tothe declassification of the NIE, telling prosecutors that he talked to Millerfollowing the “president’s approval relayed to me through the vice president.”Insists Plame Wilson's Identity Never Used to Discredit Husband - Cheney insiststhat no one in the White House ever talked about leaking Plame Wilson’s CIAstatus to the press in an attempt to discredit her husband. There was never anydiscussion, Cheney says, of “pushing back” on Wilson’s credibility by raising theissue of nepotism, the fact that his wife worked for the CIA, the same agencythat dispatched him to Niger to run down the report of an agreement to supplyuranium to Iraq. In his own testimony, Libby was far less emphatic, saying “[i]t’spossible” he may have discussed the idea with Cheney. Both men lie in theirtestimony (see March 9, 2003 and After, May 2003, June 3, 2003, June 9, 2003,June 11 or 12, 2003, (June 11, 2003), 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003, 2:00 p.m. June11, 2003, 5:27 p.m. June 11, 2003, (June 12, 2003), June 19 or 20, 2003, July 7,2003 or Shortly After, July 7-8, 2003, 12:00 p.m. July 7, 2003, July 8, 2003, and7:35 a.m. July 8, 2003). [FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, 5/8/2004 ; ASSOCIATED

PRESS, 11/2/2009] Cheney tells prosecutors that he and his office were merelyinterested in rebutting Wilson’s criticisms of the war effort, and wanted todispel the notion among some reporters that he had selected Wilson for theNiger trip. In 2006, an attorney close to the case will say: “In his testimony thevice president said that his staff referred media calls about Wilson to the WhiteHouse press office. He said that was the appropriate venue for responding tostatements by Mr. Wilson that he believed were wrong.” [FEDERAL BUREAU OF

INVESTIGATION, 5/8/2004 ; TRUTHOUT (.ORG), 2/15/2006] In June 2009, the Departmentof Justice will reveal that Cheney and Bush had discussed the leak in a“confidential conversation” and “an apparent communication between the vicepresident and the president.” [TRUTHOUT (.ORG), 7/7/2009]

Entity Tags: Terrence O’Donnell, US Department of State, Valerie Plame Wilson,Stephen J. Hadley, US Department of Defense, Robert Novak, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby,Patrick Fitzgerald, Emmet Flood, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bush administration(43), Federal Bureau of Investigation, George W. Bush, Joint Chiefs of Staff, National


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May 13-20, 2004: Russert Refuses to Testify before Grand Jury;Fitzgerald Issues Subpoena

May 14, 2004: Fitzgerald Intends to Interview Washington Post,Newsday Reporters

Security Council, Judith Miller, Joseph C. Wilson, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, USDepartment of JusticeTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald negotiates with NBC bureau chief Tim Russertabout his conversations with White House official Lewis Libby (see July 10 or 11,2003), particularly, according to documents later filed with the court in theLibby perjury trial, regarding “one or more conversations between [Russert] and[Libby] on or about July 10, 2003 (and any follow-up conversations) whichinvolved Libby complaining to [Russert] in his capacity as NBC bureau chiefabout the on-the-air comments of another NBC correspondent.” Russert,through his lawyers, declines to testify before Fitzgerald’s grand jury, though hedoes “agree to preserve any relevant notes, tapes, or other documents” (seeJune 2004). As a result, Fitzgerald will issue a subpoena (see May 21, 2004).Russert has cooperated with the FBI in the investigation (see November 24,2003), and recently spoke to Libby about the investigation (see Late February orEarly March, 2004). [US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 2/23/2006 ]

Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Patrick Fitzgerald, Tim Russert, Lewis(“Scooter”) LibbyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald informs Washington Post lawyer EricLieberman that he wants to interview Post reporters Walter Pincus and GlennKessler regarding the Plame Wilson identity leak. Additionally, he informsNewsday that he wants to interview reporters from that publication. Fitzgeralddeclines to specify what information he wants from the reporters. Both Pincus(see June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June 12, 2003, June 12, 2003, (July 11, 2003),and 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003) and Kessler (see July 12, 2003) have someinvolvement in the White House’s attempt to discredit war critic Joseph Wilson,


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June 2004: Russert Says Testifying to Grand Jury Would HarmRelations with Other Sources

June 2, 2004: Fitzgerald Tells Russert He Will Ask about

and in its outing of his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, as a CIA official; so doNewsday reporters Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps (see February 2004). Some ofthe reporters will eventually cooperate, to a limited extent, with Fitzgerald’sinvestigation (see June 2004 and September 15, 2004). [WASHINGTON POST,5/15/2004; WASHINGTON POST, 5/22/2004]Entity Tags: Newsday, Eric Lieberman, Bush administration (43), Glenn Kessler, KnutRoyce, Patrick Fitzgerald, Washington Post, Joseph C. Wilson, Timothy Phelps, ValeriePlame Wilson, Walter PincusTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lawyers for NBC News reporter and Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert arguethat Russert should not have to testify before the Fitzgerald grand juryinvestigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (see May 21, 2004 and May 13-20,2004). Since the spring of 2004, his lawyers have realized that Russert’stestimony could be used to indict White House official Lewis Libby for perjury,as Libby has apparently lied about a conversation he and Russert had in thesummer of 2003 (see July 10 or 11, 2003, March 5, 2004, and March 24, 2004).Russert knows that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald already knows of theRussert/Libby conversation (see November 24, 2003), and Libby has alreadysigned a waiver permitting Russert to name him in testimony (see January 2-5,2004). But Russert and his lawyers argue that he should not have to testifybecause it might harm his relationship with other sources. According to courtpapers released in 2006, it “appears that Mr. Russert’s testimony is sought solelybecause the special prosecutor believes that his recollection of a telephoneconversation with an executive branch official is inconsistent with that official’sstatements.” [WASHINGTON POST, 1/10/2006] On July 21, 2004, the court will denyRussert’s motion. [MSNBC, 2/12/2007]

Entity Tags: NBC News, Bush administration (43), Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Tim Russert,Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing


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Conversation with Libby

June 3, 2004: Time Reporter Moves to Quash FitzgeraldSubpoena

June 4, 2004: NBC Moves to Quash Fitzgerald Subpoena

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald informs Lee Levine, the lawyer for NBCbureau chief Tim Russert, of what he intends to ask Russert in front of the grandjury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (see May 21, 2004). Fitzgeraldnotes that he has promised Russert’s testimony would be kept secret. He writes:“Special counsel intends to ask your client about the following subject matter inthe grand jury: telephone conversation(s) between I. Lewis Libby and yourclient, Tim Russert, on or about July 10, 2003 (and any follow up conversations)which involved Mr. Libby complaining to Mr. Russert in his capacity as NBCbureau chief about the on-air comments of another NBC correspondent (see July10 or 11, 2003). To be clear, we will also ask whether during that conversationMr. Russert imparted information concerning the employment of Ambassador[Joseph] Wilson’s wife [Valerie Plame Wilson, a clandestine CIA official] to Mr.Libby or whether the employment of Wilson’s wife was otherwise discussed inthe conversation.” [OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL COUNSEL, 6/2/2004 ]

Entity Tags: Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Lee Levine, Tim Russert, Patrick Fitzgerald,Valerie Plame WilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lawyers for Time reporter Matthew Cooper move to quash the subpoena issuedagainst Cooper by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald as part of the Plame Wilsonleak investigation (see May 21, 2004). Cooper’s lawyers argue that the subpoenaviolates Cooper’s First Amendment rights to protect his journalistic sources, andhis “reporter’s privilege” under the Supreme Court ruling Branzburg v. Hayes.[US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 7/20/2004 ] Judge Thomas Hoganwill refuse to quash the subpoena (see August 9, 2004).Entity Tags: Thomas Hogan, Patrick Fitzgerald, Matthew CooperTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lawyers for NBC move to quash the subpoena issued against NBC bureau chief


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June 10, 2004: Fleischer Testifies to FBI Regarding Plame WilsonLeak

June 22, 2004: Washington Post Reporter Testifies Libby Did NotDivulge Plame Wilson Identity to Him

Tim Russert by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald as part of the Plame Wilsonleak investigation (see May 21, 2004). NBC’s lawyers argue that the subpoenaviolates Russert’s First Amendment rights to protect his journalistic sources, andhis “reporter’s privilege” under the Supreme Court ruling Branzburg v. Hayes.[US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 6/4/2004 ; US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 7/20/2004 ] Judge Thomas Hogan will refuse to quash thesubpoena (see August 9, 2004).Entity Tags: Tim Russert, NBC News, Thomas Hogan, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is interviewed by the FBIregarding the Plame Wilson identity leak. Fleischer has already spoken to FBIagents under a grant of immunity from special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald (seeFebruary 13, 2004). According to Fleischer’s 2007 testimony in the Lewis Libbyperjury trial (see January 16-23, 2007), he denies leaking Valerie Plame Wilson’sCIA employment status to Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus. Fleischer,despite his immunity, is lying (see 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003), though whether helies to the FBI today or during his testimony before the court in 2007 is unclear.[MARCY WHEELER, 1/29/2007]Entity Tags: Walter Pincus, Ari Fleischer, Patrick Fitzgerald, Federal Bureau ofInvestigation, Valerie Plame WilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler is interviewed by special prosecutorPatrick Fitzgerald as part of Fitzgerald’s investigation of the Plame Wilsonidentity leak. Kessler has agreed to give a deposition concerning two of histelephone conversations with Lewis Libby, the chief of staff for Vice PresidentDick Cheney, on July 12 (see July 12, 2003) and July 18, 2003. Libby and otherWhite House aides have signed waivers releasing Kessler and other journalistsfrom any confidentiality agreements they may have concerning Plame Wilson


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June 24, 2004: Bush Interviewed by Fitzgerald Regarding PlameWilson Leak, Contradicts Cheney

(see January 2-5, 2004). Kessler tells Fitzgerald that Libby did not mentionPlame Wilson or her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, during theirconversations. He says that without the waiver he would have refused to testify;Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. says the agreement to allow Kessler tobe deposed was “reached in a way so that we are not violating any confidentialsource agreements, and we will never do so willingly.” Kessler’s deposition takesplace in the presence of Post lawyers, at a law office, and not beforeFitzgerald’s grand jury. [WASHINGTON POST, 6/23/2004; MARCY WHEELER, 2/12/2007]

Entity Tags: Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Glenn Kessler, Joseph C. Wilson, Lewis(“Scooter”) Libby, Leonard Downie, Jr., Washington Post, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

President Bush is interviewed for over an hour as part of the ongoinginvestigation into the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30,2003). Bush, who is not sworn in, is interviewed by a team of federalprosecutors led by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. His lawyer, James Sharp(whom Bush has nicknamed “Shooter”), is also present during questioning (seeJune 5, 2004). White House press secretary Scott McClellan refuses to divulgeany details of what Bush says to his interviewers, only telling reporters: “Theleaking of classified information is a very serious matter. The president directedthe White House to cooperate fully with those in charge of the investigation. Hewas pleased to do his part to help the investigation move forward.” Fitzgeraldhas already interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney (see May 8, 2004), and hascalled several current and former White House officials to testify before a grandjury. He has also subpoenaed a number of records, including White House phonelogs. McClellan confirms that the interview with Bush and Sharp lasted about 70minutes; asked if the White House had set a time limit on the interview, he saysit would be “wrong to characterize it that way.” Even though Bush does nottestify under oath, federal law requires him to be truthful in his statements,and he could be charged with making false statements if prosecutors found helied or was evasive. [NEW YORK TIMES, 6/25/2004; MCCLELLAN, 2008, PP. 228]

Directly Contradicting Cheney - The media will later learn that Bush says he


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July 20, 2004: Plame Wilson Realizes Smear Campaign Designedto Stop Leak Investigation

personally directed Cheney to lead a White House effort to counter allegationsmade by Plame Wilson’s husband, Joseph Wilson, that the White House hadmanipulated intelligence to make the case for war with Iraq (see March 9, 2003and After). Bush also admits that he directed Cheney to disclose classifiedinformation that would both defend his administration and discredit Wilson. Histestimony directly contradicts Cheney’s. Bush says he did not know that Cheneyhad told his then-chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, to covertly leak theclassified information to the media instead of releasing it to the public in theusual, overt fashion.Denies Instructing Subordinates to Leak Plame Wilson Info - He also deniestelling anyone to reveal Plame Wilson’s CIA status, and says he does not knowwho in his administration made her CIA status public knowledge. Libby hastestified that neither Bush nor Cheney directed him or any other White Houseofficial to leak Plame Wilson’s identity. According to one senior governmentofficial, Bush told Cheney to “Get it out,” or “Let’s get this out,” regardinginformation that administration officials believed would rebut Wilson’sallegations and would discredit him. Another source with direct knowledge ofthe interview will later say that characterization is consistent with what Bushtells Fitzgerald. Libby told the grand jury that Cheney had told him to “get allthe facts out” to defend the administration and besmirch Wilson. [NATIONALJOURNAL, 7/3/2006]Entity Tags: Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, James Sharp, George W. Bush, Joseph C. Wilson,Patrick Fitzgerald, Scott McClellan, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Valerie Plame WilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

The Wall Street Journal publishes an op-ed declaring that since the SenateIntelligence Committee has “exposed” former ambassor Joseph Wilson’s“falsehoods” about his trip to Niger to explore the allegations that Iraq tried topurchase uranium from Niger (see July 9, 2004), it is time for Special ProsecutorPatrick Fitzgerald to “close up shop” and stop his investigation into who outedWilson’s wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. The Journal declares that if “anadministration official cited nepotism truthfully in order to explain the oddity of


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August 5, 2004: Time Reporter Tells Libby that His Recollectionof Their Conversation Is ‘Exculpatory’

August 7, 2004: NBC Reporter Testifies He Did Not Provide Plame

Mr. Wilson’s selection for the Niger mission, then there was no underlyingcrime” in outing Plame Wilson. “[T]he entire leak probe now looks like afamiliar Beltway case of criminalizing political differences. Special ProsecutorPatrick Fitzgerald should fold up his tent.” The Journal also repeats the baselessconclusion of the Republican authors of the committee report that statedWilson’s findings in Niger actually provided “some confirmation” of theIraq-Niger deal. [WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/20/2004] In 2007, Plame Wilson will writethat she is in her CIA office when she reads the op-ed. She recalls realizing thatthe entire thrust of the attempt to smear her husband is “to derail the leakinvestigation, which was sniffing dangerously close to the White House. Now Iunderstood the ferocity of the attacks on Joe.” [WILSON, 2007, PP. 192]

Entity Tags: Senate Intelligence Committee, Bush administration (43), CentralIntelligence Agency, Joseph C. Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame Wilson, WallStreet JournalTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Time reporter Matthew Cooper, facing a subpoena to testify before the grandjury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (see May 21, 2004), discussesthe matter with White House official Lewis Libby. According to an affidavit laterfiled by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Cooper tells Libby that his“recollection of events [referring to their conversation in which Libby outedValerie Plame Wilson as a CIA official—see 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003) is basicallyexculpatory, and asked Libby if Libby objected to Cooper testifying.” Libbyindicates he has no objections, and suggests their attorneys should discuss theissue. [US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 6/29/2007 ] Presumably, thisis to determine whether Libby will agree to grant Cooper a waiver ofconfidentiality that would allow him to testify about their conversation.Entity Tags: Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Patrick Fitzgerald, Matthew CooperTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing


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Wilson’s Name to Libby

August 9, 2004: NBC Acknowledges Russert’s Testimony

NBC reporter Tim Russert, host of its flagship Sunday morning political talk showMeet the Press, testifies to FBI investigators probing the Valerie Plame Wilsonidentity leak (see December 30, 2003). He is deposed under oath and isaudiotaped, but is not compelled to testify directly to the grand juryinvestigating the leak. According to an NBC statement, Russert is interviewedunder oath, and testifies that he was the recipient of a leak; NBC will laterclaim that the interview was allowed as part of an agreement to avoid aprotracted court fight. Russert is not asked to disclose a confidential source.“The questioning focused on what Russert said when Lewis (Scooter) Libby, VicePresident Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, phoned him last summer” (see July 10 or11, 2003), the statement reads. “Russert told the special prosecutor that at thetime of the conversation he didn’t know Plame’s name or that she was a CIAoperative and did not provide that information to Libby.” [OFFICE OF SPECIAL

COUNSEL, 7/27/2004 ; NEW YORK TIMES, 8/10/2004; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/11/2004] Neitherdid Libby disclose Plame Wilson’s identity to him, Russert testifies. Russert andNBC News initially resisted the subpoena on First Amendment grounds, butrelented after prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald agreed not to compel Russert toappear before the grand jury, or to disclose confidential sources or information.[WASHINGTON POST, 8/10/2004] Russert has already talked informally with JohnEckenrode, the FBI investigator overseeing the day-to-day investigation duties(see November 24, 2003). He told Eckenrode that Libby’s claim of learningPlame Wilson’s identity from him was false, and that he and Libby neverdiscussed Plame Wilson at all. [NATIONAL JOURNAL, 2/15/2007] Libby’s claim that helearned of Plame Wilson’s identity from Russert will lead to perjury charges (seeOctober 28, 2005).Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, NBC News, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, John Eckenrode,Federal Bureau of Investigation, Patrick Fitzgerald, Tim RussertTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

In a statement, NBC News confirms that its Washington bureau chief, TimRussert, has testified in the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see August7, 2004). NBC reaffirms that Russert was not a recipient of Valerie Plame


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August 9, 2004: Judge Finds Reporter in Contempt in PlameWilson Case; Ruling Challenges Confidentiality of Journalists’Sources

Wilson’s CIA identity, and says he was asked “limited questions” by specialcounsel Patrick Fitzgerald that did not breach any confidentiality agreements hehad with any sources. NBC says Russert testified that he first learned of PlameWilson’s identity when he read Robert Novak’s column exposing her as a CIAofficial (see July 14, 2003). It acknowledges that Russert only testified afterchoosing not to wage a court battle over his subpoena to testify in theinvestigation (see May 21, 2004). [NBC NEWS, 8/9/2004 ]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, NBC News, Tim Russert, Robert Novak, Valerie PlameWilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

US District Court Judge Thomas Hogan, presiding over the grand juryinvestigation of the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30, 2003),rejects arguments that the First Amendment protects reporters from eitherTime or NBC News from testifying in the investigation. Hogan cites the 1972Supreme Court case, Branzberg v. Hayes, in his ruling. In Branzberg, the Courtruled that “we cannot accept the argument that the public interest in possiblefuture news about crime… must take precedence over the public interest inpursuing and prosecuting those crimes.” Hogan finds Time reporter MatthewCooper (see May 21, 2004) in contempt of court. He also finds Time itself incontempt, and fines the magazine $1,000 a day until Cooper complies with asubpoena for his testimony. The ruling was written on July 20, but only issuedtoday. “The information requested,” Hogan explains in his decision, “is verylimited, all available means of obtaining the information have been exhausted,the testimony sought is necessary for completion of the investigation, and thetestimony sought is expected to constitute direct evidence of innocence orguilt.” Cooper’s employer, Time magazine, will appeal Hogan’s ruling, but manybelieve the appeals court will not overturn it. “I think we’re going to have ahead-on confrontation here,” says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of theReporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “I think Matt Cooper is going tojail.” Cooper’s lawyer Floyd Abrams says: “[Cooper’s] story was essentially


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August 24, 2004: Time Reporter Gives Deposition in Plame WilsonInvestigation

critical of the administration for leaking information designed to focus thepublic away from what Ambassador [Joseph] Wilson [Plame Wilson’s husband]was saying was true and toward personal things. That sort of story, aboutpotential government misuse of power, is precisely the sort of thing that isimpossible to do without the benefit of confidential sources.” [NEW YORK TIMES,

8/10/2004; WASHINGTON POST, 8/10/2004; WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007] NBC reporter TimRussert, also subpoenaed, did not contest the subpoena; the press learns todaythat he has already testified before the grand jury (see August 7, 2004 andAugust 9, 2004). Observers believe that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald ispreparing to use Hogan’s ruling to compel the testimony of two other reporters,Robert Novak (see July 14, 2003) and Walter Pincus (see August 9, 2004). Onedefense lawyer involved in the case says Hogan’s ruling gives Fitzgeraldsignificant leverage to compel testimony from Novak and Pincus. “This is nowopen season on these reporters,” he says. The court’s ruling establishesunequivocally that “in a grand jury context, reporters don’t have a privilege.”NBC News president Neal Shapiro says, “Compelling reporters to reveal theirnewsgathering to government investigators is, in our view, contrary to the FirstAmendment’s guarantee of a free press.” Dalglish says Fitzgerald should befocusing on prying information from Bush administration officials rather thanreporters. Referring to administration officials, Dalglish says, “You just can’t tellme none of the people appearing before the grand jury knows who the leakerwas.” [WASHINGTON POST, 8/10/2004]

Entity Tags: Neal Shapiro, Joseph C. Wilson, Floyd Abrams, Bush administration (43),Lucy Dalglish, NBC News, Time magazine, Matthew Cooper, Walter Pincus, Tim Russert,Robert Novak, Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Thomas HoganTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Time reporter Matthew Cooper, facing jail time for refusing to honor a subpoenaissued by the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame Wilson CIA identity leak(see August 9, 2004), agrees to make a deposition after his source,vice-presidential chief of staff Lewis Libby, releases him from a confidentialitypledge (see August 5, 2004). [WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007; WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007]


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August 27, 2004: Fitzgerald Files Affidavit Asking that ReporterSubpoenas be Honored

Following Cooper’s agreement to testify, contempt charges against him aredismissed. [PBS, 8/24/2004; WASHINGTON POST, 8/25/2004] Time managing editor JimKelly will later say: “Matt would have gone to jail if Libby didn’t waive his rightto confidentiality… and we would have fought all the way to the Supreme Court.Matt has been absolutely steadfast in his desire to protect anonymous sources.”[WASHINGTON POST, 8/25/2004] In the deposition, Cooper describes a conversation hehad with Libby concerning Plame Wilson’s identity. Cooper will later describe hisconversation in an article for Time that will recount his deposition as well as hisJuly 2005 grand jury testimony (see July 13, 2005). According to Cooper, theconversation with Libby was originally on the record, but “moved tobackground.” On the record, Libby denied that Vice President Cheney knewabout, or played any role in, sending Joseph Wilson to Niger (see (February 13,2002)). On background, Cooper asked Libby if he had heard anything aboutWilson’s wife sending her husband to Niger. Libby replied, “Yeah, I’ve heard thattoo,” or something similar. Cooper says that Libby did not use Plame Wilson’sname. Nor did he indicate that he had learned her name from other reporters,as Libby has claimed (see March 5, 2004, March 24, 2004, and July 10 or 11,2003). [US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 9/27/2004 ; NEW YORK TIMES,

7/10/2005; TIME, 7/17/2005] Under an agreement with special counsel PatrickFitzgerald, Cooper is not asked about any other source besides Libby. [US DISTRICTCOURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 9/27/2004 ]Entity Tags: Time magazine, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, MatthewCooper, Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating the Valerie Plame Wilsonidentity leak, files a motion with the court opposing the attempts to quash hissubpoenas to reporters Judith Miller (see August 12, 2004 and After) and WalterPincus (see 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003 and August 9, 2004). He argues that theirtestimony is vital to his investigation and that his questions will be limited inscope to preserve source confidentiality whenever possible. Fitzgerald’saffidavit contains detailed information about the previous grand jury testimony


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September 14, 2004: Novak Testifies a Third Time to FBI

September 24, 2004: Novak Backs Away from Initial Advocacy ofJournalists Revealing Sources

of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (see June 10, 2004). [US

DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 9/27/2004 ] Days after Fitzgerald fileshis motion, Fleischer will again be interviewed by the FBI with regards to hisknowledge and actions surrounding the Plame Wilson identity leak (seeSeptember 2004).Entity Tags: Walter Pincus, Ari Fleischer, Patrick Fitzgerald, Judith Miller, Valerie PlameWilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Columnist Robert Novak, who publicly outed CIA official Valerie Plame Wilsonover a year ago (see July 14, 2003), testifies for a third time to FBI agentsconducting an investigation into the Plame Wilson identity leak. Novak hasalready testified to the FBI concerning his sources for the information on PlameWilson’s CIA status (see October 7, 2003 and February 5, 2004). According to anaffidavit subsequently filed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Novak istestifying to clarify and add information to his earlier testimony regarding hisconversations about Plame Wilson with Deputy Secretary of State RichardArmitage (see October 1, 2003). [US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,9/27/2004 ]Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Richard Armitage,Robert Novak, Valerie Plame WilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

During a broadcast of CNN’s The Capital Gang, conservative columnist RobertNovak weighs in on the controversy surrounding a recent CBS story on George W.Bush’s National Guard service. The story relied on documents whoseauthenticity has been questioned. Novak says: “I’d like CBS, at this point, to saywhere they got those documents from.… I think they should say where they gotthese documents because I thought it was a very poor job of reporting by CBS.”Novak’s colleague, liberal Al Hunt, retorts: “Robert Novak, you’re saying CBS


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Al Hunt and Robert Novak on NBC’s ‘Meet thePress.’ [Source: Washington Post]

October 7, 2004: Judge Holds New York Times Reporter inContempt, Sentences Her to Jail

should reveal its source?… You thinkreporters ought to reveal sources?”Novak, tardily understanding whereHunt is going, backtracks: “No, no, waita minute. I’m just saying in that case.”Novak has yet to publicly reveal hissources for his outing of CIA case officerValerie Plame Wilson (see July 14,2003). Other reporters who were givenPlame Wilson’s name, including the NewYork Times’s Judith Miller (see June 23,2003) and Time’s Matthew Cooper (seeSeptember 13, 2004), have disclosed

their negotiations with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald over revealinginformation to his grand jury, but Novak has said nothing on the subject. (Huntlater confirms that, like the vast majority of the Washington pundit corps, hehas refrained from asking Novak about the issue, because Novak is “a closefriend… it’s uncomfortable.”) Democratic strategist Paul Begala, who sparsregularly with Novak on CNN, concurs: “Look, he’s a friend of mine. I know thathe can’t talk about it. I respect that fact, so I don’t bring it up.” [WASHINGTON

MONTHLY, 12/2004] Novak has spoken with the FBI and with investigators forFitzgerald three times (see October 7, 2003, February 5, 2004, and September14, 2004).Entity Tags: Paul Begala, CNN, Al Hunt, George W. Bush, Judith Miller, Robert Novak,Texas Air National Guard, Matthew Cooper, Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Judge Thomas Hogan holds New York Times reporter Judith Miller in contemptfor refusing to answer a subpoena from the grand jury investigating the leak ofValerie Plame Wilson’s covert CIA identity (see August 12, 2004 and After).[WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007; REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, 11/19/2009]

Hogan orders Miller jailed for up to 18 months after she informs him she will not


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April 6, 2005: White Supremacist Leader Sentenced to 40 Yearsfor Soliciting Murder

answer questions from special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald about herconversations with officials. In turn, Hogan says Miller has no special right as areporter to defy a subpoena in a criminal investigation. Hogan rules that he issatisfied Fitzgerald has exhausted other avenues of determining key informationabout the Plame Wilson identity leak, and that his questioning of journalists is alast resort rather than a “fishing expedition,” as the Times has argued. “Thespecial counsel has made a limited, deferential approach to the press in thismatter,” Hogan says. He goes on to note that journalists’ promise to protecttheir sources is outweighed by the government’s duty to investigate a seriouscrime. In a 1972 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendmentdoes not protect reporters called before a criminal grand jury. “We have aclassic confrontation between conflicting interests,” Hogan says. Miller remainsfree on bond while the Times appeals his decision. After the ruling, Miller tells agroup of reporters: “It’s really frightening when journalists can be put in jail fordoing their job effectively. This is about all journalists and about all governmentofficials who provide information on the promise of confidentiality. Withoutthat, they won’t come forward, and the public won’t be informed.” Timesexecutive editor Bill Keller says he is disturbed that Bush administration officialshad been asked by their superiors in this case to sign waivers of confidentialityagreements with reporters (see January 2-5, 2004). “This is going to become allthe rage in corporate and government circles,” he says. “It’s really spooky.” [CBSNEWS, 10/7/2004; WASHINGTON POST, 10/8/2004]Entity Tags: Judith Miller, Bill Keller, Thomas Hogan, Bush administration (43), PatrickFitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

White supremacist Matthew Hale, the leader of the World Church of the Creator(WCOTC—see May 1996 and After), receives a 40-year sentence for soliciting themurder of US District Court Judge Joan Lefkow (see January 9, 2003). Lefkowruled against Hale’s group in a trademark dispute (see November 2002). Hale issentenced after a rambling, two-hour statement in which he claims he is thevictim. “I have to go back to a solitary cell—I have to go back to hell,” Hale tells


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July 3, 2005: Rove Lawyer Admits His Client Spoke to Reporter,Will Not Divulge Contents of Conversation

Judge James Moody. “They want me to die in a hole.” In his statement, Halecompares the FBI to the Gestapo, says the national news media was out to gethim, blames his former lawyer for representing him poorly, and chants thenational anthem. He claims that he and Lefkow are “on the same side againstthese liars.” Moody, unmoved by Hale’s statement, gives Hale the maximumsentence for his crimes. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald argued that Hale’s crimewas essentially an act of domestic terrorism and Moody agrees. “Mr. Hale is notconcerned about taking someone’s life, but rather how to do it without gettingcaught,” Moody says. “I consider Mr. Hale to be extremely dangerous and theoffense for which he was convicted to be extremely egregious.” After the ruling,Fitzgerald tells reporters, “I put no stock in his claims, the crocodile tears, thathe didn’t do anything wrong.” Hale’s mother, Evelyn Hutcheson, tells reporters:“I think it’s absolutely horrible. “Matt’s the only one in there telling the…truth.” [NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, 4/6/2005; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4/7/2005] Hale will servehis sentence at the Florence, Colorado, “supermax” prison, the same prisonwhere convicted bombers Eric Rudolph (see July 18, 2005) and Ted Kaczynski(see April 3, 1996) are held. [CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/28/2005]

Entity Tags: World Church of the Creator, Evelyn Hutcheson, James Moody, JoanHumphrey Lefkow, Matthew Hale, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: US Domestic Terrorism

According to lawyer Robert Luskin, White House political strategist Karl Rove didspeak to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper (see 11:00 a.m. July 11,2003) in the days before CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity was exposedin the press (see July 14, 2003). Luskin is Rove’s attorney. He says he will “notcharacteriz[e] the subject matter of that conversation” between Cooper and hisclient. He adds: “Karl did nothing wrong. Karl didn’t disclose Valerie Plame[Wilson]‘s identity to Mr. Cooper or anybody else.… Who outed this woman?… Itwasn’t Karl.” Rove “certainly did not disclose to Matt Cooper or anybody elseany confidential information,” he says. Luskin notes that special counsel PatrickFitzgerald has assured him that he and his investigators “have no reason todoubt the honesty of anything [Rove has] said.” [CNN, 7/4/2005] In the days ahead,


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July 6, 2005: Time Reporter Agrees to Testify before LeakInvestigation Grand Jury; Rove Identified as His Source

Cooper will testify that Rove leaked Plame Wilson’s identity as a CIA official tohim (see July 6, 2005, July 10, 2005, and July 13, 2005).Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Karl Rove, Patrick Fitzgerald, Matthew Cooper,Robert LuskinTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Time reporter Matthew Cooper agrees to testify before the grand jury in theValerie Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see December 30, 2003 andJuly 13, 2005) after the source he has been protecting, White House politicaladviser Karl Rove, gives him a waiver dissolving their confidentiality agreement.Sources say that Cooper will identify Rove as a person who revealed PlameWilson’s CIA identity to him. Cooper says he is prepared to remain “in civilcontempt,” and ready to go to jail for defying the grand jury subpoenas,“because even though Time magazine had, over my objections, turned over mynotes and e-mails to the special counsel under a court order, and even thoughthe prosecutor has all that information now, I wanted—I was prepared to go andremain in civil contempt because I had given a word to my source for two years,which I have kept my word to that source today, for two years. This morning, inwhat can only be described as a stunning set of developments, that sourceagreed to give me a specific personal and unambiguous waiver to speak beforethe grand jury.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 7/7/2005] Cooper has not asked Rove for a waiverbefore, in part because his lawyer advised against it. Additionally, Time editorswere worried about becoming part of such an explosive story in an electionyear. And Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, believed that contacting Cooper wouldhave amounted to interfering with the ongoing court battle between reporterand prosecutor. [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 8/25/2005] Cooper adds, “It’s with a bit ofsurprise and no small amount of relief that I will comply with this subpoena.”Cooper refuses to publicly divulge the source he has been protecting, but aperson briefed on the case confirms Cooper’s source as being Rove. [NEW YORK

TIMES, 7/7/2005] Cooper did not speak to Rove directly on the issue. The waiver ofconfidentiality is the product of what the New York Times describes as “afrenzied series of phone calls” between Cooper’s lawyer Richard Sauber, Rove’s


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July 6, 2005: New York Times Reporter Jailed for Refusing toComply with Subpoena

lawyer Luskin, and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Cooper views his caseas substantially different from that of his New York Times colleague, JudithMiller (see July 6, 2005). Miller has consistently refused to testify, but Cooperhas already testified once, describing conversations he had with White Houseaide Lewis “Scooter” Libby (see August 24, 2004). And while the New York Timeshas consistently supported Miller, Time magazine has been more equivocal,turning over documents to Fitzgerald that identified Rove as Cooper’s source.Cooper’s friend Steven Waldman, a former US News and World Report editor whohas talked with Cooper in recent days, says, “The question that was on hismind, and this is my words, is: do you go to jail to protect the confidentiality ofa source whose name has been revealed, and not by you but by someone else?”Still, Cooper resisted until he saw an article in the Wall Street Journal thatquoted Luskin as saying, “If Matt Cooper is going to jail to protect a source, it’snot Karl he’s protecting.” That statement prompted a round of telephonediscussions between Luskin, Sauber, and Fitzgerald, culminating in Cooper’sdecision to testify. “A short time ago,” Cooper tells the court, “in somewhatdramatic fashion, I received an express personal release from my source.” [NEWYORK TIMES, 7/10/2005]Entity Tags: Richard Sauber, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Karl Rove, Judith Miller, MatthewCooper, Patrick Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame Wilson, Robert Luskin, Steven Waldman, NewYork Times, Time magazineTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

A federal judge orders New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who continues torefuse to comply with a subpoena in the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak case(see December 30, 2003), to go to jail until she or the Times complies. Timemagazine and its reporter Matthew Cooper have already agreed to comply withthe subpoena, thereby sparing Cooper jail time (see July 1, 2005 and July 6,2005). [WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007]

Refusal to Reveal Sources - Miller tells Judge Thomas Hogan: “Your Honor, in thiscase I cannot break my word just to stay out of jail. The right of civildisobedience based on personal conscience is fundamental to our system and


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Judge Thomas Hogan. [Source:Washington City Paper]

honored throughout our history.… The freestand fairest societies are not only those withindependent judiciaries, but those with anindependent press that works every day to keepgovernment accountable by publishing what thegovernment might not want the public toknow.… If journalists cannot be trusted toguarantee confidentiality, then journalistscannot function and there cannot be a freepress.” Her attorney says, “Judy’s view is thatany purported waiver she got from anyone (seeJanuary 2-5, 2004) was not on the face of itsufficiently broad, clear, and uncoerced.”Hogan, in sharp disagreement, calls Miller’sdecision not to testify a possible “obstructionof justice.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 7/6/2005; NEW YORK

TIMES, 7/7/2005; WILSON, 2007, PP. 222-223] He seems moved by Miller’s impassionedspeech until she invokes her time in Iraq. At that point, according to reporterMarie Brenner, his face darkens. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will latersay, “Ms. Miller has great respect for the military who served in Iraq, as weshould all do, but if one of those officers’ [lives] was compromised by the leakof classified information, we would want to see that justice was done.” [VANITY

FAIR, 4/2006] Hogan says Miller can leave the jail any time she likes. “She has thekeys to release herself,” he says. “She has a waiver [from her source] shechooses not to recognize” (see January 2-5, 2004 and August 12, 2004 andAfter). She can “avoid even a minute of separation from her husband if shewould do no more than just follow the law like every other citizen in America isrequired to do.” When Miller’s lawyers ask for home detention and denial ofe-mail and cell phone access instead of incarceration, Hogan dryly retorts,referring to Miller’s extensive time spent in Iraq: “Certainly one who can handlethe desert in wartime is far better equipped than the average person jailed in afederal facility.… Forced vacation at a comfortable home is not a compellingform of coercion.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/16/2005; WILSON, 2007, PP. 222-223] Miller willlater tell a colleague: “I was told to put my medications in a Baggie, tounderstand that I would have no makeup, no personal items except for my


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July 12, 2005: Novak Cooperated with Plame WilsonInvestigation, Press Learns

pills.” Her lawyers tell her, “You are going in one door of the courthouse and outanother.” [VANITY FAIR, 4/2006]

'Draconian Act' - Times editor Bill Keller calls Miller’s incarceration “a chillingconclusion to an utterly confounding case,” and Fitzgerald’s decision to jail thereporter a “draconian act” that punishes “an honorable journalist” and will“serve future cover-ups of information that happens in the recesses ofgovernment and other powerful institutions.” Keller praises Miller’s“determination to honor her professional commitment,” noting that herdefiance of the subpoenas “is not an attempt to put herself above the law. Thelaw presented Judy with the choice between betraying a trust to a confidentialsource or going to jail. The choice she made is a brave and principled choice,and it reflects a valuing of individual conscience that has been part of thiscountry’s tradition since its founding.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 7/7/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Marie Brenner, New York Times, Judith Miller, MatthewCooper, Thomas Hogan, Time magazine, Bill KellerTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

The press learns that conservative columnist Robert Novak, who outed CIAofficial Valerie Plame Wilson almost two years ago (see July 14, 2003), has beencooperating with the Plame Wilson leak investigation headed by special counselPatrick Fitzgerald. The news of Novak’s cooperation comes from attorneysfamiliar with his testimony. Novak’s lawyer, James Hamilton, refuses tocomment. Novak, according to the sources, said that his Bush administrationsources (see July 7, 2003, July 8, 2003, and July 8 or 9, 2003) did not identifyPlame Wilson as a covert CIA official (see Fall 1992 - 1996). His use of the word“operative” to describe Plame Wilson in his column was his own formulation, hehas said, and not the words of his sources. The lawyer for White House politicalstrategist Karl Rove, Robert Luskin, has told reporters that Rove never toldNovak or other reporters that Plame Wilson was a covert operative. ReporterMurray Waas writes: “Federal investigators have been skeptical of Novak’sassertions that he referred to Plame as a CIA ‘operative’ due to his own error,instead of having been explicitly told that was the case by his sources,


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July 13, 2005: Time Reporter Testifies before Plame WilsonGrand Jury

according to attorneys familiar with the criminal probe. That skepticism hasbeen one of several reasons that the special prosecutor has pressed so hard forthe testimony of Time magazine’s [Matthew] Cooper (see July 13, 2005) andNew York Times reporter Judith Miller” (see September 30, 2005). Investigatorsare also interested in telephone conversations between Novak and Rove, andother White House officials, in the days after the press reported the FBI wasopening an investigation into the Plame Wilson leak (see September 29, 2003and October and November 2003). And, in other testimony, a US governmentofficial told investigators that Novak asked him specifically if Plame Wilson hadsome covert status with the CIA. It is unclear who that official is or when hetalked to investigators. [MURRAY WAAS, 7/12/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, James Hamilton, Bush administration (43), Judith Miller,Matthew Cooper, Karl Rove, Robert Novak, Robert Luskin, Murray Waas, Valerie PlameWilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Time reporter Matthew Cooper testifies before the grand jury investigating theValerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30, 2003 and July 1, 2005).[WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007] “I testified openly and honestly,” Cooper says afterthe session. “I have no idea whether a crime was committed or not. That issomething the special counsel is going to have to determine.” [NEW YORK TIMES,

7/14/2005] Four days later, Cooper will write of his testimony for Time, thoughspecial prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told him he would rather Cooper remainedsilent. Cooper is under no legal obligation not to divulge his grand jurytestimony. He will say that while grand juries are famously passive, ready to“indict a ham sandwich if a prosecutor asks it of them,” this one is unusuallyactive. About a third of the questions he answers are from jurors, notprosecutors. Cooper testifies that in the week after Joseph Wilson’s now-famousop-ed disclosing the fraudulence of the Iraq-Niger uranium claims (see July 6,2003), the administration had done something it rarely does: admit a mistake. Itwas admitting that it had erred in using that claim to advance its arguments forwar with Iraq (see July 8, 2003). That was big news, and Cooper, having been at


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July 15, 2005: Unnamed Sources Reveal Former White HousePress Secretary as Possible Leaker

Time less than a month, was aggressively covering it. He was curious about theWhite House’s apparent efforts to smear Wilson, and called White Housepolitical adviser Karl Rove on July 11 to discuss the apparent smear campaign(see 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003). The jury is interested, and apparently amused,at Cooper’s choice of words regarding the status of his conversation with Rove:“double super secret background.” Cooper concludes, “So did Rove leak Plame’sname to me, or tell me she was covert? No. Was it through my conversation withRove that I learned for the first time that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA andmay have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she workedat the ‘agency’ on ‘WMD’? Yes. When he said things would be declassified soon,was that itself impermissible? I don’t know. Is any of this a crime? Beats me. Atthis point, I’m as curious as anyone else to see what Patrick Fitzgerald has.”[TIME, 7/17/2005]Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Joseph C. Wilson, Bush administration (43), KarlRove, Matthew Cooper, Time magazine, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

One day after the New York Times revealed that Karl Rove was a source for the2003 outing of CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2005), unnamedsources tell the New York Daily News that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald isalso examining the role of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer inthe leak. “Ari’s name keeps popping up,” one of the sources tells the DailyNews. The press is not yet aware that Fleischer is, indeed, one of the WhiteHouse officials who leaked Plame Wilson’s identity (see July 7, 2003, 8:00 a.m.July 11, 2003, 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003), nor is it aware that Fitzgerald hasoffered Fleischer immunity in return for his testimony in his investigation (seeFebruary 13, 2004, June 10, 2004, and September 2004). Sources also note thatFitzgerald is focusing on Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis Libby,whom one source describes as “totally obsessed with [Joseph] Wilson,” thehusband of Plame Wilson who angered the administration by publishing an op-eddebunking a key claim President Bush used to justify his decision to invade Iraq(see July 6, 2003). And, the sources say, Fitzgerald is keenly interested in a


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July 17, 2005: Woodward Denigrates ‘Plamegate’ Investigation,Fails to Reveal Own Knowledge

State Department memo revealing Plame Wilson’s identity (see June 10, 2003and (July 15, 2005)). [NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 7/15/2005] Author and blogger MarcyWheeler, covering the Libby perjury trial in 2007, will write of her suspicionsthat the information to the Daily News was leaked by Rove, or someone close tohim, to attempt to turn media attention away from himself and onto someoneelse. “Clearly, the behind-the-scenes media campaign was giving reporters freshmeat (in the form of Fleischer) to distract them from Rove,” Wheeler will write.Wheeler will note that while the media remains interested in Rove, theapparent distraction attempt will work, with media attention focusing onFleischer and how the memo may incriminate him in the investigation. She willwrite, “The press, which just a day before had been in a frenzy reporting Rove’sdemonstrable role in the CIA leak, had abruptly shifted its attention to chasingdown a story implicating Fleischer and (to a lesser degree) [former Secretary ofState] Colin Powell in unsubstantiated ways.” Wheeler goes on to observe: “Theleak campaign against Fleischer served one other purpose, albeit a crafty one.Since Libby had told Fleischer of Valerie [Plame] Wilson’s identity in such a waythat made it appear that Libby knew her identity was classified, Fleischer was apotential witness against Libby. Focusing suspicion on Fleischer wouldundermine his role as a witness if Libby were to face charges. The leaks aboutFleischer and the [State Department] memo served several purposes: Theydistracted the press corps from validated revelations of Rove’s involvement;they provided an alternative source for the Novak leak and a provenance forthat leak outside the White House; and they impugned a potential witness at atrial. All of this was possible because some journalists didn’t question what theywere being fed by their unnamed sources.” [MARCY WHEELER, 2/4/2007]

Entity Tags: Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Ari Fleischer, Karl Rove, Patrick Fitzgerald, ValeriePlame Wilson, Marcy WheelerTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward criticizes the investigation into theidentity leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. Woodward does not mentionthat he is one of the reporters who was contacted by a Bush administration


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July 22, 2005: Press Learns that Libby, Rove Claim to HaveLearned Plame Wilson’s CIA Identity from Reporters

official about Plame Wilson being a CIA agent (see June 13, 2003); he has alsowithheld his knowledge of the case from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgeraldand his own editors (see November 16-17, 2005). Woodward tells a CNNaudience: “I’m not sure there’s any crime in all of this. The special prosecutorhas been working 18 months. Eighteen months into Watergate we knew aboutthe tapes. People were in jail. People had pled guilty. In other words, there wasa solid evidentiary trail. I don’t see it here.… Well, it may just be politics asusual. I mean, [White House senior adviser Karl] Rove’s defenders say, look, theevidence is, and the evidence is, that he was saying Joe Wilson [Plame Wilson’shusband], who was criticizing the administration on weapons of massdestruction really had an ax to grind and got his job because his wife hadworked at the CIA and recommended him, so there’s fuzziness to this.” [MEDIAMATTERS, 11/16/2005]Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), Bob Woodward, Valerie Plame Wilson, PatrickFitzgerald, Karl Rove, Joseph C. WilsonTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Bloomberg News reports that Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief ofstaff, testified that he first learned of CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson’sidentity from NBC bureau chief Tim Russert. Libby will make this claim a stapleof his defense in his upcoming perjury trial (see January 16-23, 2007). He isreferring to a conversation he had with Russert in July 2003 (see July 10 or 11,2003). He testified to the claim when he was interviewed by special counselPatrick Fitzgerald as part of the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (seeOctober 14, 2003 and November 26, 2003). Russert has told FBI investigatorsthat he did not tell Libby of Plame Wilson’s identity (see November 24, 2003 andAugust 7, 2004). Similarly, White House political strategist Karl Rove hastestified that he learned of Plame Wilson’s identity from columnist Robert Novak(see September 29, 2003, October 8, 2003, and October 15, 2004). Novak hastold investigators that he learned of Plame Wilson’s identity from Rove, CIAspokesman Bill Harlow, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (seeOctober 7, 2003, February 5, 2004, and September 14, 2004). Fitzgerald has


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August 2005: Libby, Attorney May Have Attempted to Discourageor Influence Reporter’s Testimony, Investigation Learns

determined that both Libby and Rove may have deliberately lied to the FBI andto his investigations in making their claims (see October and November 2003).According to Rove’s attorney Robert Luskin, Rove told Fitzgerald’s grand jurythat “he had not heard her name before he heard it from Bob Novak.” SenatorCharles Schumer (D-NY) says that the White House should suspend Libby andRove’s security clearances (see July 13, 2005), and that President Bush shouldfire anyone involved in the leak, presumably meaning Libby and Rove.[BLOOMBERG, 7/22/2005; WASHINGTON POST, 7/23/2005]Entity Tags: Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, Charles Schumer, Bill Harlow, Lewis(“Scooter”) Libby, Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Robert Luskin, Robert Novak, ValeriePlame Wilson, Tim Russert, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Members of the special counsel’s investigation into the Plame Wilson identityleak learn that former White House official Lewis Libby and/or his attorney,Joseph Tate, may have tried to influence or discourage New York Times reporterJudith Miller’s testimony. Miller received information from Libby about PlameWilson’s covert CIA status (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and LateAfternoon, July 12, 2003). Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and his staff learnfrom press accounts of possible witness tampering by either Libby, Tate, orboth. It is known that Tate has discouraged Libby from giving Miller a waiver ofconfidentiality that would free her from her responsibility of protecting Libby asa source. Miller is currently in jail for refusing to testify in the investigation (seeJuly 6, 2005). Upon learning about the potential tampering, Fitzgerald stronglyurges attorneys for Miller and Libby to negotiate an agreement that would allowMiller to testify. (Libby will give Miller a waiver releasing her from theirconfidentiality agreement—see September 15, 2005). According to investigativereporter Murray Waas, because Fitzgerald is loathe to lose Miller’s testimony,and is unsure of what she might testify to, he will not aggressively pursue thepossibility that Libby and/or Tate might have attempted to influence ordiscourage Miller’s testimony (see August 12, 2004 and After). However, thepossibility of witness tampering does give further impetus to Fitzgerald’s


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August 6, 2005: Libby Admits Disclosing Plame Wilson’s Identityto Reporter

inclination to bring criminal charges against Libby. Waas will write, “Potentiallymisleading and incomplete answers by Libby to federal investigators are lesslikely to be explained away as the result of his faulty memory or inadvertentmistakes,” according to his sources. A Justice Department official will tell Waas:“Both intent and frame of mind are often essential to bringing the type ofcharges Fitzgerald is apparently considering. And not wanting a key witness totestify goes straight to showing that there were indeed bad intentions.”[NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/18/2005]Entity Tags: Judith Miller, Joseph Tate, Murray Waas, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, PatrickFitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, tellsfederal investigators that he disclosed CIA case officer Valerie Plame Wilson’sname to New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003 (see 8:30 a.m.July 8, 2003). Reporter Murray Waas will write, “The new disclosure that Millerand Libby met on July 8, 2003, raises questions regarding claims by PresidentBush that he and everyone in his administration have done everything possibleto assist Fitzgerald’s grand jury probe.” Many involved in the investigationquestion Libby’s apparent decision not to give a personal waiver of privilege toMiller, who is currently sitting in jail rather than disclosing the contents of herconversations with Libby (see July 6, 2005). Miller does not accept the validityof a general waiver signed by Libby and others at the behest of specialprosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald and his prosecutors consider themeetings between Libby and Miller critical to proving that Libby committedcriminal offenses by giving information on Plame Wilson’s CIA status to Millerand other reporters. [AMERICAN PROSPECT, 8/6/2005]

Entity Tags: Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, George W. Bush, Patrick Fitzgerald, Judith Miller,Murray Waas, Lewis (“Scooter”) LibbyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing


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August 8, 2005: Former Clinton Adviser Tells of RumorsSurrounding Reporter’s Involvement in Plame Wilson Leak,Predicts More ‘Times’ Subpoenas

August 12, 2005: Deputy Attorney General Delegates Oversight ofSpecial Counsel to Assistant

Former Clinton administration political consultant James Carville predicts thatspecial counsel Patrick Fitzgerald will “com[e] after more people at the NewYork Times” in addition to Times reporter Judith Miller, who is in jail for refusingto cooperate with Fitzgerald’s investigation of the Valerie Plame Wilson identityleak (see July 6, 2005). Carville tells radio host Don Imus: “My sense is he’scoming after more people at the New York Times. He’s going to subpoena[executive editor] Bill Keller and all of them and ask them what Judy Miller toldthem. And if they don’t talk, he’s going to stick them in jail.” Carville also saysthat many people he talks to believe that Miller was used by the White House to“disseminate” Plame Wilson’s identity. “There are all sorts of rumors and I hearsecond hand that [Miller] was screaming out in the news room about this,” hesays. The Times, Carville says, “to some extent is going to have to come clean.Because they’re going to have to tell us what Judy Miller knew, when she knewit, and who she told. And there’s a lot of people at the Times—and I know this tobe a fact—who believe that.” Carville says it is difficult for Miller to claim FirstAmendment protections in refusing to discuss her knowledge of Plame Wilson’sidentity leak. “It’s going to be very interesting to see whether [Miller’s] problemis a First Amendment [problem]—i.e., I want to protect a source—or a FifthAmendment [problem]—I was out spreading this stuff too.” [NEWSMAX, 8/8/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Bill Keller, Judith Miller, Don Imus, New York Times,James CarvilleTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Deputy Attorney General James Comey delegates to Associate Deputy AttorneyGeneral David Margolis all authority to deal with the Patrick Fitzgeraldinvestigation into the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak. Comey writes toMargolis: “I delegate to you all of my authority as acting attorney general withrespect to that investigation and Mr. Fitzgerald’s service as special counsel, asdelineated in [earlier] correspondence [between Comey and Fitzgerald]. This


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September 12, 2005: Fitzgerald Tells Libby He Can ReleaseReporter from Confidentiality

September 15, 2005: Libby Releases Reporter fromConfidentiality Pledge

delegation to you in no way retracts or modifies the scope of the priordelegations of authority to Mr. Fitzgerald.” [OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL,8/12/2005 ]Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, James B. Comey Jr., David Margolis, PatrickFitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald writes a letter to Joseph Tate, one of thelawyers representing White House aide Lewis Libby. Fitzgerald wants to clarifyany potential misunderstandings regarding Libby’s possible release of reporterJudith Miller from their understanding of confidentiality. Miller is currentlyserving an indefinite jail sentence over her refusal to testify before Fitzgerald’sgrand jury about her conversations with Libby (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m.July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003). Fitzgerald cites mediaaccounts that indicate there may be misunderstanding between the parties; heaffirms that any communication from Libby to Miller granting Miller aconfidentiality waiver would be voluntary, and would not be construed asobstruction. [OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL, 9/12/2005 ] Three days later, Libbyreleases Miller from her confidentiality pledge (see September 15, 2005).Entity Tags: Judith Miller, Joseph Tate, Patrick Fitzgerald, Lewis (“Scooter”) LibbyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, writesjailed reporter Judith Miller (see July 6, 2005) a chatty two-page letter thatasserts he had wanted her to testify about their conversations all along. Miller isjailed pending her reversal of a decision not to reveal Libby as a confidentialsource; Libby had told Miller that former ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wifeValerie Plame Wilson was a CIA agent (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8,2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003). Libby’s letter comes after rounds of


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September 29, 2005: Lawyer for Reporter Claims Libby’s LawyerTried to Discourage Client from Testifying

intensive negotiations between his lawyers, Miller’s lawyer Robert Bennett, andspecial counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Libby says that he is glad to grant Miller awaiver of confidentiality which will allow her to testify about theirconversations (see September 12, 2005), and says that a year earlier his lawyerhad assured her lawyer that he had then waived confidentiality (see January2-5, 2004). He reassures her that his decision to waive confidentiality iscompletely voluntary, and says he will actually be “better off” if she testifies. Inconclusion, Libby writes: “You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. Youwill have stories to cover—Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threatsand the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens willbe turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come backto work—and life.” [LIBBY, 9/15/2005 ; NEW YORK TIMES, 9/29/2005] Miller will denyany hidden meaning in Libby’s last few lines, and deny to Fitzgerald that Libbyattempted to “shape” her testimony in any way through the letter. [NEW YORK

TIMES, 10/16/2005] Bennett will say he does not believe that Libby was trying toinfluence Miller’s testimony, but knew as soon as he read his letter that it would“be trouble” for her. “I know that the letter bothered [Judy] and it botheredme,” Bennett says. “She might be soon testifying, and a prosecutor mightconstrue that as an attempt to influence her testimony. It was more probablyjust sort of a dumb thing to put in a letter.” Bennett will add: “I think it isimportant that Judy was protecting a source in terms of source confidentialityand the journalistic privilege. She was not protecting a source to preventsomeone from going to jail. The letter just didn’t help matters.” [NATIONALJOURNAL, 10/18/2005]Entity Tags: Robert T. Bennett, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Judith Miller, Joseph C. Wilson,Patrick Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame WilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

A day before New York Times reporter Judith Miller is scheduled to testifybefore the grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (seeSeptember 30, 2005), Miller’s attorney, Floyd Abrams, writes a letter to LewisLibby’s attorney, Joseph Tate, alleging that Tate had repeatedly made comments


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to him that may have been intended to discourage Miller from testifying. Milleris expected to provide testimony that will contradict Libby, the former chief ofstaff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who has testified that he never providedValerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a CIA agent to Miller (see June 23, 2003, 8:30a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003). Miller was concerned thatLibby would not provide her with a specific waiver of confidentiality, withoutwhich she was unwilling to testify. Libby had signed a general waiver providedby special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, but Miller did not consider that as enoughof a release from her obligation to protect him, her source. Miller has said thatshe spent 85 days in jail (see July 6, 2005) because Tate told her that thegeneral waiver was not given freely. Libby provided her with a specific waivertwo weeks ago (see September 15, 2005). Abrams writes that Tate told him thatthe general waiver was “by its nature coerced and had been required as acondition for Mr. Libby’s continued employment at the White House.” Abramswrites in part: “In our [various] conversations… you did not say that Mr. Libby’swaiver was uncoerced. In fact, you said quite the opposite. You told me that thesigned waiver was by its nature coerced and had been required as a conditionfor Mr. Libby’s continued employment at the White House. You compared thecoercion to that inherent in the effective bar imposed upon the White Houseemployees asserting the Fifth Amendment. A failure by your client to sign thewritten waiver, you explained, like any assertion of your client of the FifthAmendment, would result in his dismissal. You persuasively mocked the notionthat any waiver signed under such circumstances could be deemed voluntary.”Tate says that Abrams’s claims are “outrageous” and “factually incorrect,” andthat neither he nor Libby has said or done anything to discourage Miller fromtestifying or to influence any testimony she might give. Abrams says that Tateprovided him with some information from Libby’s previous testimony to thegrand jury (see March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004), and attempted to find outfrom him what Miller might testify to. He says he refused to provide Tate withany such information. Miller has also written that Tate expressely asked her notto “go there” when she refused to say that her testimony would exonerateLibby, but other sources have said Tate did not say anything of that nature toher. [NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/18/2005]

Entity Tags: Joseph Tate, Floyd Abrams, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Judith Miller, PatrickFitzgerald


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September 30, 2005: Miller Testifies Before Plame Wilson GrandJury

Judith Miller speaks toreporters outside thecourtroom. [Source: LukeFrazza / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images]

Timeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who yesterdaywas released from jail after agreeing to testify beforethe grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame Wilsonidentity leak (see September 29, 2005), testifiesbefore that jury. [WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007] In somerespects Miller’s testimony is less than enlightening.She admits that Lewis Libby was the source that shewas protecting (see September 15, 2005), but saysthat she doesn’t believe Libby told her Plame Wilson’sname. In the same notebook Miller used to take notesfrom her conversations with Libby (see June 23, 2003,8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12,2003), Miller wrote “Valerie Flame,” an apparentmisspelling. Asked why that name appears in the

notebook alongside the notes from her conversations with Libby, Millerequivocates, saying she doesn’t believe she heard the name from Libby. She willlater write of her testimony, “I said I believed the information came fromanother source, whom I could not recall.” As a side note, the Times only nowreveals Libby as Miller’s source, though other news outlets have alreadyidentified Libby. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/16/2005] Miller testifies that she does notrecall her first meeting with Libby, which took place June 23. She will changeher testimony (see October 7, 2005 and October 12, 2005) after prosecutorPatrick Fitzgerald shows her Secret Service logs showing that she had met withLibby in the Executive Office Building. [NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/20/2005] This memorylapse is consistent with theories that Miller may be attempting to protect Libbyby failing to testify about that first meeting, where Libby informed Miller thatPlame Wilson was a CIA official working in the Weapons, Intelligence,Non-Proliferation, and Arms Control office (see September 29-30, 2005). Milleralso testifies that Libby saw the media’s reporting of the Iraq-Niger story as theproduct of “selective leaking” by the CIA. The purpose of the CIA leaks, Miller


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October 7, 2005: New York Times Reporter’s Notes Show thatMeeting with Libby Took Place Much Earlier than PreviouslyRevealed

says Libby believed, was to protect the agency if no WMD were found in Iraq.[ROBERTS, 2008, PP. 151]Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, JudithMiller, New York TimesTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

New York Times reporter Judith Miller turns over additional notes to theprosecutors in the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak case. The notes indicatethat she met with Lewis “Scooter” Libby on June 23, 2003 (see June 23, 2003)and discussed Plame Wilson’s husband, Joseph Wilson. Until these notes arerevealed, Miller had testified that she had not met with Libby until almost twoweeks later (see 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003). [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/8/2005] Miller willlater say that she discovered the notes in the Times newsroom after her firsttestimony (see October 12, 2005). [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/12/2005] It was during theJune 23 meeting that Libby told Miller of Plame Wilson’s position in the CIA’sWeapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control (WINPAC) office.Miller’s memory is also jogged when special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald shows herSecret Service logs showing that she met with Libby on June 23 in the WhiteHouse Executive Office Building. Only after seeing the logs does Miller searchher notes and find the information about her first meeting with Libby. Miller’slawyer, Robert Bennett, says: “We went back on the second occasion to providethose additional notes that were found, and correct the grand jury testimonyreflecting on the June 23 meeting.” He says Miller’s testimony is now “correct,complete, and accurate.” Washington defense attorney Stan Brand says thateven if Fitzgerald believes Miller deliberately feigned a memory lapse aboutthat first meeting with Libby, he is unlikely to “make an issue out of thisbecause he got what he wanted from her,” and might still be dependant uponher as a witness during a potential trial. [NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/20/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Judith Miller, New York Times, Stanley Brand, Robert T.Bennett, Lewis (“Scooter”) LibbyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing


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October 13, 2005: Washington Post Reporter Asks Fitzgerald toTerminate Investigation

In an op-ed, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen pleads with specialprosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to terminate his investigation of the Plame Wilsonidentity leak. “The best thing Patrick Fitzgerald could do for his country is getout of Washington, return to Chicago, and prosecute some real criminals,”Cohen writes. Fitzgerald, Cohen asserts, has accomplished nothing besidesjailing New York Times reporter Judith Miller (see July 6, 2005) and “repeatedlyhaul[ing] this or that administration high official before a grand jury,investigating a crime that probably wasn’t one in the first place but that now, asis often the case, might have metastasized into some sort of coverup—but,again, of nothing much.” Cohen advises Fitzgerald to “[g]o home, Pat.” He saysthat for administration officials, the investigation is “[n]ot nice,” but is anexample of Washington business as usual. “This is rarely considered a crime,”Cohen writes. Perhaps the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson, a clandestine CIAagent, “might technically be one,” but Cohen writes that “it was not the intentof anyone to out a CIA agent and have her assassinated (which happened once)but to assassinate the character of her husband. This is an entirely differentthing. She got hit by a ricochet.” Cohen writes that Fitzgerald may beconsidering indicting White House officials, not for outing Plame Wilson, but forrelated crimes, perhaps disclosing secrets or on some sort of conspiracy charges.“Whatever the case, I pray Fitzgerald is not going to reach for an indictment or,after so much tumult, merely fold his tent, not telling us, among other things,whether Miller is the martyr to a free press that I and others believe she is orwhether, as some lefty critics hiss, she’s a double-dealing grandstander, in themanner of some of her accusers.” Cohen says that the larger issue is “control ofinformation,” and explains: “If anything good comes out of the Iraq war, it hasto be a realization that bad things can happen to good people when theadministration—any administration—is in sole control of knowledge and thosewho know the truth are afraid to speak up. This—this creepy silence—will be theconsequence of dusting off rarely used statutes to still the tongues of leakersand intimidate the press in its pursuit of truth, fame, and choice restauranttables. Apres Miller comes moi.” Intimidating reporters would have morefar-reaching effects than bringing what Cohen calls “trivial charges” to court.“Please, Mr. Fitzgerald,” Cohen concludes, “there’s so much crime in


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October 14, 2005: Rove Testifies for Fourth Time before PlameWilson Grand Jury, Admits to Second Leak

Karl Rove (right) and his lawyer,Robert Luskin. [Source: Doug Mills /The New York Times]

Washington already. Don’t commit another.” [WASHINGTON POST, 10/13/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Bush administration (43), Judith Miller, Valerie PlameWilson, Richard CohenTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rovetestifies for a fourth time before the grand juryinvestigating the Valerie Plame Wilson identityleak (see December 30, 2003). [WASHINGTON POST,

10/15/2005; WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007] Roveamends and clarifies his earlier testimony, mostnotably his failure to remember outing PlameWilson to Time reporter Matthew Cooper (see11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003). Special prosecutorPatrick Fitzgerald spends a large portion of

Rove’s session focusing on the omission. In earlier testimony, Rove attempted toclaim that he had only a “hazy recollection” of hearing Plame Wilson’s name(see October 15, 2004) before reading Robert Novak’s column which publiclyouted her as a CIA agent (see July 14, 2003). He now testifies that he informedCooper of her status as a CIA agent days before the article appeared, and hismemory apparently failed him during his earlier statements to the grand jury.Rove testifies that his recollection was prompted by the discovery of an e-mailmessage to Stephen Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser, that hewrote after talking to Cooper (see March 1, 2004). [NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/7/2005;

NEW YORK TIMES, 10/15/2005] He insists that he never identified Plame Wilson by hername, but “merely” as the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson, and didnot intentionally reveal her as a covert CIA official because he did not know ofher clandestine status. [WASHINGTON POST, 10/15/2005] He says he may have learnedof Plame Wilson’s CIA identity from fellow White House official Lewis Libby, andsays that both he and Libby learned of her CIA employment status fromreporters. He says someone else outside the White House also told him of PlameWilson’s identity, but he cannot remember who that was. [WASHINGTON POST,


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10/20/2005] Previously, Rove insisted that he learned of Plame Wilson’s identityfrom reporters, and not the other way around, as many reporters and othershave already testified. Rove has said that one of the reporters who told him thatPlame Wilson was a CIA official was Novak, a statement Novak has contradicted(see October 7, 2003, February 5, 2004, and September 14, 2004). Rove alsotestified that he never told Cooper Plame Wilson’s name, but merely identifiedher as the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 7/15/2005]

Rove's Testimony No Distraction, White House Officials Claim - White Housespokesman Scott McClellan says Rove’s testimony has not distracted theadministration from its usual affairs: “[W]hile there are other things going on,the White House doesn’t have time to let those things distract from theimportant work at hand.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/15/2005] White House chief of staffAndrew Card concurs. “Well, obviously we’re all human beings and we knowthat there are external activities that impact the environment you’re workingin,” he says. “It is something that is there, but it is something that we don’ttalk about because it would be inappropriate.… I haven’t found anyone that isdistracted because of the ongoing investigation, but we all know that it’s takingplace and we’re all working to cooperate with the investigators.” [WASHINGTONPOST, 10/15/2005]

Lawyer: Rove 'Always Honest' with FBI, Jury, President - Rove’s lawyer, RobertLuskin, says that his client “has always attempted to be honest and fullyforthcoming” to anyone “he has spoken to about this matter, whether that bethe special prosecutor or the president of the United States. My client would nothide anything, because he has nothing to hide. It would not be to his benefit todo so.” Previously, Rove had failed to disclose his discussion with Cooper toeither the FBI or to President Bush (see After September 26, 2003). [NATIONAL

JOURNAL, 10/7/2005] “The special counsel has not advised Mr. Rove that he is atarget of the investigation and affirmed that he has made no decisionconcerning charges.” [WASHINGTON POST, 10/15/2005]

Fitzgerald Mulling Criminal Charges against Rove - Sources close to theFitzgerald investigation say Rove’s statements to Bush and to the FBI are at theheart of the decision whether or not to charge him with making false statementsto investigators, or with obstruction of justice. Lying to the president could initself be worthy of charges. Law professor Rory Little, a former federalprosecutor and assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration, says:


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October 18, 2005: Columnist: Fitzgerald’s Investigation a‘Disaster’ for Freedom of Press and Freedom of Speech

“The president is the top law enforcement official of the executive branch. It isa crime to make a false statement to a federal agent. If the president wasasking in that capacity, and the statement was purposely false, then you mighthave a violation of law.” However, if Bush had discussed the matter with Rove ina more informal capacity, then, Little says, a case for making false statementsto a federal agent would be more difficult to prove. Law professor RandallEliason says that if Rove deliberately lied to the president, a prosecutor couldconstrue the lie as an “overt act… in furtherance of a criminal plan.” Lawprofessor Stephen Gillers notes: “Misleading the president, other officials of theexecutive branch, or even the FBI might not, in and of themselves, constitutecriminal acts. But a prosecutor investigating other crimes—such as obstructionof justice or perjury—might use evidence of any such deception to establishcriminal intent. And a lack of candor might also negate a claim of good faith orinadvertent error in providing misleading information to prosecutors.” [NATIONALJOURNAL, 10/7/2005]Entity Tags: Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Joseph C. Wilson, Valerie Plame Wilson, Bushadministration (43), Karl Rove, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central IntelligenceAgency, Stephen J. Hadley, Andrew Card, Scott McClellan, Randall Eliason, StephenGillers, Matthew Cooper, Robert Luskin, Patrick Fitzgerald, Rory Little, Robert NovakTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Jacob Weisberg, a senior editor of Slate magazine, warns liberals that thepossible prosecution of White House official Karl Rove and/or former WhiteHouse aide Lewis Libby may not be cause for celebration. “Opponents of theBush administration are anticipating vindication on various fronts—justice fortheir nemesis Karl Rove, repudiation of George W. Bush’s dishonest case for theIraq war, a comeuppance for Chalabi-loving reporter Judith Miller of the NewYork Times, and even some payback for the excesses of independent counselsduring the Clinton years,” he writes. Weisberg calls support for the potentialprosecutions “self-destructive,” and explains: “Anyone who cares about civilliberties, freedom of information, or even just fair play should have beenskeptical about [special prosecutor Patrick] Fitzgerald’s investigation from the


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Slate’s Jacob Weisberg.[Source: Paid Content (.org)]

start. Claiming a few conservative scalps might besatisfying, but they’ll come at a cost to principlesliberals hold dear: the press’s right to find out, thegovernment’s ability to disclose, and the public’sright to know.” Weisberg calls the law that is at theheart of the Plame Wilson investigation, theIntelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA),“flawed,” and the entire Fitzgerald investigation“misbegotten.” The law is difficult to use for aconviction because it requires that prosecutors proveintent to do harm. “Under the First Amendment, wehave a right to debate what is done in our name,even by secret agents,” Weisberg writes. “It may beimpossible to criminalize malicious disclosure withouthampering essential public debate.” After calling the

White House “negligent” and “stupid” for revealing Plame Wilson’s CIA status,he says that no one has shown Rove, Libby, or any other official leaked her namewith the intent of causing her or her career harm. Weisberg writes: “[A]fter twoyears of digging, no evidence has emerged that anyone who worked for Bush andtalked to reporters about Plame… knew she was undercover. And as nasty asthey might be, it’s not really thinkable that they would have known. You need apretty low opinion of people in the White House to imagine they wouldknowingly foster the possible assassination of CIA assets in other countries forthe sake of retaliation against someone who wrote an op-ed they didn’t like inthe New York Times” (see July 6, 2003). The outing of Plame Wilson was“accidental,” Weisberg claims, part of the Bush administration’s attempts todefend itself against its failure to find WMD in Iraq. Weisberg calls Fitzgerald“relentless and ambitious,” implying that he is pursuing the case for thefulfillment of his personal ambition, and says that no evidence exists of anyonebreaking any laws, whether it be the IIPA, statutes against perjury or conspiracy,obstruction of justice, or anything else. Fitzgerald will indict someone forsomething, Weisberg states, because not to do so would seem like he failed inhis investigation. Fitzgerald is sure to bring what Weisberg calls “creative crapcharges of his own devising” against someone, be it a White House official or areporter. Weisberg concludes by calling Fitzgerald’s investigation “a disaster for


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Before October 19, 2005: Second Cheney Aide Cooperating withPlame Wilson Investigation

freedom of the press and freedom of information.” [SLATE, 10/18/2005]

Entity Tags: Judith Miller, Bush administration (43), George W. Bush, Karl Rove,Intelligence Identities Protection Act, Patrick Fitzgerald, Jacob Weisberg, Lewis(“Scooter”) LibbyTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

David Wurmser, an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, begins cooperating withthe investigation into the exposure of Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA agent. Thisfollows the news that another Cheney aide, John Hannah, is also cooperating(see Before October 17, 2005). The news that Wurmser is cooperating comesfrom sources close to the investigation. He is expected to provide specialcounsel Patrick Fitzgerald with evidence that the leak of Plame Wilson’s identitywas part of a coordinated effort to discredit her husband, war critic JosephWilson (see June 2003, June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June 12, 2003, June 19 or20, 2003, July 6, 2003, July 6-10, 2003, July 7, 2003 or Shortly After, 8:45 a.m.July 7, 2003, 9:22 a.m. July 7, 2003, July 7-8, 2003, July 11, 2003, (July 11,2003), July 12, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 18, 2003, October 1, 2003, April 5,2006, and April 9, 2006). Wurmser is Cheney’s adviser on Middle East affairs, andformerly served as an assistant to then-Undersecretary of State John Bolton (seeMay 29, 2003). The sources say Wurmser is cooperating in order to negatepotential criminal charges for his role in exposing Plame Wilson’s identity.Wurmser was a key member of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG—see August2002), the propaganda group that operated primarily out of Cheney’s office. Thesources say that in June 2003, Wurmser and Hannah were ordered by theirsuperiors in Cheney’s office to leak Plame Wilson’s name and CIA identity in anattempt to discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson. In 2004, Wurmser wasquestioned by the FBI for his role in divulging classified national securityinformation to Israel, an investigation that included Hannah and severalprominent neoconservatives in the Defense Department. Wilson says: “JohnHannah and David Wurmser, mid-level political appointees in the vicepresident’s office, have both been suggested as sources of the leak.… Mid-levelofficials, however, do not leak information without the authority from a higher


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October 25, 2005: New York Times Columnist Warns thatFitzgerald Indictments Might Be ‘Overzealous’

level.” [RAW STORY, 10/19/2005]

Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, David Wurmser, John Hannah, Joseph C. Wilson,White House Iraq Group, Patrick Fitzgerald, Richard (“Dick”) CheneyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes that the Fitzgeraldinvestigation of the Plame Wilson identity leak is running the risk of moving toofar, too fast, and may end up jailing Bush administration officials without goodcause. Kristof cites two Republican-driven investigations from the 1990s—the“fanatical” Kenneth Starr investigation of former President Clinton and the“appalling” 10-year pursuit of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros—to warnthat the Fitzgerald investigation, like those he cites from the 1990s, may bemoving into murkier areas than originally warranted, i.e. the investigation intowho leaked the name of a clandestine CIA agent. Special counsel PatrickFitzgerald may be “considering mushier kinds of indictments,” Kristof writes,“for perjury, obstruction of justice, or revealing classified information. Sure,flat-out perjury must be punished. But if the evidence is more equivocal, thenindictments would mark just the kind of overzealous breach of prosecutorialdiscretion that was a disgrace when Democrats were targeted. And it would bejust as disgraceful if Republicans are the targets.” Kristof acknowledges thatWhite House officials “behaved abominably in this affair,” and says, “the idea ofa government official secretly using the news media… to attack formerAmbassador Joseph Wilson [is] sleazy and outrageous. But a crime? I’mskeptical, even though there seems to have been a coordinated White Housecampaign against Mr. Wilson” (see October 1, 2003). “My guess is that theparticipants in a White House senior staff meeting discussed Mr. Wilson’s tripand the charges that the administration had knowingly broadcast falseinformation about uranium in Niger—and then decided to take the offensive.The leak of Mrs. Wilson’s identity resulted from that offensive, but it may wellhave been negligence rather than vengeance.” Kristof doubts that anyone in theWhite House knew that Plame Wilson was an undercover agent, and believesthat “some official spread the word of Mrs. Wilson’s work at the CIA to make her


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October 26, 2005: White House Communications Official Testifiesabout Conversations with Rove

October 26, 2005: Grand Jury Hears Summary Argument in PlameWilson Investigation

husband’s trip look like a nepotistic junket.” He calls such behavior “appalling,”and says that columnist Robert Novak “was absolutely wrong to print thedisclosure” (see July 14, 2003). “But there’s also no need to exaggerate it,” heconcludes. The entire Plame Wilson affair is an example of “backstabbingpolitics,” he writes, “but not… obvious criminality.” Therefore, Fitzgeraldshould be wary of handing down indictments, both in the interest of legalrestraint and for fear that indicting “White House officials on vague charges ofrevealing classified information… will have a chilling effect on the reporting ofnational security issues.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/25/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Bush administration (43), Central Intelligence Agency,Nicholas Kristof, Clinton administration, Robert Novak, Henry Cisneros, Joseph C.WilsonTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

The grand jury hearing evidence in the Plame Wilson CIA leak investigationhears testimony from White House communications official Adam Levine. Specialcounsel Patrick Fitzgerald quizzes Levine about conversations he had with WhiteHouse political strategist Karl Rove, and with neighbors of Valerie Plame Wilson.[WASHINGTON POST, 10/27/2005] Levine has already testified before the grand jury(see February 6, 2004).Entity Tags: Karl Rove, Adam Levine, Valerie Plame Wilson, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

The grand jury hearing evidence in the Plame Wilson CIA leak investigationhears the summation of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. The final weeks ofthe jury’s tenure have been marked by what the Washington Post calls “a furiouseffort” by lawyers for White House political strategist Karl Rove to convinceFitzgerald that Rove should not be prosecuted for perjury. The press is unsurewhat criminal charges Fitzgerald may have asked the jury to bring, or whether


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October 27, 2005: Woodward Calls ‘Plamegate’ Investigation‘Disgraceful,’ Lies about Knowledge of Administration Leaker

he asked them to vote on possible indictments. The grand jury’s term isexpiring, and observers believe Fitzgerald is reluctant to empanel a secondgrand jury to consider further evidence. Law professor Lori Shaw says this jury iswell-versed and invested in the investigation. “You have to consider: They arenot rookies at this anymore,” she says. “I have a feeling that by now this grandjury has a good idea of what crime, if any, occurred.” White House officialsbelieve that either Rove or Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief ofstaff, and perhaps both of them, will face criminal charges. But the WhiteHouse is downplaying the current status of the investigation. Press secretaryScott McClellan tells reporters, “We certainly are following developments in thenews, but everybody’s got a lot of work to do.” And President Bush has tried toshift the public’s attention away from the investigation and onto what he callshis successful economic policies. [WASHINGTON POST, 10/27/2005] Two days later, thejury will indict Libby (see October 28, 2005).Entity Tags: Karl Rove, Bush administration (43), George W. Bush, Lewis (“Scooter”)Libby, Lori Shaw, Patrick Fitzgerald, Scott McClellanTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Washington Post investigative reporter Bob Woodward slams ‘Plamegate’ specialprosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. In an interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, he callsFitzgerald’s investigation “disgraceful.” When asked if he knew who might haveleaked CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson’s name to the press, Woodward claims—falsely—that he has no idea. “I wish I did have a bombshell,” he says. “I don’teven have a firecracker.” The leak, he says, is merely “gossip and chatter” ofinterest only to “a junkyard-dog prosecutor” like Fitzgerald who “goeseverywhere and asks every question and turns over rocks and rocks under rocksand so forth.” Woodward also claims that the CIA’s assessment of the damagelikely to have been done by the leak is “minimal.” Woodward says: “They didnot have to pull anyone out undercover abroad. They didn’t have to resettleanyone. There was no physical danger to anyone, and there was just someembarrassment. So people have kind of compared—somebody was saying thiswas [similar to the cases of convicted spies] Aldrich Ames or Bob Hanssen, big


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October 28, 2005: Libby Indicted for Perjury, Obstruction ofJustice over Outing of CIA Officer

Screen graphic from CNN’s coverage ofLewis Libby’s indictment. [Source: CNN /Flickr]

spies. This didn’t cause damage.” Woodward is ignoring reports that the damagecaused by the leak may well have been severe and widespread (see BeforeSeptember 16, 2003, October 3, 2003, October 11, 2003, October 22-24, 2003,October 23-24, 2003, and February 13, 2006); he also fails to note an upcomingreport by his own newspaper that notes the CIA has not yet completed itsassessment of the damage, but speculates as to just how severe the damage isbelieved to be (see October 29, 2005). [CNN, 10/27/2005; MEDIA MATTERS, 10/31/2005;

MEDIA MATTERS, 11/16/2005; TIME, 11/20/2005] Woodward does not mention that he isone of the reporters who was contacted by a Bush administration official aboutPlame Wilson being a CIA agent (see June 13, 2003). He has also withheld hisknowledge of the case from Fitzgerald and his own editors (see November16-17, 2005).Entity Tags: Washington Post, Central Intelligence Agency, Bush administration (43), BobWoodward, Patrick Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame Wilson, Larry KingTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President DickCheney’s chief of staff, is indicted forperjury and obstruction of justice. Libby isaccused of “outing” Valerie Plame Wilson,an undercover CIA agent, to the press (seeJune 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, LateAfternoon, July 12, 2003, and 2:24 p.m. July12, 2003), and then lying about it to the FBIand to a grand jury empaneled by specialprosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald (see December30, 2003, March 5, 2004, and March 24,2004). Libby immediately resigns his position

as Cheney’s chief of staff. [US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,10/28/2005 ; CNN, 5/14/2006; MSNBC, 2/21/2007; WASHINGTON POST, 7/3/2007]

Five Counts of Obstruction, Two Counts of Perjury - Libby is indicted on fivecounts of obstruction of justice and two counts of perjury. [US DISTRICT COURT FOR


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THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 10/28/2005 ; MSNBC, 2/21/2007] Though the originalinvestigation was of the Plame Wilson leak, Fitzgerald says it is important tounderstand that Libby’s crimes, though not the prime focus of the initialinvestigation, should be prosecuted as well. “Investigators do not set out toinvestigate the statute, they set out to gather the facts,” he says. Theindictment does not charge Libby with knowingly disclosing the identity of acovert agent. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/28/2005]

Confirms that CIA Agent's Status Classified; Important to National Security -Fitzgerald confirms that the fact of Plame Wilson’s employment at the CIA wasin and of itself classified information, and not to be shared to the media or thepublic. He says: “The fact that she was a CIA officer was not well known, for herprotection or for the benefit of all us. It’s important that a CIA officer’s identitybe protected, that it be protected not just for the officer, but for the nation’ssecurity.… [T]he damage wasn’t to one person. It wasn’t just Valerie Wilson. Itwas done to all of us” (see Before September 16, 2003, October 3, 2003,October 11, 2003, October 22-24, 2003, October 23-24, 2003, and February 13,2006). [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/28/2005; NATION, 3/16/2007]

Libby Lied about Knowledge of Plame Wilson's Status, Indictment Charges - Theindictment charges that Libby lied when he claimed that he learned of PlameWilson’s CIA status from NBC reporter Tim Russert (see November 24, 2003,March 5, 2004, March 24, 2004, and August 7, 2004). Instead, the indictmentcharges, Libby learned about Plame Wilson and her possible role in sending herhusband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, to Niger to investigate claims ofIraqi attempts to buy uranium (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002) from anumber of people, including an undersecretary of state (see June 10, 2003), aCIA officer who regularly briefed him on national security issues (see 2:00 p.m.June 11, 2003), an unidentified “senior CIA officer,” and from his superior,Cheney (see (June 12, 2003)). In his turn, Libby shared that information withseveral officials in the Office of the Vice President, including Cheney’s seniorcounsel David Addington (see July 8, 2003), Cheney’s national security adviserJohn Hannah (see May 29, 2003), and Cheney’s press secretary at the time,Cathie Martin (who may have actually informed Libby—see 5:27 p.m. June 11,2003). “In fact, Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporterwhen he talked to Judith Miller in June of 2003 about Valerie Wilson” (see June23, 2003), Fitzgerald says. “[T]o be frank, Mr. Libby gave the FBI a compelling


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story,” he adds. “It would be a compelling story that will lead the FBI to goaway if only it were true. It is not true, according to the indictment.” [NEW YORKTIMES, 10/28/2005; US DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 10/28/2005 ;

NATIONAL JOURNAL, 10/30/2005] (The unidentified “senior CIA officer” is laterrevealed to be Frederick Fleitz, who served both as a senior officer at theWeapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control (WINPAC) desk and asUndersecretary of State John Bolton’s chief of staff—see (June 11, 2003).) [RAW

STORY, 11/2/2005] Jeralyn Merritt, a criminal defense attorney who writes for theprogressive blog TalkLeft, notes that according to the indictment, the phrasesused by Libby in his denials to the grand jury were nearly verbatim echoes ofCheney’s own denials as told to NBC’s Tim Russert in September 2003 (seeSeptember 14, 2003). [JERALYN MERRITT, 10/31/2005]

Sought Information on Plame Wilson's CIA Status - The indictment also chargesthat Libby sought information from the CIA and the State Department aboutPlame Wilson’s CIA status, and tried to determine whether she had beenresponsible for sending her husband to Niger. According to the indictment, Libbyasked David Addington, the chief counsel to Cheney, “in sum and substance,what paperwork there would be at the CIA if an employee’s spouse undertook anoverseas trip.” The court papers do not say what action, if any, Addington mayhave taken in response to Libby’s request. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/28/2005; US DISTRICTCOURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 10/28/2005 ; NATIONAL JOURNAL, 12/16/2005]

Discussed with Multiple Officials before Leaking to Reporters - In a pressconference, Fitzgerald walks reporters and listeners through the indictment:from Libby’s learning of Plame Wilson’s identity from State Department and CIAsources and from Cheney, through his discussing it with at least three WhiteHouse officials, all before the supposed “disclosure” from Russert. Libbysubsequently lied to the FBI and to Fitzgerald’s grand jury about thosediscussions with government officials and again with Miller and Time reporterMatthew Cooper. “[H]e lied about it afterwards,” Fitzgerald says, “under oathand repeatedly.… [A]nyone who would go into a grand jury and lie, obstruct, andimpede the investigation has committed a serious crime.” [NEW YORK TIMES,10/28/2005]

Leak Seriously Jeopardized National Security - Fitzgerald tells reporters that theleaking of a CIA officer’s identity is a serious breach of national security. “This isa very serious matter and compromising national security information is a veryserious matter,” he says. “But the need to get to the bottom of what happened


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and whether national security was compromised by inadvertence, byrecklessness, by maliciousness is extremely important.” Fitzgerald continues:“At a time when we need our spy agencies to have people work there, I thinkjust the notion that someone’s identity could be compromised lightly…[discourages] our ability to recruit people and say, ‘Come work for us… come betrained… come work anonymously here or wherever else, go do jobs for thebenefit of the country for which people will not thank you.” Senator John D.Rockefeller (D-WV), the ranking Democrat on the Senate IntelligenceCommittee, says: “Revealing the identity of a covert agent is the type of leakthat gets people killed. Not only does it end the person’s career… it puts thatperson in grave personal danger as well as their colleagues and all the peoplethey have had contact with.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/28/2005; NATIONAL JOURNAL,10/30/2005]

Charges Are Serious, Not 'Technicalities' - Responding to a question aboutRepublican charges that Libby is being charged as a “technicality,” andFitzgerald “overreached” his authority in filing the indictment, Fitzgerald says:“That talking point won’t fly. If you’re doing a national security investigation, ifyou’re trying to find out who compromised the identity of a CIA officer and yougo before a grand jury and if the charges are proven… that the chief of staff tothe vice president went before a federal grand jury and lied under oathrepeatedly and fabricated a story about how he learned this information, howhe passed it on, and we prove obstruction of justice, perjury, and falsestatements to the FBI, that is a very, very serious matter.… [T]he truth is theengine of our judicial system. And if you compromise the truth, the wholeprocess is lost.… Any notion that anyone might have that there’s a differentstandard for a high official, that this is somehow singling out obstruction ofjustice and perjury, is upside down.… If these facts are true, if we were to walkaway from this and not charge obstruction of justice and perjury, we might aswell just hand in our jobs. Because our jobs, the criminal justice system, is tomake sure people tell us the truth. And when it’s a high-level official and a verysensitive investigation, it is a very, very serious matter that no one should takelightly.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/28/2005]

Explanation for Delay in Filing Indicitment - Fitzgerald gives one reason for thedelay in filing the indictment against Libby. When asked why he went to suchlengths to compel the testimony of reporters such as Miller (see September 30,


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October 28, 2005: MSNBC Commentator Claims, without Proof,Plame Wilson’s Exposure Did No Damage to US IntelligenceOperations

2005) and Cooper (see July 13, 2005), Fitzgerald replies that the rights of theaccused are paramount in his mind. The testimony of Miller, Cooper, and otherjournalists could bolster the case against Libby, or could help exonerate him.The possibility that he might charge someone, only to learn later that one of thejournalists who had declined to testify had information to clear the person, wassomething that “frightens me,” Fitzgerald says. “I think the only way you can doan investigation like this is to hear all eyewitnesses.” [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/28/2005;NATIONAL JOURNAL, 11/12/2005]

No Charges against Cheney - Asked whether the investigation found evidence ofcriminal acts by Cheney, Fitzgerald answers: “We make no allegation that thevice president committed any criminal act. We make no allegation that anyother people who provided or discussed with Mr. Libby committed any criminalact. But as to any person you asked me a question about other than Mr. Libby,I’m not going to comment on anything.” Fitzgerald refuses to comment onwhether White House political strategist Karl Rove or anyone else will be namedas co-conspirators, charged, or even named in court. [NEW YORK TIMES, 10/28/2005]

Entity Tags: John Hannah, Judith Miller, John D. Rockefeller, John R. Bolton, Karl Rove,Richard (“Dick”) Cheney, Joseph C. Wilson, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Jeralyn Merritt,Frederick Fleitz, Central Intelligence Agency, David S. Addington, WeaponsIntelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control, Valerie Plame Wilson, Federal Bureauof Investigation, US Department of State, Catherine (“Cathie”) Martin, Tim Russert,Patrick Fitzgerald, Matthew CooperTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Hours after the Patrick Fitzgerald press conference announcing the indictmentof Lewis Libby (see October 28, 2005), NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell tells aviewing audience on MSNBC’s Hardball that the exposure of Valerie PlameWilson, the CIA official whose exposure as a covert agent triggered theinvestigation that led to Libby’s indictment, did no real damage to USintelligence interests. Mitchell does not cite any sources in her claim. She says:“I think the prosecutor [Fitzgerald] made a very broad claim, whether you buy itor not, that the disclosure of any CIA officer’s identity is a threat to our national


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October 29, 2005: Wall Street Journal: Fitzgerald Is‘Criminalizing Politics’

security, that we are at a stage in our country where we need to recruit people,we need to guarantee that they will have anonymity, and that you cannotrecruit people to work in these difficult jobs, nor can you be sure that bydisclosing their identity that you are not putting them in jeopardy. I happen tohave been told that the actual damage assessment as to whether people wereput in jeopardy on this case did not indicate that there was real damage in thisspecific instance.” It is possible that Mitchell sources her claim from a verysimilar claim made the night before by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward(see October 27, 2005). [JANE HAMSHER, 11/29/2005] Two years before, Mitchell tolda CNBC audience that “everybody knew” Plame Wilson was a covert official, aclaim she was later forced to retract (see October 3, 2003). Shortly afterMitchell’s Hardball claim, MSNBC commentator Tucker Carlson writes, “In fact,as NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has reported, an internal CIA investigation found thatPlame’s outing caused no discernable damage to anyone.” [MSNBC, 11/18/2005] A2003 CIA assessment (see Before September 16, 2003) and an October 2005analysis by the Washington Post (see October 29, 2005) both determined thatPlame Wilson’s exposure caused “severe damage” to the US intelligencecommunity, particularly in the Middle East.Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Andrea Mitchell, Bob Woodward, Lewis (“Scooter”)Libby, Patrick Fitzgerald, Tucker CarlsonTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

In an op-ed, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial staff accuses special counselPatrick Fitzgerald of “criminalizing politics” in his investigation of the PlameWilson leak. Fitzgerald’s investigation, the editorial reads, has taken two years,cost millions of dollars, jailed a reporter (see July 6, 2005), “and preoccupiedsome of the White House’s senior officials.” The investigation has culminated inthe indictment of former White House official Lewis Libby (see October 28,2005), not for leaking Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity to the press, but for whatthe Journal calls “contradictions between his testimony and the testimony oftwo or three reporters about what he told them, when he told them, and whatwords he used.” The Journal writes that there is no evidence, at least to the


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October 29, 2005: Reporter Claims Fitzgerald Receives ItalianReport on Iraq-Niger Forgeries

public’s knowledge, that Libby lied to anyone, be it the FBI (see October 14,2003 and November 26, 2003), the grand jury (see March 5, 2004 and March 24,2004), or anyone else. Nowhere has anyone alleged a motive for Libby’s allegedperjury, the Journal states (see June 2003, June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June12, 2003, June 19 or 20, 2003, July 6, 2003, July 6-10, 2003, July 7, 2003 orShortly After, 8:45 a.m. July 7, 2003, 9:22 a.m. July 7, 2003, July 7-8, 2003,July 11, 2003, (July 11, 2003), July 12, 2003, July 12, 2003, July 18, 2003,October 1, 2003, April 5, 2006, and April 9, 2006). And, the Journal notes, Libbywas not a source for the column that actually outed Plame Wilson as a CIAofficial. The Journal questions the existence of any White House “conspiracy tosilence administration critics,” and if there was, it writes, “it was more daftthan deft.” Instead, the Journal writes, the Libby indictment “amounts to anallegation that one official lied about what he knew about an underlying ‘crime’that wasn’t committed.” Fitzgerald is merely involving himself in what theJournal calls “a policy dispute between an elected administration and critics ofthe president’s approach to the war on terror, who included parts of thepermanent bureaucracy of the State Department and CIA.” [WALL STREET JOURNAL,10/29/2005]Entity Tags: Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Bush administration (43), Valerie Plame Wilson,Patrick Fitzgerald, Wall Street JournalTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

According to a United Press International (UPI) report, special counsel PatrickFitzgerald has sought and received documentation on the Iraq-Niger forgeries(see Between Late 2000 and September 11, 2001, Late September 2001-EarlyOctober 2001, October 15, 2001, December 2001, February 5, 2002, February12, 2002, October 9, 2002, October 15, 2002, January 2003, February 17, 2003,March 7, 2003, March 8, 2003, and 3:09 p.m. July 11, 2003) from the Italiangovernment. UPI reports, “Fitzgerald’s team has been given the full, and as yetunpublished report of the Italian parliamentary inquiry into the affair, whichstarted when an Italian journalist obtained documents that appeared to showofficials of the government of Niger helping to supply the Iraqi regime of


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After October 28, 2005: Woodward Receives ConfidentialityWaiver from White House Leak Source

Saddam Hussein with [y]ellowcake uranium.” (In November, that parliamentaryreport will be shown not to exist—see July 2005.) According to reporter JasonLeopold, the information about the Iraq-Niger documents being provided toFitzgerald comes from NATO sources. Leopold’s reporting will later be shown tobe less than reliable (see June 19, 2006). [RAW STORY, 10/24/2005; GLOBAL RESEARCH,10/29/2005; COUNTERPUNCH, 11/9/2005]Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, United Press International, Jason LeopoldTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

After White House official Lewis Libby is indicted (see October 28, 2005),Washington Post editor and reporter Bob Woodward “realizes” that he was arecipient of the information that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA official (seeJune 13, 2003). Woodward has been scathing in his criticism of the Plame Wilsonidentity leak investigation, and staunch in his support of the journalists whoouted Plame Wilson in their reporting (see December 1, 2004, July 7, 2005, July11, 2005, July 17, 2005, July 31, 2005, October 27, 2005, and October 28,2005). According to Woodward’s own recollections, he was asked by Postexecutive editor Leonard Downie Jr. to help report on the status of theinvestigation into the leak. Woodward will say that upon listening to specialcounsel Patrick Fitzgerald tell reporters that Libby was the first White Houseofficial to reveal Plame Wilson’s name to a reporter (see June 23, 2003), herealizes that Fitzgerald is misinformed. Instead, Woodward had received thatinformation from another Bush administration source 10 days before Libby.(Woodward’s source was then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, afact that Woodward does not disclose to the media, and is not publicly revealedfor nearly six months—see March 14, 2006). Woodward quickly telephones hissource (Armitage), and will tell another reporter: “I said it was clear to me thatthe source had told me [about Wilson’s wife] in mid-June, and this person couldcheck his or her records and see that it was mid-June. My source said he or shehad no alternative but to go to the prosecutor. I said, ‘If you do, am Ireleased?’” Woodward is referring to the confidentiality agreement between thetwo. The source agrees, but only for purposes of discussing it with Fitzgerald,


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October 31, 2005: Former Solicitor General Says Libby Did NotLie, Did Not Out Plame Wilson

not for publication. Woodward later says he tried twice, once in 2004 and onceearlier in 2005, to persuade Armitage to remove the confidentiality restriction,but Armitage refused to budge. Woodward informs Fitzgerald of his contact withArmitage, as does Armitage. While Armitage has spoken to the FBI about his rolein leaking Plame Wilson’s identity (see October 2, 2003), and to the grand juryinvestigating the leak (in which he failed to divulge his contact withWoodward—see September 22, 2004), Woodward has not spoken to Fitzgeralduntil now, though his name appears on numerous White House telephone andvisitors’ logs during the critical period of June and July 2003. Woodward will sayhe is surprised not to have been contacted by Fitzgerald, and, in contrast to hisearlier criticisms of Fitzgerald, will call him “incredibly sensitive to what we do.He didn’t infringe on my other reporting, which frankly surprised me. He said,‘This is what I need, I don’t need any more.’” [TIME, 11/18/2005; WASHINGTON POST,

8/29/2006] Woodward will soon give a deposition to Fitzgerald, and will writeabout his role in the leak for the Post (see November 14, 2005).Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Bob Woodward, Leonard Downie, Jr., PatrickFitzgerald, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Richard ArmitageTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

The Wall Street Journal prints an editorial by former Bush Solicitor GeneralTheodore Olson lambasting the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation and theindictment of former White House aide Lewis Libby (see October 28, 2005), andcriticizing the use of the Independent Counsel Law to investigate the PlameWilson identity leak. The Journal does not inform its readers of Olson’sparticipation in using the Independent Counsel Law to bring articles ofimpeachment against former President Clinton. Olson calls the investigation a“spectacle,” questions special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s impartiality, and saysthe entire Plame Wilson-Libby investigation is another example of “specialprosecutor syndrome,” a politically motivated investigation run amok. Olsonwrites that he does not believe Libby is guilty of perjury because “I know him tobe an honest, conscientious man who has given a large part of his life to publicservice.” Any misstatements Libby may have made to investigators (see October


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October 31, 2005: Conservative Columnist Calls for Repeal ofIndependent Counsel Statute

14, 2003, November 26, 2003, March 5, 2004, and March 24, 2004) must havebeen inadvertent failures of memory and not deliberate lies. Moreover, Olsonasserts, Libby had nothing to do with exposing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIAofficial (see (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003,and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003). [WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/31/2005]

Entity Tags: Wall Street Journal, Bush administration (43), Independent Counsel Law,Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Patrick Fitzgerald, Theodore (“Ted”) Olson, Valerie PlameWilsonTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Syndicated conservative columnist Cal Thomas writes that because the ValeriePlame Wilson identity leak investigation is nothing more than a witch hunt to tarBush administration officials over the war in Iraq, the special prosecutor lawunder which Patrick Fitzgerald is conducting his investigation should beabolished. According to Thomas, President Clinton was lauded by the media,and his investigator, special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, was universally portrayedas a “sex maniac with a political agenda” who was hounding a “decent man”over a legal, if morally questionable, sexual liaison. “Thus, Clinton’s lies underoath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky were not a big deal.” The media isgiving “saturation coverage” to the Libby indictments, Thomas claims, while itgave “short shrift” to Clinton administration indictments such asthen-Agriculture Secretary Michael Espy and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros. Thesituation is different with accused perjurer Lewis Libby, Thomas writes (seeOctober 28, 2005). Fitzgerald is being praised by media pundits as “an apoliticalstraight-shooter who is the definition of integrity” (see December 30, 2003,January 1, 2004, July 11, 2005, July 17, 2005, October 13, 2005, October 18,2005, October 25, 2005, October 27, 2005, and October 29, 2005), and isrunning a fair and non-partisan investigation into crimes committed by Libbyand perhaps other White House officials. According to Thomas, Fitzgerald isdoing little more than working for administration critics who didn’t get theirway over Iraq: “[t]hose who lost the policy battle over going to war are nowfighting a rear-guard action in an attempt to damage the Bush administration


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November 2, 2005: Press Learns of Bolton Contact, Cooperationby Former Cheney Aides

and win the political war in time for the 2006 Congressional elections andcertainly by the 2008 presidential contest.” Thomas says that since theIndependent Counsel Law was passed in 1978 in the wake of the Watergatescandal, it has brought few convictions and cost taxpayers an inordinate amountof money. “Enough Democrats and Republicans have been forced to run thisgauntlet that perhaps a truly bipartisan solution can be found to end it,”Thomas concludes. “That Libby’s indictments are not about policy, but aboutwho remembers what and when, ought to be the final straw in this ridiculousprocess.” [TOWN HALL (.COM), 10/31/2005]

Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), Patrick Fitzgerald, Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, CalThomasTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

The press learns that UN Ambassador John Bolton was contacted in May 2003 byLewis Libby to find out who sent former ambassador Joseph Wilson on afact-finding mission to Niger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002 and May 29,2003). Bolton was the undersecretary of state for arms control and internationalsecurity affairs when Libby contacted him. The progressive news Web site RawStory learns of the Bolton contact from lawyers involved in the investigation ofthe Plame Wilson identity leak, and from documents posted on theinvestigation’s Web site. The lawyers say that two former Libby aides, JohnHannah and David Wurmser, informed special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald ofLibby’s inquiry to Bolton (see Before October 17, 2005 and Before October 19,2005). At the time, Wurmser was on loan from Bolton’s office and serving as aMiddle Eastern affairs aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and Libby. BothHannah and Wurmser have been cooperating with Fitzgerald’s investigation, thelawyers say. MSNBC has reported that Bolton testified before the Plame Wilsongrand jury. Wurmser, the lawyers say, has been cooperating for fear that hewould be charged for his role in leaking Valerie Plame Wilson’s CIA identity;Hannah began cooperating after learning that he had been identified bywitnesses as a co-conspirator in the leak. Raw Story writes: “It is unclearwhether Bolton played any other role in the Plame outing, but his connection to


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November 3, 2005: Woodward Gives Statement to Fitzgerald

November 3, 2005: Democrats Ask Cheney to Testify in LibbyTrial

the Iraq uranium claims certainly gave him a motive to discredit Wilson, whohad called into question the veracity of the Niger documents. A probe by theState Department inspector general revealed that Bolton’s office wasresponsible for the placement of the Niger uranium claims in the StateDepartment’s December 2002 ‘fact sheet’ on Iraq’s WMD program.” The lawyerssay it is doubtful that the information Hannah and Wurmser have provided willever be made public, but their information was crucial to Fitzgerald’sinvestigation because it allowed him “to put together a timeline that showedhow various governmental agencies knew about Plame [Wilson]‘s covert CIAstatus.” [RAW STORY, 11/2/2005]

Entity Tags: Raw Story, David Wurmser, John Hannah, John R. Bolton, Joseph C. Wilson,Valerie Plame Wilson, US Department of State, Patrick Fitzgerald, Lewis (“Scooter”)LibbyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Bob Woodward, a reporter and managing editor for the Washington Post, isinterviewed by the office of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Woodward hasagreed to testify about being given the identity of covert CIA official ValeriePlame Wilson by former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (see AfterOctober 28, 2005). Armitage, whom Woodward has not yet publicly identified,revealed Plame Wilson’s identity to Woodward in June 2003 (see June 13, 2003).Woodward says Armitage did not realize that Plame Wilson’s CIA status wasclassified. [WASHINGTON POST, 11/16/2005]

Entity Tags: Patrick Fitzgerald, Bob Woodward, Valerie Plame Wilson, Richard Armitage,Washington PostTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Three Democratic congressmen ask Vice President Dick Cheney to testify in theupcoming trial of his former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, even as Libby pled notguilty to five felony counts stemming from the Plame Wilson CIA identity leak


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November 4, 2005: Conservative Lawyers: Exposure of PlameWilson a ‘Public Service’

investigation (see November 3, 2005). Henry Waxman (D-CA), Maurice Hinchey(D-NY), and John Conyers (D-MI) send a letter to Cheney asking why Cheney’soffice gathered information on Valerie Plame Wilson in 2003, whether Cheneydirected Libby to leak Plame Wilson’s name to reporters, and whether Cheneyknew Libby was leaking that information. “[T]here are many wide-rangingquestions about your involvement,” they write. The three congressmen also askmore general questions, such as if Cheney knew the administration’s claims thatIraq sought uranium from Niger were false even as the White House was usingthose claims to justify its war with Iraq. Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBridesays that Cheney will cooperate with the Justice Department as the criminalinvestigation of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald moves forward. Cheney andother White House officials could be called to testify if Libby goes to trial.[ASSOCIATED PRESS, 11/3/2005]Entity Tags: Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Bush administration (43), Henry A. Waxman, LeaAnne McBride, Maurice Hinchey, US Department of Justice, John Conyers, ValeriePlame Wilson, Patrick Fitzgerald, Richard (“Dick”) CheneyTimeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

Conservative Washington lawyers David Rivkin and Lee Casey publish a guesteditorial in the Wall Street Journal defending the Bush administration, andspecifically the indicted Lewis Libby (see October 28, 2005), for their actions inthe Plame Wilson identity leak. No crime was committed, Rivkin and Caseyallege, and no legal ethics were breached. Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as aCIA official was moot because, Rivkin and Casey write, “she was not a covertagent—a readily ascertainable fact that should have concluded special counselFitzgerald’s investigation almost as soon as it got underway” (see Fall 1992 -1996). In fact, Rivkin and Casey write, exposing Plame Wilson’s role in herhusband Joseph Wilson’s 2002 mission to Africa (see February 19, 2002, February21, 2002-March 4, 2002, July 22, 2003, October 17, 2003, and July 20, 2005)“was relevant to an accurate understanding of his later allegations against theadministration.” In general, the lawyers state, it is not a crime to expose anintelligence official’s “classified” status, only genuine covert agents. Since


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Plame Wilson was not a covert agent, by Rivkin and Casey’s standards, no crimewas committed in exposing her as a CIA official. And even had she been, theycontinue, certainly no damage could have been done by her exposure (seeBefore September 16, 2003, October 3, 2003, October 11, 2003, October 22-24,2003, October 23-24, 2003, October 29, 2005, and February 13, 2006). WhenWilson decided to publish his New York Times op-ed (see July 6, 2003), thelawyers write, he “eliminated whatever shreds of anonymity” Plame Wilsonretained. The lawyers conclude that “the revelation of Ms. Plame [Wilson]‘sconnection to the CIA was a public service, neither criminal nor unethical.”[WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/4/2005]Entity Tags: Valerie Plame Wilson, Bush administration (43), David Rivkin, Lewis(“Scooter”) Libby, Joseph C. Wilson, Wall Street Journal, Lee Casey, Patrick FitzgeraldTimeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing

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