Jan. 28, 2003:
In his annual state of the union address, U.S.
President George W. Bush claims Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had tried to
secure uranium from Africa.
July 6, 2003:
Former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson writes
in the New York Times that he investigated the report that Iraq tried to buy
uranium from Africa. The critic of the Bush administration says he investigated
the report for the CIA a year earlier and found no evidence that such a transaction
could have occurred.
July 11, 2003:Karl Rove. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)
In a conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, Karl Rove, Bush's deputy chief-of-staff, allegedly identifies Wilson's wife as a person who worked for the CIA. He doesn't use Valerie Plame's name.
July 14, 2003:
Syndicated columnist and CNN talk show host
Robert Novak writes in his column that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA
operative. Novak suggests she sent Wilson to Niger to investigate the uranium
report. Novak cites "two senior
administration officials" for the report.
July 17, 2003:
Cooper's story appears in Time. It
identifies Plame as a CIA official and says government officials suggested
she was involved in the decision to send her husband to Niger to investigate
the uranium reports.
Sept. 26, 2003:
The Justice Department begins a criminal
investigation into the leak of Plame's
identity.
Sept. 28, 2003:
The Washington Post reports that two top White House officials "peddled
Plame's name to at least six Washington journalists" in an attempt
to undermine Wilson.
Sept. 29, 2003:
Novak says he won't reveal his sources.
He says the CIA asked him not to identify Plame, but never indicated that
it would endanger her.
Sept. 30, 2003:
Bush says if the leak came out of his administration "I'd
like to know it and we'll take appropriate action."
May 21, 2004:
Prosecutors investigating the leak of Plame's name subpoena Time
reporter Matthew Cooper. He and the magazine refuse to comply.
Aug. 12, 2004:
Prosecutors subpoena New York Times report Judith Miller. Miller had been
investigating the story but never wrote anything on it that made it to print.
She and the paper refuse to co-operate.
Oct. 7, 2004:
A judge finds Miller in contempt of court for
not co-operating with the investigation.
Oct. 13, 2004:
Cooper is also declared in contempt of court.
Feb. 15, 2005:
A federal appeals court denies an appeal by
Miller and Cooper. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear an appeal
by Miller and Cooper.
June 30, 2005:
Time magazine hands over Cooper's notes
to the special prosecutor. Cooper and Miller maintain they will not reveal
the names of their sources.
July 6, 2005:
A federal court judge orders Miller jailed for
the remainder of the investigation or until she reveals her sources. Cooper
agrees to testify after he said he received a waiver from his source. He avoids
jail time.
July 9, 2005:
The contents of an internal Time magazine
memo are released. It was written by Cooper after he had a conversation with
Karl Rove two years earlier. The memo says, "[I]t was, KR said, wilson's
wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd issues who authorized the trip."
July 13, 2005:
Cooper appears before the grand jury investigating the leak of Plame's
name. He testifies for 2½ hours.
In a prepared statement, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, says, "Cooper's truthful testimony today will not call into question the accuracy or completeness of anything Rove has previously said to the prosecutor or the grand jury. If the prosecutor seeks additional information from Rove in light of Cooper's testimony, Rove will promptly supply it."
Bush refuses to answer questions from reporters about Rove. "I will be more than happy to comment on this matter once this investigation is completed," he says.
July 14, 2005:
Plame's husband – Joseph Wilson – calls
on Bush to fire Rove. He charges that Rove had engaged in an abuse of power.
Wilson accuses the White House of stonewalling in the wake of the Rove revelations.
July 18, 2005:
Bush amends his year-old vow to fire anyone found to have leaked Plame’s identity. He now says his administration would fire anyone found to have committed a crime in a federal investigation of the leak of Plame’s identity. During a news conference, Bush urges reporters to wait until the inquiry is complete before jumping to conclusions.
Journalist Matthew Cooper reports it was Rove who told him that Joe Wilson was married to a CIA agent who was later identified as Valerie Plame.
Aug. 5, 2005:
Robert Novak is suspended by CNN after he swore and walked off the set during a live broadcast of a politics show. He was interrupted by a guest who then alluded to his involvement in the revelation of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity. It was a topic Novak said he would refuse to comment on before the interview.
Sept. 29, 2005:
After 85 days in jail, Times reporter Judith Miller agrees to testify before the grand jury and is released from custody. Miller makes the deal after receiving a personal waiver of confidentiality from her source. Miller’s lawyer had earlier confirmed that her source was Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, although Miller herself never said so publicly.
During her testimony, she reveals details of her conversations with Libby about Plame and Wilson but says she cannot be certain that he is the one who revealed Plame’s identity.
Oct. 14, 2005:
Karl Rove testifies before the federal grand jury investigating the leak. He declined to comment on his testimony as he left 4½ hours later. It is his fourth appearance before the jury. The grand jury's term is due to expire Oct. 28. The grand jury has the power to indict officials.
Oct. 28, 2005:
I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is indicted for perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice for his role in the leaking of a covert CIA agent's identity to the media in 2003. Libby resigns.
Karl Rove - President Bush's top political strategist - escapes indictment, but is told that he remains under investigation.
Nov. 9, 2005
The New York Times announces that reporter Judith Miller is leaving the paper after 28 years on staff. Miller had been harshly criticized by colleagues after she was released from jail in late September. She spent 85 days behind bars for refusing to reveal that Lewis (Scooter) Libby was her source in her investigation of the Valerie Plame story. Since her release, several editors and writers at the newspaper have rebuked her for her actions in the case and her reports leading up to the Iraq war. She had been accused of being too accepting of White House claims that Iraq had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction.
- CBC Story: Judith Miller leaves New York Times
April 6, 2006: Court documents in the perjury case against Libby say he told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq. The documents say Vice-President Dick Cheney's former top aide told a grand jury that Bush and Cheney cleared him to leak information that led to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Bush had promised to fire anyone who leaked information in the case.
April 19, 2006: In a White House shakeup, President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, announces his resignation. Karl Rove also gives up his role as Bush's chief policy adviser to focus on November's mid-term elections.
May 5, 2006: CIA Director Porter Goss unexpectedly resigns after less than two years on the job. Goss gives no reason for his resignation.
- CBC Story: CIA head Goss resigns, no reason given
June 13, 2006:
Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, releases a statement saying his client will not be charged in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.
July 13, 2006:
Former CIA officer Valerie Plame sues U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. In the lawsuit, Plame accuses them and other White House officials of revealing her CIA identity to punish Joseph Wilson, her husband, for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq. A federal judge later dismissed the suit, but Plame is appealing that decision.
September, 2006
Former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage admits he was the primary source for Novak's article. However, Armitage said he did not know of Plame's covert status before mentioned her in a "casual conversation" with Novak.
March 6, 2007
Libby is convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements to the FBI and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on a false statements charge. Fitzgerald said the conviction signalled the end of the investigation.
July 2, 2007
Bush commutes Libby's sentence of 30 months prison, calling it "excessive." The conviction, a $250,000 fine and two years of probation stood.
October 2007
Plame releases a book telling her side of the story, called Fair Game - My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.
