Timeline of events in CIA leak case

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Early testimony in the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby focused on events that began unfolding in 2003 during the opening months of the U.S. war in Iraq. Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, is being tried on five counts related to the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name in 2003. Some important events related to the case:

2003:

_Jan. 28: President Bush asserts in his State of the Union address: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

_March 19-20: The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq begins.

_May 6: New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof reports that a former ambassador, whom he does not name, had been sent to Niger in 2002 to investigate the uranium report. The column says the ex-ambassador reported to the CIA and State Department well before Bush's speech that the uranium story was unequivocally wrong and was based on obviously forged documents.

_May 29: Libby asks Marc Grossman, an undersecretary of state, for information about the ambassador's travel to Niger. Grossman later tells Libby that Joseph Wilson was the former ambassador.

_June 11 or 12: Grossman tells Libby that Wilson's wife works at the CIA and that State Department personnel are saying Wilson's wife was involved in planning the trip. A senior CIA officer gives him similar information.

_June 12: Cheney advises Libby that Wilson's wife works at the CIA.

_June 14: Libby meets with a CIA briefer and discusses "Joe Wilson (news, bio, voting record)" and his wife, "Valerie Wilson."

_June 23: Libby meets with Times reporter Judith Miller. During the meeting he tells Miller that Wilson's wife might work at a bureau of the CIA.

_July 6: The Times publishes an opinion piece by Wilson titled "What I Didn't Find in Africa" and he appears on NBC's "Meet the Press." Wilson said he doubted Iraq had obtained uranium from Niger recently and thought Cheney's office was told of the results of his trip.

_July 7: Libby meets with then-White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. Libby notes that Wilson's wife works at the CIA and that the information is not widely known.

_July 8: Libby meets with Miller again and tells her that he believes Wilson's wife works for the CIA.

_July 12: Libby speaks to Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and confirms to him that he has heard that Wilson's wife was involved in sending Wilson on the trip. Libby also speaks to Miller and discusses Wilson's wife and says that she works at the CIA.

_July 14: Syndicated columnist Robert Novak reports that Wilson's wife is a CIA operative on weapons of mass destruction and that two senior administration officials, whom Novak did not name, said she suggested sending her husband to Niger to investigate the uranium story.

_Sept. 26: A criminal investigation is authorized to determine who leaked Plame's identity to reporters. Disclosing the identity of CIA operatives is illegal.

_Oct. 14 and Nov. 26: Libby is interviewed by FBI agents.

_Dec. 30: U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in Chicago, a tough and aggressive career prosecutor, is named to head the leak investigation after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft takes himself out of the case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

2004:

_January: A grand jury begins investigating possible violations of federal criminal laws.

_March 5 and March 24: Libby testifies before the grand jury.

2005:

_Oct. 28: Libby is indicted on five counts: obstruction of justice and two counts each of false statement and perjury.

2006:

_Sept. 7: Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage admits he leaked Plame's identity to Novak and to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post. Armitage says he did not realize Plame's job was covert. Woodward taped his June 13, 2003, interview with Armitage.

2007:

_Jan. 16: Jury selection begins in Libby's trial.

_Jan. 23: Prosecution and defense lawyers make opening statements to the jury and U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070124/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_timeline [link]