CIA leak scandal
Handwritten note above Joe Wilson's editorial by Cheney referring to the covert agent before the leak took place
Main article: Plame affair
See also: CIA leak grand jury investigation and United States v. Libby
On October 18, 2005, The Washington Post reported that the vice president's office was central to the investigation of the Valerie Plame CIA leak scandal, for Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was one of the figures under investigation.[109]
Following an indictment, Libby resigned his positions as Cheney's chief of staff and assistant on national security affairs.
On September 8, 2006, Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State, publicly announced that he was the source of the revelation of Plame's status. Armitage said he was not a part of a conspiracy to reveal Plame's identity and did not know whether one existed.[110]
In February 2006, The National Journal reported that Libby had stated before a grand jury that his superiors, including Cheney, had authorized him to disclose classified information to the press regarding intelligence on Iraq's weapons.[111]
On March 6, 2007, Libby was convicted on four felony counts for obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements to federal investigators.[112] In his closing arguments, independent prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that there was "a cloud over the vice president",[113] an apparent reference to Cheney's interview with FBI agents investigating the case, which was made public in 2009.[114] Cheney lobbied President George W. Bush vigorously and unsuccessfully to grant Libby a full presidential pardon up to the day of Barack Obama's inauguration, likening Libby to a "soldier on the battlefield".
| 
