CIA LEAK INVESTIGATION Libby resigns after charges

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff resigned Friday after he was indicted on charges of obstructing a grand jury investigation and lying about his actions that blew the CIA cover of an Iraq war critic's wife.
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby became the first high-ranking White House official in decades to be criminally charged while still in office. A second key figure in the two-year CIA leak investigation, presidential strategist Karl Rove, was spared from criminal charges for the time being.
Libby wasn't indicted specifically for the leak, but special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald left little doubt that he believed Cheney's top aide learned Valerie Plame's classified identity from the CIA, State Department and his own boss and then revealed it to reporters.
"It's important that a CIA officer's identity be protected, that it be protected not just for the officer, but for the nation's security," the prosecutor said. "Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporter."
Though Cheney was one of the top government officials to tell Libby about Plame's secret work for the CIA before it was leaked to reporters, Fitzgerald said there was nothing wrong with that contact. "We make no allegation that the vice president committed any criminal act," he said.
Libby promised to challenge the charges vigorously and said he was "confident that at the end of this process, I will be completely and totally exonerated."
Bad week for Bush
The 22-page indictment was the latest blow in one of the darkest weeks of the Bush presidency, which also saw the 2,000th U.S. military death in Iraq and the embarrassing withdrawal of Harriet Miers as Bush's Supreme Court nominee.
Bush, whose approval rating is near the lowest point of his presidency, praised Libby's years of government service but acknowledged the "ongoing legal proceedings are serious."
"In our system, each individual is presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial," the president said.
Fitzgerald's investigation is nearing an end, and the grand jury he used for the past two years expired Friday. But he said, "It's not over," declining to address Rove's fate. The prosecutor is still weighing whether to charge Bush's closest adviser with false statements, lawyers said.
Friday's charges stemmed from a two-year investigation into whether Rove, Libby or any other administration officials knowingly revealed Plame's identity in summer 2003 to punish her husband, Joseph Wilson, for his criticism of the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence on Iraq.
In the end, like so many other Washington scandals, prosecutors zeroed in on an alleged cover-up.
What's alleged
Libby, 55, was charged with five felonies alleging obstruction of justice, perjury to a grand jury and making false statements to FBI agents. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines.
Fitzgerald suggested that proving Libby lied to the grand jury would be an easier case to make than showing he intentionally revealed a secret officer's cover. Specifically, the prosecutors alleged that Libby concocted a false story that he got Plame's name from reporters and passed it on to others when in fact he got the information from classified sources.
"Mr. Libby's story that he was at the tail end of a chain of phone calls, passing on from one reporter what he heard from another, was not true. It was false," the prosecutor said. "And he lied about it afterward, under oath, repeatedly."
Unlike figures in past scandals who resigned before they were criminally charged, Libby waited until moments after Friday's indictment before stepping down. He became the highest-ranking White House official to resign under indictment in the three decades since Vice President Spiro Agnew stepped down over a criminal case during the Watergate era.
Cheney said he accepted the resignation with regret because Libby is "one of the most capable and talented individuals I have ever known."
The closest to bright news Friday for the White House was word from Rove's attorney that the presidential confidant was not being indicted along with Libby.
Rove's fate still uncertain
Fitzgerald has been looking for weeks at whether Rove gave false testimony during his four grand jury appearances. Rove's lawyer recently waged a furious effort to convince the prosecutor that any misstatements were unintentional or were corrected.
"The special counsel has advised Mr. Rove that he has made no decision about whether or not to bring charges," attorney Robert Luskin said. "We are confident that when the special counsel finishes his work, he will conclude that Mr. Rove has done nothing wrong."
Prosecutors identified Rove in the Libby indictment only as "Official A," recounting a conversation he had with Libby about Plame and Wilson in the days just before the CIA operative's identity was revealed. The mention could make Rove a witness at any Libby trial.
Libby's indictment paves the way for a trial that could renew attention on the faulty rationale the administration used for going to war against Iraq: the erroneous assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Libby is considered Cheney's alter ego, a chief architect of the war with Iraq. A trial would give the public a rare glimpse into Cheney's influential role in the West Wing and his behind-the-scenes lobbying for the war. The vice president, who prizes secrecy, could be called as a witness.
Democrats suggested the indictment was just the tip of the iceberg. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the case was "about how the Bush White House manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq and to discredit anyone who dared to challenge the president."
Hoping to contain the damage, some Republicans distanced themselves from Libby. Others said the legal system should run its course.
"It's time to stop the leaks and spin and turn Washington into one big recovery meeting where people say what they mean and mean what they say," said Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said through a spokesman that the Senate won't investigate the CIA leak.
Bush ordered U.S. troops to war in March 2003, saying Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program posed a grave and immediate threat to the United States. When no such weapons were found, the administration came under increased criticism for using faulty intelligence to make its case for war.
It was during the height of that debate that Plame's identity as a covert CIA officer was leaked in July 2003.